It is not normal for western highschool students to be too academic but at some degree, more and more teens grow with greater ambitions. Some just stretch their load like Juliette Woodrow, a 16-year-old junior at Aspen High School in Colorado, who wanted to complete a full International Baccalaureate diploma program and take aeronautics class for her Advanced Placement program.
Taking both an International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement classes is tough. But Woodrow is taking an online IB class plus eight more courses on top of that as featured in US News. She said she does not want to give up the latter because of her ambition to get a pilot's license. Woodrow is able to survive the two educational commitments by keeping track of her tight schedule. She is just 16 years old and is very good with time management already.
Olivia Belliveau, 17 years old, from Bunnell High School in Stratford, Connecticut, is taking AP Calculus BC through the Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative. Taking online classes is tough when it comes to discipline according to her. "I have to be disciplined enough to set aside time each day to do online work when no one is reminding me to," she says.
Both Woodrow and Belliveau do not get the same in-class interactions as they would in the regular IB classes. But there are some opportunities to work with different AP classmates of different cultures from around the world through video chats, discussion forums, and facebook interactions.
A normal IB program requires six hours each week and in Woodrow's case, she needs to log on to the course some more hours every week and try to teach herself using the materials provided online. It is quite challenging to maintain these loads. Apparently, AP courses are twice as tough as any regular IB course.
While many are in a dilemma in choosing between IB and AP, Woodrow and Belliveau choose both to chase their dreams. Perhaps the two girls made great choices and their financial investments on and energy would not be in vain.
