👋 Happy February! Study Tips, IB Experiences, and GVS Recap
Monday, February 1st, 2021
Hey IB Students!
It was lovely to see so many of you at the GVS event this Saturday! Every event is a wonderful reminder of how much this community can help each other. A massive thank you to our Events team and IB grad volunteers for pulling it off so well!
Find in this newsletter: helpful blog posts from IB grads and students, a welcome to our newest IBlieve mentors and tutors; and our favorite IB Instagram accounts!
Cheers,
Imogen and Katie❤️
🌏 January’s Global Virtual Summit! 💫
In January of 2021, we hosted our fourth Global Virtual Summit (GVS)! Our IB grads shared their helpful advice on IB, the EE, and subject-specific tips. Thank you to the lovely students who joined us. We really appreciate your awesome feedback and support! 🤩
This is what the students loved about GVS:
📚Blog Posts!
Whenever you have a question about IB, check out our Blog! With over 100 posts, you’re sure to find super helpful advice from our top-scoring IB graduates. Here are all our most recent articles, most of which are written by Cohort 3 of our 2021 High School Ambassadors (HSA’s)!
🌟 Learning
Stress in IB: Advice from 4 current students - Jessica, Ghazlia, Devin, and Doménica
💫 What’s the IB like…
in the Midwest U.S.? - Maanyav
in China? - Victoria
🧠 College, SAT and ACT
Best SAT Preparation Tips and Resources - Vaibhav
5 Ways to Boost Your College Acceptance Chances (Demonstrated Interest) - Anoushka
Welcome to our Team!🤩
🇿🇦 Wangari (N20, South Africa) - Gap year
🇵🇭 Regina (M20, the PH) - UCL
🇸🇬 Joseph (N20, Singapore) - 2 years of national service
🇹🇭 Jackie (M20, Thailand) - Santa Clara University
🇦🇪 Shirin (M19, UAE) - UCLA
🇹🇷 Eda (M20, Turkey) - Dartmouth College
🎙Our Favorite IB instas
1. The IB Scientist
Julia is an IB alumna (May 13) living in London, who posts helpful graphics breaking down different areas of the IB Bio and Chem syllabuses, study tips, cheat sheets, and practice questions.
2. IB PodSchool
Liza and Shelly are 2 high school students, who created IB PodSchool for their CAS project! With the help of weekly podcasts, they aim to inform, inspire, and guide all students through one of the biggest journeys of their lives, high school.
🌍World News
In this section, we help you stay informed and engaged about issues close to your home and afar. We don’t just want to raise awareness; we want to equip you with actionable ways to help communities who are struggling. Note: These issues are brought to us by members of our community who are experiencing these realities.
“COVID-19 and Child Labor: A Time of Crisis, a Time to Act” - UNICEF
Nearly half of today's roughly 152 million child laborers are working in jobs deemed hazardous to their health and mental well-being. With jobs being lost due to the pandemic, and an increase in poverty, children are pushed into the workforce to help their families survive. Big companies such as Nike, Tesla, Hershey’s, Apple, and many others rely heavily on sourcing goods from other countries. They have received a lot of scrutiny for the use of child labor in countries like Asia, Africa, and many more.
📋 Here’s How You Can Help
Sign a petition:
Stop Apple, Samsung And China From Exploiting Children To Mine Cobalt In Congo
Hershey’s Trust: Stop Exploiting Children to Grow Cocoa Beans
Learn more:
COVID-19 Has Led to a Dramatic Rise in Child Labor Worldwide - Global Citizen
COVID-19 and Child Labor: Challenges and Recommendations - wbcsd
Covid-19 Pandemic Threatens Progress on Child Labor - Human Rights Watch
📲Stay updated with IBlieve!
Next week we’ll have Nicolle, for our grad takeover! She studied the IB in the Philippines, was the May 2020 cohort, and now is in college at Cebu Doctors’ University. Ask her anything! The Q&A sticker will be up on our Instagram on the 5th of Febuary, so stay tuned!
Find beautiful illustrations of our best advice on our Instagram and Facebook. Here’s Kopal our HSA, and she shows different effective studying techniques!
🌟 Student Spotlight: Priyasha, IB in the Philippines
As you may know, we’re changing things up by inviting new High School Ambassadors (HSAs) to write messages every week, so we can hear more student voices and IB experiences around the world. Today, we’ll start with a Student Spotlight on Priyasha, an HSA and Academic Team Lead.
Hey, Priyasha! You probably don’t get asked this often, but what’s been your most memorable IB moment?
Before going into the IB Diploma program in Grade 11, I heard many stories of people dropping classes after the first week or even after the first month. These stories definitely made me nervous, and more pressured to choose the perfect combination of classes for me. At the end of Grade 10, I signed up for HL Global Politics, Economics, English Language & Literature; SL French B, Math Analysis, and Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS). I was very happy with this combination, but was keen to see if I would like them once Grade 11 started.
The most memorable IB moment for me was after the first 2 weeks of IB in Grade 11. I had this mini epiphany where I realized that these classes were the best choice for me, and that I truly loved them! Not only was I very interested in the curriculum offerings of each class, I was also very intrigued by the connections I could make between classes. For example, our discussion of climate change in my ESS class, had links and implications within subjects like Economics, Global Politics, and even Theory of Knowledge (which I started later on in my first semester). My excitement and passion for these subjects still holds true now in my second semester of Grade 12 - well for most of my subjects. It's hard for me to be passionate about Math and French, but I don't mind them!
I hope all IB students, whether you are in Grade 11 or 12, experienced a moment like this!! For Pre-IB students, make sure you put in time and thought when deciding on your classes. Think about your passions and future goals. We actually have IBlieve articles on this topic on our website! If you have ever have to switch classes, or are currently thinking of doing so, talk to your teacher/counselor and do it ASAP! It will all work out in the end. Remember that IB is much more enjoyable if you truly like at least some of the classes you take.
Best Wishes,
Priyasha
👋 Catch you next week!
Thanks so much for reading this week! We believe in you.
Sending virtual hugs,
Celine
High School Ambassador (HSA) from Canada🇨🇦
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