Trip To Abbey Kelly Foster Journal/Reflection

The Trip that I went on today to the Abbey Kelly Foster Charter School in Worcester, Mass was such a rewarding experience. I had no idea what to expect on the ride up there and me and the six other students that went on the trip were speculating on what was going to happen and what we would say. I myself only expected to talk to a few of the administration people but I was so wrong. We sat down with all the kids who are taking on the IB program this coming school year (there was about 14-16 students) and some of the teachers. We also talked with the IB Coordinator at the school. Mainly Mr. Steedman talked to him. We (the students) talked mainly with the AKF students to begin with. We first went to the cafeteria in the new building that the charter school just opened yesterday and sat down at two of the tables. We ate lunch and eventually started talking to the AKF students. They had no idea what to expect from the IB and seemed very hesitant with their questions. We, especially myself, were/was unsure of where to even begin. We really had no idea brand new IB students (who had no knowledge of the program) were going to be there as well so it was even more of a challenge for us. I was sitting at one of the tables with Justine and Marrissa and we kept looking at each other hoping one of us was going to have some idea of what to say. Eventually we were lucky and one of the kids asked us one question. "Is it really hard?" The three of us looked at each other and sort of gave a bit of nervous laughter. "Yes." The three of us were in perfect agreement. And it went from there. Our answer got other students to want to ask their questions, mainly about the classes and things like that. We talked until the teachers from AKF told us that we were going to move into the lecture hall. Now the seven of us were lined up in the front of the room, in front of five of AKF's teachers, their IB coordinator and all of the IB students.

I have two things to say about this shift of scenery. It first made it easier for us (the Sturgis Students) to answer and talk to the whole group (including the students who sat at the other table AND the teachers.) But secondly, it really made the students more hesitant to speak up. There were only a few students out of the 14-16 that were really asking questions. The others were watching and listening to us seven speak, but they all seemed to want to ask something. The teachers had lots of questions of us, and Mr. Steedman prompted us with questions of his own to get us to speak. We talked about the HL/SL courses, which we took and the differences. We talked about work loads and homework. We briefly touched upon the IAs we do. We talked a lot about the extended essay. Each of us told them our topic or the idea and direction we were going in. A major focus of our IB discussion was TOK. There was so much to say and we could only say so much so as to not confuse them, or scare them away! We gave them person stories and experiences we went through (good and bad) and shared with them a piece of advice. We were honest with them, and that was the best part. We didn't try to make the IB seem like something easy, because it isn't. We wanted both the students and teachers to know exactly what they were about to take on from first hand accounts.

The learning objectives I aimed to achieve were 4. Worked collaboratively with others and 6. Engaged with issues of global importance. I think I managed to reach both objectives.

I had to work alongside six other students from my senior class to accuarately explain the IB program in a way that was easy to understand. This wasn't so hard to do. I have been going to school with the other six students that went up to Worcester for three years going on four. I've been in and out of classes with each of them and we've all been through the same thing. Together the seven of us shared our experiences of the ups and downs of our first year through the IB program. We worked off of what one person said. Prompted each other, and let everyone get their fair share of talk time.

Then for global importance issues, I think this trip as definitely of that. The seven of us (eight counting Mr. Steedman) traveled up to Worcester for one thing: To tell AKF Charter School what we know and wish to share about the IB program. The IB is all about worldy things, hence the International part. We wanted to tell them about the IB, to brace them for the next two years ahead of them. We wanted to inspire them to do their best in this program, to keep pushing, and to follow through. If more people were getting out in the community and traveling to other schools (as Sturgis likes to do whenever the oppurtunity arises) the IB could become a lot more known. This was just a start of what the seven of us who went on the trip wish to do. We talked more on the way back from the school about what we can do. We loved talking to the school and students. We even want to go to other schools to tell them about it. I want to be apart of something thats going to get more people involved in the program, and this trip is just the beginning.