Del Mar hosted an International Baccalaureate (IB) course fair where prospective students and parents had the opportunity to hear from IB Coordinator Ariel Dukellis and current IB students about the different IB courses Del Mar has to offer. The event took place on Thursday, January 8 from 6 p.m to 8 p.m in the library.
The evening began with Dukellis giving an introduction of the IB program, followed by a panel of five IB students who answered questions and shared their perspectives about the program as a whole. Attending students and families were then invited to explore the fair.
Dukellis expresses that the goal for this event was to “encourage students who might not otherwise think they could take IB classes,” showing freshmen and sophomores at Del Mar they have the ability to challenge themselves with the IB Diploma or be an IB Merit Scholar candidate.
To explain, the IB Diploma requires students to complete six IB courses and Core requirements which include CAS reflections, the extended essay and theory of knowledge. The Merit Scholar requires students to complete at least three IB courses, with one being a high level (HL) course.
Fortunately, Dukellis had three student co-hosts: Alexander Leyva Cuevas (12), Parker Hansen-Pedford (12) and Brenda Ruiz Mendez (12) who helped plan, prepare and run the event.
“I am so proud of how the community comes together to showcase all we’ve accomplished as an IB program,” said Dukellis.
Similarly to Dukellis, Leyva and Hansen-Pedford both believe in encouraging younger students to challenge themselves with IB classes because of their own experiences with the IB Diploma.
“It hurts to see when people limit themselves,” Leyva said, “I feel like it’s really important for everybody to have a chance at a better education.”
“We want to see people really pushing themselves academically (…) I feel like this event is a better way to make people feel comfortable being uncomfortable in education,” said Hansen-Pedford.
Currently, 54% of juniors and seniors at Del Mar are enrolled in at least one IB course and 60 are eligible for the IB Merit Scholar Certificate.
Looking ahead, expectations for the growth of Del Mar’s IB program are high. By next year, Dukellis would like to have a 6% increase in participation, with a result of 60% or more juniors and seniors enrolled in IB.
Although the turnout of the event wasn’t quite up to her expectations with a total attendance of 10 families, Dukellis is optimistic towards the program’s progression throughout the next year.
Are you ready to take up the challenge of being an IB student?
