Statesville High School earns IB Middle Years Programme designation

Posted on by Mike Fuhrman
Statesville High School ninth- and 10th-grade students celebrated the news that the school has received official International Baccalaureate status on Monday afternoon. I-SS Superintendent Jeff James, IB principals from the district’s schools, along with school administrators and elected officials were there to take part in the announcement.

BY KARISSA MILLER

Elected officials, administrators and students gathered inside the Statesville High School library on Monday afternoon to celebrate the school’s recognition as an International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme.

Principal Chad Parker described the path to earning the designation as a rigorous process that involved evaluations of the school’s curriculum, teachers, facilities and other criteria. He told the sophomores who attended the celebration that they had to take “a leap of faith that the program would happen.”

“It turns out, we made it happen!” Parker said. “Congratulations!

To commemorate the achievement, Iredell-Statesville Schools Superintendent Jeff James and SHS IB Coordinator Jill Hartle held up a banner announcing the milestone. Students cheered and clapped.

With the addition of the IB program at SHS, I-SS now boasts an IB continuum in the northern end of the county (Cloverleaf Elementary-Oakwood IB -Statesville High School).

The IB Middle Years Program (IB MYP) offers students a learning experience that is collaborative, hands-on, and centered on real-world situations. Students are taught “how to learn” and to make practical connections between life and studies.

Malia Hunter, a 10th-grade IB student, said she’s glad she chose Statesville’s IB program because it gave her a fresh start.

“I wanted to try something new and be around more people like me,” she said. “I don’t feel like I’m just a number, and everyone knows me individually as a person and that they care about the learning experience that I have.”

Another student Jaziya Mull, 15, agreed, explaining, “I personally love the diversity of the program.”

Students Sofie Erickson and Liliana Billings served as tour guides during the IB authorization visit and said that they appreciate the intellectual challenges IB provides as well as the personal challenges.

“I have learned a lot of life skills that will prepare me for a career. I have participated in community service,” Billings said.

“I’ve also learned a lot about myself,” Erickson added.

Last year, 60 ninth-grade students started the IB program as the first cohort of students. Out of those, 55 remained full-time IB students in the 10th grade.

“This school year, we have 78 students that are full IB (which is six or more classes) in the ninth grade,” Hartle said. “We are growing.”

The long-term goal, she explained, is that every student in the school is in the IB program. Students can take as many IB classes as they want.

The IB program’s underlying concepts, such as its approaches to learning and the importance of learner profiles, are utilized throughout the school, including non-IB classes.

Statesville High is the only school for which the district is seeking MYP and Career Related Program authorization, which they hope to announce the later in a few weeks.

“I’m so proud of the kids and teachers. The teachers worked so hard to make it possible. They helped grow these kids and some of these kids hated school. The teachers have motivated them to think, ‘Yes, I can do this,” Hartle said.