7
MYP Personal Project Journey
Students develop creativity, initiative, and leadership skills, while reflecting on their learning and growth as lifelong learners.
22
Come in and try out!
Grade 9 students visited Roche in Kaiseraugst for an educational experience while enhancing their German language skills.
12
Pedaling Towards Change
Middle school students donate bikes to aid refugees, gain skills.
30 Behind the Scenes of the Robomesse
ISB’s Robomesse robotics competition was a success, with a girls team winning the Excellence award.
14
Carving A Tradition
Exploring linocut printmaking with IB Diploma Visual Arts students.
32 Kinderbot: Building Connections
Robotics students collaborate with young clients to create Kinderbots, forging connections and designing entertaining robots for kids.
18
A Yearbook Masterpiece
Our school receives Jostens Yearbook Award for the second time.
36 Electric Atmosphere & Big Wins
Varsity Girls Basketball Team triumphs at home tournament.
The cover of this month’s magazine features a breathtaking photo
Grade 10,
won our Nature Walk Photography competition during Earth Day for his exceptional portrayal of the beauty of nature.
from Thomas Meeus,
who
Embracing the scenic route to work.
The creation of a stunning botanical mural in the library as part of a collaborative CAS project.
Students helped build a garden aimed at promoting biodiversity and sustainability.
ISB celebrated Earth Day with engaging challenges, workshops, and a keynote speech to promote sustainability at ISB.
Students braved the rain to capture stunning photos of nature.
Carmelina’s journey from ISB to CCA, highlighting her successes, experiences, and advice for making the most of university life.
A look inside the IB Diploma Visual Arts Exhibition.
Welcome to the Spring edition of our school magazine! As the weather warms up and flowers bloom, we’re excited to bring you another issue filled with insightful articles, creative artwork, and inspiring stories.
We’re thrilled to announce that this edition marks a major milestone for our magazine. With contributions from our three campuses, the magazine has officially become a whole school publication. This collaboration showcases the diversity and talent of our entire school community, and we’re honoured to feature their work.
Additionally, we’re excited to welcome three students to our team - Jasmijn Hendriks, Justine Thebault-Weiser and Caroline Nielsen. Their fresh ideas and energy have helped make this magazine bigger and better than ever before.
Whether you’re a student, teacher, parent, or alum, we hope this magazine serves as a window into the vibrant and dynamic world of our school. From interviews with inspiring individuals to thought-provoking essays on current events, we hope to offer something for everyone.
As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions for future editions. Thank you for your continued support, and enjoy reading the Spring edition of Stories Untold!
Ian Hoke
Hooray for light and longer days! With Spring Break behind us, winter feels somehow far off, dark mornings and dark late afternoons forgotten as the mornings tint pink and blue, and the evenings stretch out little longer every day. Spring brings a feeling of having made it through something and into a time of renewal. Maybe you love winter - I do, even in a sad snow year like this past ski season. Still, on a golden afternoon with cool air and hot sun, it’s hard not feel somehow rewarded for our persistence.
Spring in the school year represents the beginning of the end, oddly. We’ve worked hard together since last summer to stretch ourselves, grow, and overcome challenges. Now, we’ve made the final turn of the race, and summer lurks tantalisingly just beyond the finish line in June. For our Grade 12 students, they face their final challenge of primary and secondary education, and summer will bring the springtime of their adulthood, new adventures and new responsibilities. Truly, a new life lies ahead for each and every one of these Dragons. Excitement crackles through our hallways in this time.
In April and May, students and teachers alike bring new energy to the work of learning. We can do this! We even make time for creative efforts, like those featured in these pages. We are renewed, and we are reflective. We create, and we make time to savour the creation. Enjoy everything contained in these pages, and enjoy the reflection stimulated by the creativity of ISB learners!
Story | Jasmijn Hendriks, Grade 11
Photos | Joanne Rodriguez, Head of Arts & Design
On Thursday, February 9th, 2023, Grade 10 students had the opportunity to share their incredible learnings and findings from the Personal Project Exhibition. This year was particularly special, as it was the first in-person exhibition since the pandemic began. The previous two years were done online, and although it was rewarding to showcase their work, many felt that the online format was incomplete.
The MYP Personal Project is a culminating project that challenges students to explore their passions and develop skills in research, critical thinking, and communication.
