SEBRING — An International Baccalaureate course carries weight with its admissions committee, a letter from Harvard College states. "Because we often do not know the quality of honors and dual-enrollment courses due to variation at different high schools and colleges, success in IB courses would be generally more meaningful to our Admissions Committee," Harvard Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons stated. For Highlands County parents seeking challenging academics for their children, success means getting an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program started by August 2009. About 250 people attended Monday evening's IB parent information forum at Hill-Gustat Middle School where Ed Vetter, principal of the IB School at Bartow High School, presented an overview of the IB diploma program. ...more

December 12, 2007

A few fine people are at the forefront of a great idea that we urge the Highlands County School Board to embrace. Diane Juve, who is a parent of a district student, as well as Highlands Regional Medical Center CEO Robert G. Mahaffey and hospital Chief of Staff Vinod Thakkar are advocating for the International Baccalaureate Program in our schools. We can't think of a better idea to instantly propel our school district into a new league. The International Baccalaureate program is a college prep program recognized internationally. It has rigorous academics and extracurricular requirements. Our district's best and brightest would compete on a level playing field with students from the best schools in the country. Successfully completing the program is the first step into gaining admittance to the best colleges and universities in the country. The program, which students must earn the right to enter, involves less memorization of facts and more critical thinking and in-depth study in various areas of study. It's a strong liberal arts education, but also stresses math and sciences. It's the same thing prep schools in the Northeast provide their students, and that's why many of them are considered the best in the country. In fact, most of the best high schools in America are part of the International Baccalaureate program. ...more

December 2, 2007