Many students going into junior year are currently experiencing a significant changes: the transition from underclassman years into the school’s IB program.

International Baccalaureate (IB) is an academic program that provides college-level courses for students. North Atlanta’s IB program started in 1982 and is the oldest IB program among high school’s in the Southeast. Students enter the two-year program at the start of their junior year.

IB is famous for its academic rigor and seemingly endless work, or at least so the stories go. But the new recruits into IB paint a very different picture of the program. Some have reacted to their change in academic status with apathy. Others have the difficult level has been overstated. “It’s just another year of school. I really don’t feel like anything has changed,” said junior Samir Fayed.

Others were downright enthusiastic about their IB experience. “It’s so much better than previous years. The teachers tend to be a lot more passionate about what they are teaching,” said junior Ben Knerler.

Diego Alvarado echoed his peer’s sentiments. “The transition has been really smooth. The teachers seem to actually care,” he said.  

For some students the the program is operating on all self-actualizing cylinders. In a sense, For these juniors, IB — with all of its lofty goals — is just as advertised. “I really feel like I am advancing myself as a human being,” Chris Carico said.

Not all reactions to IB were wholly positive though and some had more mixed feelings. “It’s not as bad as I expected but there are a couple of classes that are noticeably more difficult,” said Jake Churchill.

Churchill was referring to his current IB Chemistry taught by Jeanne Hall. He said the taxing onslaught of work includes mammoth amount of worksheets along with textbook questions that keep kids up at night.

If some new IB students haven’t hid the headwinds of work yet they know that a storm does approach. “I’m just waiting for the hard stuff to kick in,” said Nicole Chinchilla.

One of the notable attributes of IB at North Atlanta is that it offers two different IB programs. While the majority of the students are taking the IB diploma program (DP), some have opted for the IB Career Program (CP) which has more of focus on practical careers. “It’s much more flexible with my schedule,” said CP student junior Lila Ward.

Fisher Calame summoned up some pride in his own pathway saying: “CP rules DP drools.”

Members of the Class of 2020 are finding their new IB learning environment to be hard, easy or something in between. But no matter which pathway they’re in, this much is for certain: A lot of hard work and late nights will come between them and graduation.