This year’s exhibition was a huge success. It was clear that everyone had worked hard on their projects and put a lot of thought and effort into their work. I spent the evening learning about the different projects and passions from people. One project that stood out was the selfsustaining terrarium created by James Lawrence. His research on plant requirements and the importance of plants in our lives was fascinating, and the end result was truly impressive. He enjoyed learning about the process of making the terrarium and, of course, actually creating the terrarium.
The Personal project was also a great opportunity for many students to find out different things about themselves, like what they are interested in. I asked Tala Altahan and she mentioned that she learn about her culture,
Students were able to display their finished products and share their passions with others in person.
and she understood different approaches to learning. Like many others, she felt proud of herself when she saw all her learning represented in her final product and finished report and getting the chance to show off all her knowledge.
Not only did the students enjoy the exhibition, but so did the parents, teachers and fellow students. This event gave family members and teachers the chance to see all the dedication many put into their projects, and it gave them the chance to speak in person to the students about their work and interests. As Mr. Champion said, “It was wonderful to see everyone come together to share and celebrate their achievements in a public forum.” He also adviced to pick something you are interested in and are going to enjoy researching and making, as you’ll be doing it for a long period of time!
Congratulations to all Grade 10 students for completing the Personal Project, and good luck to all future students!
Thanks to the generosity of the ISB community we have received over 25 bikes, with more coming in each week.
The project works both ways - not only are we helping others, but we are developing lifelong hands-on skills. We are learning how to adjust brakes and gears, true wheels, repair flat tires and lubricate drive chains.
With limited government support, refugees and asylum seekers in Switzerland struggle to afford transport to get to job interviews, health appointments or just to explore the city. Changemakers in Grades 7 & 8 have launched a project to collect, repair, and donate bikes to OeSA, an NGO supporting asylum seekers and refugees in Basel.
We hope to make further use of our skills by running a bike clean & service program for students and teachers in the Middle School, which will help us fund spare parts, bike locks and helmets for OeSA.
If you’d like to get involved by donating your old bikes or perhaps getting your ride ready for Spring, you can contact us at paul.dawes@isbasel.ch.
Our Diploma Visual Arts students are getting their creative juices flowing in a unique and exciting way: through linocut printmaking. This printmaking project is an important new tradition for Diploma students at ISB, where it is introduced as part of their first-year IB art curriculum. The project provides an excellent opportunity for the students to develop their skills and explore their creativity, while also introducing them to a traditional art form that has been around for decades. Our students are putting their own spin on it by using their creativity and artistic skill to make beautiful and unique artworks.
Measuring at a substantial 42 x 59.4 cm (A2), the large scale of the prints allows for impactful and bold creations. The students’ ability to work on this scale is a testament to their skill and dedication to the art form.
The linocut printmaking process starts with a blank piece of linoleum, which the students carve into their desired design using sharp carving tools. Once the design is complete, ink is rolled onto the linoleum block, and the design is transferred onto paper by applying pressure to the block. The end result is a beautiful, one-of-a-kind print that captures the creativity and vision of the artist.
The students have been experimenting with two different printing techniques: one–colour print and reduction print. The one–colour print involves printing the entire design in a single colour, while the reduction print involves carving away parts of the linoleum block between each colour layer, allowing the colours to build up in stages. By using a limited colour palette or by building up colours in stages, the students are able to create artworks that are rich and dynamic, with a depth and complexity that would be difficult to achieve with a single layer of ink.
What’s especially exciting about this project is that it allows the students to explore their creativity and push themselves beyond their comfort zones. The linocut printmaking process can be challenging and requires a steady hand and a lot of patience, but the students have risen to the challenge and are producing artworks that are impressive.
Story & Photos | Joanne Rodriguez, Head of Arts & Design
Story | Joanne Rodriguez , Head of Arts & Design
Photos | Yearbook Team
It’s time to break out the confetti and celebrate because our 2022 Yearbook with the theme “We All” won the Jostens Yearbook Award! This prestigious award recognizes yearbooks that showcase outstanding design, creativity, and storytelling among nearly a thousand entries. We couldn’t be more proud of our yearbook team for their incredible achievement!
Our yearbook team worked tirelessly to create a yearbook that captured the spirit of our school community. They focused on designing creative layouts, capturing memorable moments, and highlighting the achievements and experiences of our students.
This isn’t the first time our yearbook has been recognised for its excellence. Our school’s yearbook previously won the Jostens Yearbook Award in 2021, and now we’re thrilled to add another trophy to our collection!
