MIDVALE, UTAH – The perception of the International Baccalaureate program has been shifting among students of Hillcrest High School over the past several years. Throughout the past few years, the perception of the program has actually improved among the people attending Hillcrest High.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is, according to the IB website, a program that “develops inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and
more peaceful world.” What this entails, essentially, is that students in the program take harder classes and do community service to obtain a better diploma.
John Olsen, the coordinator of the IB program at Hillcrest High, agrees with this sentiment. According to Olsen, “Those things are part of the IB learner profile- there are 10 IB learner attributes, so certainly those 3 are very important.”
Olsen, who went through the IB program in high school himself, had a very favorable view of the program overall, giving it an 8.3/10. This sentiment can be seen in the student body at Hillcrest High as well.
According to Carson Jurgaitis, a student at Hillcrest High and an IB course student, while they used to think that the IB program wasn’t worth the effort, their opinion has actually
reversed.
When asked about their opinion of the IB program, Jurgaitis said that “Freshman year I didn’t know much about it, but I think in my Junior and Senior year I have a mostly positive opinion
of it.”Jurgaitis also agreed with Olsen about the success of the program in developing “inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people,” saying “inquiring, knowledgeable, caring… yeah
that sounds good.”
Although Jurgaitis was not as supportive of the IB program as Olsen was, he still gave it a 7/10, which was fairly close to Olsen’s review.
Overall, it is evident that Hillcrest High has done a fair job of marketing the IB program to Juniors and Seniors, which has led to an improved opinion of the program among the upperclassmen.