First day of school TOMORROW!

And here starts the beginning of IB Year 2... I'm scared!

Actually, everyone tells me that Year 2 is much easier than Year 1 so I have some hope. Being the day before school starts you'd think I'd be ready, but I'm off to Starbucks right now. Foreshadowing the rest of the year? I sure hope not!

What are you all doing to prepare for IB this year?

CAS Hours! How did you get yours?

I still have a few hours to go, but here's a list of the activities I've done so far for CAS:

• Variety Show 
• Musical Theatre Class
• School Musical - Man of La Mancha
• Senior Jazz Band - Alto Sax
• XC Running Practice
• Alpine Ski Team
• Student Council/Leo Club
• Youth Group at local elementary school
• Heart & Stroke Canvasing 
• Modelling for High School Senior Photo Shoot

As you can tell, I have an uneven amount of hours - too many CREATIVE! Not that it's a bad thing of course :)

What have you guys done for CAS? What is the easiest category to get hours for, in your opinion?

Politics, Religion...and CAS

Does anybody else find it strange that we cannot earn CAS hours for anything related to politics? We study government so closely in History HL...

The reason I ask is because I just got back from a focus group meeting for a man who is campaigning to be mayor in our little town. At this focus group there was great passion in our ideas - brainstorming was fun and stimulating, I've never been so inspired by volunteering until now!

And so I ask, why deter IBers from politics? Politics gets us (or myself, at least) motivated to do something in our own community and more aware of local issues!


I don't want to go on a rant, but I want your input. Do you think the IBO should allow us IBers to do political activities for CAS? What about religious activities? Does it really matter to you?

Summer Reading

Fiction makes me think

I absolutely adore fiction! Over the summer break I've read a few books that inspired me. Being the IB kid that I am, I made notes on my thoughts as I read and found it to be a really good mental exercise (sounds lame, I know, but try it out on the next book you read for English class). 

Here are my top 5 summer reads:

1. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

2.  Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard 

3. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

4. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

I'll post my reviews shortly on these books - they're very inspiring reads, give them a try!

Update: My fellow ib-er claims she read 46 books over this summer holiday! 46!! That takes persistence - I can't wait to hear what she's learned. Let me know if you want a list of THOSE books :)

ib ∴ I am

This is just a quick hello before I actually start posting on this thing.

I'm a grade 12 IB student who's already been through one year of... insanity, torture, happiness, madness, sadness, scarring... shall I go on? It's been an interesting ride so far, so I thought I'd share this last year with all of YOU!

I'll be posting some useful links that I've acquired for specific assignments, ie. EE, math IAs, very shortly! Just be patient :)

ib ∴ I am