The fact that our yearbook has won this award twice is a testament to the creativity, passion, and dedication of our yearbook team.
The Jostens Look Book is a highly respected publication that showcases the best yearbooks internationally. We’re excited to see our yearbook featured in this collection once again, and we hope that it inspires future yearbook teams to aim for greatness and continue to capture the memories and experiences of our school community in unique and creative ways.
Let’s give a round of applause to our yearbook team for their incredible achievement!
We’d like to congratulate our yearbook team on their outstanding achievement and thank them for their hard work and dedication.
Story | Grade 9 Phase 4 German class of Birgit Meier
Photos | Birgit Meier, Modern Languages Teacher
In our Grade 9 German class, we had the Unit “Schulleben und Arbeitsleben”. We talked about our future plans and what we might do once we are done with school. Therefore, in February 2023, we went to Roche in Kaiseraugst by train. Roche has a program, which is called “Experio - discover and research”. It was an exciting moment because all given instructions we had to follow were in German only. We had the opportunity to try out different tasks.
Journey Through the Laboratories and Workshops at Roche
In this laboratory task, we would combine ink and water, and using distilled water, methanol, and acetonitrile, we would separate the ink substance from the water; this process is called chromatography. We used blue ink in distilled water, then added methanol and acetonitrile, separating the ink from the water. This was cool as we had never seen this before. Here we improved our German because of the instructions and people, which were in German and they were quite complex. We were also surprised by how excellent the laboratory was and how they set up everything neatly for us.
In this experiment, we made a solution by mixing salt with ice, to make it even colder than it already was, it was very fun to see the results change so quickly! I found that my ability to read the German label for the instructions was very good. I was able to do any experiment in the laboratory whilst reading the instructions with ease. I think that the laboratory was one of the best activities because it was very interesting, informative, and fun!
Ella: “I think that this opportunity to go to Roche in Kaiseraugst was both very helpful and interesting for our future careers, as well as beneficial to our German interaction skills. The activities in the lab were what I enjoyed most: conducting experiments with different instruments and chemicals. It allowed us to listen and respond back in German and engage in useful conversations that will further our German learning. Overall I found this trip a great opportunity for those including myself who would consider exploring a career in medicine or science in the future, thank you to Frau Meier for arranging this for us!”
We have five sample medicine boxes and one of them is the correct box. With the magnification glass, we have to search for the other four medicine boxes and we have to compare them with the correct medicine box. We have to identify the mistake in the boxes and write it down on the sheet of paper. We had to write what the exact mistake in the box was and how it was different from the correct medicine box. Overall, this was a very fun task to do and it made me concentrate and stay focused.
We are using a soldering iron to create a circuit board to power a functioning lightbulb. It was a cool and interactive way to try something new and we really enjoyed this experience. We were also able to gain more experience with speaking German in a new context, as the entire program was in German. Overall, the trip was a really helpful experience, because it shows us what we could possibly be doing in the future after we graduate. We learned new things about ourselves and things we like to do, and the fact that it was all in German was a new and beneficial way to use the language outside of a classroom setting.
Ashika: “ I found this trip to be a very enjoyable and enriching experience as we were able to experience and develop skills needed in the three main courses we did. The first was a science-based experience, the second was a desk job and the final one was a workshop experience. We were given many activities within these three fields to explore, which allowed us to understand the skills we needed to develop if we were to choose a similar career path. I personally enjoyed the science lab experiments the most and this experience has now allowed me to understand that exploring career paths involving science would be a good choice for me. Furthermore, being able to experience and experiment in person as opposed to learning about these careers in class allowed me to get hands-on experience on what the path would be like. This trip also allowed me to put my German skills into practice and to understand how well I would be able to work in a German-speaking environment.”
I am using a wire cutter and pliers in order to bend a long piece of metal into a paperclip. It was quite hard to get the wire at a straight 90º angle, but nevertheless, I kept trying. In the end, I was semi-successful (with a not-so-straight paperclip). I really enjoyed this trip, and learning about the wide array of jobs available in pharmaceutical companies. When I grow up, I would possibly like to work in one of these companies, however, on the medical side. This trip was very fun and unique, and really let me see what is available for me when I leave school. I loved it!
We had to solve a brain teaser of sorts, where we were given a ball that could be constructed and deconstructed from just two pieces that were not symmetrical. Using as few cuts as possible, we had to recreate the contraption with a chunk of clay, which we morphed into a ball and used the knife to cut the clay. We had various ideas on how to approach this puzzle, some of us tried to go with a few cuts and work from there, whereas others tried to mirror the object cuts whilst navigating both balls and keeping track of each cut.
