IB retreat 2015

IB-Retreat Bad Honnef – February 2015
On Monday, 9th February 2015, we began our tour to Bad Honnef in hope of gathering answers for all of our curious questions, many of which had the same intention, which was to know, what An International Baccalaureate (IB) actually is?

And what advantages await us when committing to this challenge of which we had heard many intimidating stories about.
On the first day, without wasting any time, everyone wrote down all of their questions that they had weighing on their shoulders, which were then displayed altogether, and would then be answered in the next three days that we spent together. Later that evening many teachers took the time to advise us about their subjects, giving us a more diverse knowledge about all the subjects, which gave us all an idea of which subjects we would choose if we commit to IB.
The second day, 10th February, we began our day discussing more about IB and we were informed that later that night, former IB students would take the time to give us more insight to what efforts and challenges await us during our IB career. Our private talk with the former students implanted a sort of fear in us when we heard that many sleepless nights lie ahead of us, and an intensive amount of effort as well as time and work management is required to complete all the necessary work, however, it made it clear to all of us that we all wanted to accept this challenge of completing the IB.
All in all we learned everything we wanted to know about the International Baccalaureate, which we discovered had not only an advantage in our school and in our future working career, but also a self accomplishment of achieving a new skill, that being able to plan and structure our time and prioritize our work.
Our time at Bad Honnef was not only a learning experience about IB, as we also took the time to explore the central town and discovered the interesting history and culture of Bad Honnef – this was a good way for us to spend some time with the other fellow students, and discuss our personal views and opinions about choosing IB.
The IB tour was a major eye-opener towards IB which we would not have had without the help and guidance from our very generous teachers, Mrs Flüßhöh, Mrs Meinecke, Mr. Leitheiser and Mr de Wijn who put so much appreciable time and effort into encouraging and teaching us about IB and being our ultimate support.
Chayane Coetzee, EF