Why International Baccalaureate: NHS Graduates Talk About the College Transition After IB

Three years ago a group of ambitious New Hampton School students set out to discover uncharted territory. With almost two years at the School lodged in their backpacks and young minds, they applied to become the first NHS students to tackle the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.

For the final two years of High School, these students paved the way for classes to come and became the test cases for all those who followed. They enrolled in six classes each semester, including the Theory of Knowledge, fulfilled their CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) requirements, and penned "Extended Essays." And now, almost a year into their college careers, IB graduates have a better understanding of how the IB at New Hampton School shaped their mindsets as students and the way they learn. 

Will Callif ’12 – who won the School’s most prestigious award, the Meservey Medal, at graduation – believes  the IB has been an academic springboard for his experience at the College of the Holy Cross.  

“The International Baccalaureate program at New Hampton School thoroughly prepared me for the rigors of college life,” says Callif, who hails from Hancock, NH. “I not only find myself managing my time adequately, but I have also found myself being able to sufficiently meet deadlines on papers and other large projects because of the many strategies the IB gave me to conquer such parts of college academic life. In short, the IB program at NHS fulfilled its hard earned creed — it prepared me thoroughly for college academic life at a rigorous institution like Holy Cross.”

With shifts in education and the need for students to develop stronger analytical skills, the IB at NHS provides a strident alternative to a classroom in which rote learning and memorization define the learning experience. Anna Menke '12, who was the co-salutatorian of her class, believes her transition to the Princeton University classroom has proved to be smoother because of her IB experience. 

"IB prepared me for a the college classroom by teaching me how to reason analytically," said Menke. "My IB English class served as a good foundation that has been augmented by writing strategies I have learned at Princeton.

"In my first semester I took a mandatory freshmen course called 'Writing Seminar,' which involved a long revision process. I felt prepared for the revision process because we had utilized this strategy in IB English my senior year at New Hampton. I also felt that I had a good understanding of how to incorporate textual evidence and analyze literary devices."

While many students struggle with the increased workload that comes with college, Menke believes the IB provided a realistic model for college work.

"The magnitude of the IB workload also instilled essential time management skills in me, which I have been thankful for in my transition to Princeton." 

Menke believes the interdisciplinary nature of her IB classes challenged her to draw connections between different subjects. 

"The IB curriculum encouraged me to look for overlap in the curriculum of my distinct classes, which has served me well this semester because I am able to draw parallels between my courses and use these parallels to contribute unique ideas to class discussions," said Menke, who is a member of the Princeton Women's Lacrosse team. 

Erin Moran ’12 was a three-sport athlete at New Hampton who successfully balanced athletics with the IB curriculum for two years. As a two-sport athlete at Connecticut College, she’s employing many of the same skills. 

“The IB program prepared me by allowing me to step outside the classroom and utilize what I learned but also expand that knowledge with my own ideas,” said Moran, who hails from Littleton, NH. "... I knew how to balance my schoolwork and now I only take four classes, but with a heavier workload. All in all it helped me learn a healthy balance.” 

Moran also believes now that subject-specific work during her two years in IB was preparing her for new challenges in college.

“Writing lab reports in IB Biology is similar to my lab reports in Botany and Biology,” Moran explained.  “The format isn’t exactly the same but they have similar processes and the level of detail we had to provide in Ms. Kang’s IB Biology Class at NHS helped me prepare for my college lab reports.” 

There is little doubt that the IB at New Hampton School has transformed the academic experience of the most ambitious students, but IB classes are also open to students who do not want to fulfill all the full requirements of the diploma program. Teaching faculty, trained by the IB, infuse much of the student-centered philosophy of the curriculum into all aspects of the learning experience, thus creating an environment that stresses the delivery of skills with the content as the vehicle. While the College Counseling Office is in the early stages of working with IB students at New Hampton School, Director of College Counseling Derek Krein sees the IB as a program that not only differentiates NHS students from their competitors in the college application process but also strengthens the learning and teaching within the community on a number of different levels. 

“Having been a part of an IB boarding school community elsewhere, I’ve seen the IB tide lift all ships,” said Krein. “The desire to know, to make relevant connections, and to live a meaningful, purposeful life permeates all members and aspects of community life.” 

The benefits of an IB School are thoughtfully articulated in this story titled: "10 reasons Why the IB Diploma Programme is Ideal for University Preparation." 

For more information about the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at New Hampton School, visit https://www.newhampton.org/IB