On February 23, ISB hosted our second annual Robomesse robotics competition, with a team from IS Lausanne, two teams from TASIS, a team from Leysin American School and four teams from ISB. This competition served as the Swiss qualifying tournament for the world robotics competition in Dallas, Texas. The competition consisted of four components: qualifying matches, design notebooks and interviews, skills challenge, and official matches. During qualifying matches, robots were paired up against each other to score points. Design notebooks documented the building process, and teams were interviewed and scored based on their documentation. The skills challenge required a team’s
robot to score as many points as possible in one minute. In the final component, teams that scored the best in the qualifying matches formed alliances to compete for the trophy.
The award for the design notebook and interview went to the ISB Grade 11 boys team; Josh Alcobia Gomes, Asger Otte, Rodrigo Watanabe and Jordin van der Graaf. The skills challenge award was given to the ISB Grade 11 girls team; Anika Kerls, Olivia Avalos Villar and myself. The matches trophy was awarded to the winning alliance consisting of our ISB Grade 10 team; Peter Drock, Xander Wiersma, Julius Wienand, Vansh Dudani, together with the TASIS boys team. Our ISB Grade 9 boys team; Anton Delebarre, Iacopo Roncoroni, and Noel Ahnesorg won the award for placing best in the qualifying matches. The team from IS Lausanne was awarded the Judges award which recognises a robot they felt had a lot of potential and performed very well. The winner of the Excellence award would be the team invited to Dallas, this year the girls team from TASIS were selected as the Excellence award winners.
ISB students in the Design Robotics class collaborated with young clients to design and build Kinderbots, creating meaningful connections and designing robots that could entertain and delight young children.
The second semester unit for the inaugural Robotics Class at ISB was entitled “Kinderbots, Designing for Play.”
Grade 9 and 10 Students were tasked with designing and building a unique robot that could entertain a young child.
As part of our research, the four classes travelled to the Vitra Design Museum (in Weil am Rhein), in order to see their exhibition entitled “Hello Robot.” This exhibit featured historical robots from TV and movies such as Wall-E and R2D2, but also real-life robots such as Spot made by Boston Dynamics.
In February, we took a short trip to our Junior School campus to meet with EC2 and Grade 1 students. All Grade 9 and 10 creators were then paired with one or two Junior School students who could serve as our clients. We asked them questions about their interests and tried to draw out ideas from them about what would make for a great robot. Using their ideas, we created sketches that were then delivered to them to get a feel for what type of robot we were creating for them.
In March, we began constructing the robots based on our design. As this was a unique build, it was slow going at first. Eventually, the robots started to take shape, and by April most students had something at least capable of motion. At this stage, the EC2 students came up to the Senior School for a visit to Robostadt. This got them excited about the creation, and gave us an opportunity to troubleshoot parts of our robot that needed the most work.
On May 11 we will showcase our completed robots to peers at the Reinach Robot Reveal on the Senior School campus. May 16th will be the main event, which is Kinder Robotag. All robotics students and creations will go to Junior School campus for an afternoon of Robotic Awesomeness.
It has been an amazing season for the Varsity Girls Basketball team. We had a team of thirteen great basketball players with the best coach to carry us through the season and together we were unstoppable. In our first tournament at ZIS in Zurich we placed second after only losing one of our games to the tournament winners, ZIS. We were all disappointed with the outcome and felt we could have brought home the gold so in the next few weeks we worked even harder and got ourselves ready for our next tournament in Geneva. We were more prepared than ever, getting big wins throughout the day. We were ecstatic, after hearing that final buzzer the whole team rushed onto the court to celebrate.
Determined to keep this winning streak going we only got better and better with everything leading up to our biggest tournament of the year that we would be hosting, with teams from Cairo, Israel, London, Geneva and Eindhoven present as well as our JV team, who did very well placing 4th in a Varsity tournament.
The relationships we built over this season and the great memories we made will surely be something we will all remember for a very long time.
