Mental exhiliration!

Today was fantastic. We started the day with Wade Davis, an anthropologist who was so amazing. Anthropology is something, I am not ashamed to admit, I know little about. He was fascinating. His speech on preserving civilizations through language and spoken word was so interesting. Hearing how languages are being lost is so disheartening, but hearing of his travels and the people he has met was so amazing.

After, we broke out into small sessions and workshops. The collaboration and willingness to share is a benchmark of IB. Being a Business Manager, I chose sessions that many would think would be "dry". I went first to a session on combining AP and IB. It was given by a group from Indianapolis schools. It was amazing. Seeing how to make it work....it was like putting glasses on the first time. It makes sense! It is a unique opportunity that can, in some cases, give a student an opportunity to test out of 14 credits in college based on ONE class they take in high school. Amazing opportunity!

I attended a finance seminar, which I won't bore you with, but was really exciting! But the last breakout I attended was the one that I was looking forward to most. It was about a school in Connecticut that is much like ISC. It is an IB for all set up with no admission requirement and a very diverse student population. These students come from different academic backgrounds, just like our students at ISC. And it works. It works because the staff, students and parents make it work. It is choosing a path and sticking to it. It is continuing forward when it gets hard and leaning on each other when it gets hard.

We have to believe in the mission of our school and the mission of IB to be successful. Mr. Sims, myself, each teacher, our volunteer coaches, parents, students and families....we will all be a very important part of the success of our school and students. But what that success looks like...it is inspirational.