Throughout the tournament we received amazing support from students and staff who came down and watched our games. The atmosphere was electric with tons of cheering. It kept the energy high and helped us to get some big wins over the course of the tournament. By far the best game was the finals, where we played with the team from Cairo, the gym was absolutely PACKED. The game started off close with both teams battling for each point but after a while we took over and held a 10 point lead, winning by 12 points in the end. Celebrating with everyone there, knowing we were ending our season on a high and sending our seniors off in style was a euphoric feeling, mixed with emotions of sadness that our season had now come to an end. We hope to continue our success next season and wish our seniors Alex, Bea, Georgia and Kylie the best of luck, they will be dearly missed.
The IB Diploma Visual Arts Exhibition has finally opened its doors in March, and what an opening it was! The dimly lit foyer set the stage for an atmosphere of anticipation, but as soon as the event kicked off, the lights suddenly came on, revealing an array of stunning artworks from thirteen talented exhibitors.
From digital pieces to 3D installations, interactive works, printmaking to traditional paintings, and everything in between, this exhibition truly had it all. Visitors were able to explore the vast range of media and styles that each artist had brought
to the table, each piece speaking to the unique perspectives and experiences of its creator.
One particularly exciting aspect of the exhibition was the inclusion of interactive works. Our audiences were able to engage with pieces that responded to touch or movement, drawing them in and immersing them in a world of sensory experience. Whether it was a sculpture that shifted and changed as viewers walked around it, or a digital display that responded to the sound of their voices, these pieces truly brought a new dimension to the exhibition.
The IB Diploma Visual Arts Exhibition is a thrilling showcase of emerging artists’ multidimensional artworks, spanning digital, 3D, interactive, painting, and drawing media.
In addition to the stunning artworks on display, there was also a silent auction where proceeds went to the Red Cross. This added an extra layer of meaning and purpose to the event, allowing attendees to support a worthy cause while also celebrating the incredible talents of the exhibiting artists.
The IB Diploma Visual Arts Exhibition was a true celebration of creativity and talent. With works spanning so many different media and styles, there was truly something for everyone to enjoy.
Commute times can be a dreaded part of the workday, but for some individuals, it can also be a time of relaxation and appreciation for the beauty of the world around them. In this article, we will explore the experiences of one ISB staff member who uses her daily commute as a time to enjoy the natural landscapes that she encounters along the way. Despite the weather conditions, Céline finds solace in the peace and tranquility of her morning commute, which helps to prepare for her workday ahead. Through her story, we will discover how taking time to appreciate the beauty of nature can have a positive impact on our mental and emotional well-being.
“Every morning, whatever the weather, I take my car to the school for work. And every morning, I can appreciate the quiet and the beauty of the landscapes that pass in front of my windshield.
For about 40 minutes, it could be a sunrise over a plain, a forest bleached by frost or snow and sometimes some wild animals in the fields - that relaxes me and makes me ready for my work day.”
Last year, Emmanuelle Dardier, Elena Bregy, Esha Tata, Anna Droc, and Evelyn Khaznadar started a new mural in the library as a CAS project. “The idea was to combine inspiration from two artists: Esha and Emma. We wanted to create a mural related to botanicals and plants that should be more appreciated, conserved, and protected rather than destroyed. We split our digital sketches so they could fit equally on 5 canvases. We then used a projector to project the images and trace them on the canvas. We could use our own palette of colour except for the background we agreed upon. Once we finished painting, we needed to put up the pictures so they fit together well”.
Story | Anne-Marie Le Manach Thinnes, Librarian
Photos | Joanne Rodriguez, Head of Arts & Design
The result of this wonderful collaboration is stunning and brings life and colour to the library!
The Green Spaces group was originally created in 2021–2022, led by Alec Ramos. They focused primarily on building the garden now located on the first floor balcony of the Senior School campus, aimed at providing a ‘Green Space’ for students to enjoy and to contribute to local biodiversity.
I officially took over the project at the start of 2022–2023, however I had been helping out with the watering and weeding of the garden since the end of last year. When I took over I wanted to really work on improving what the last group did. My aims included making the balcony and garden more aesthetically pleasing, making sure there was enough shade to sit in and enjoy the fresh air in the summer and further aiding biodiversity by placing bird houses or insect hotels. I’ve always had an interest in gardening and in plants and botany in general, I was part of the plant propagation club even. Aside from that I enjoy participating in activities that will allow me to help. Whether that be helping people or helping the community I always see it as fun.
Thanks to the extremely dedicated students in my team –James Lawrence, Anah Ansari, Alexandra Klotz, Lucia Bricchi and Sofia Ollier Rabach, we’ve managed to push through and make a lot of progress already. We hold meetings on Fridays, along with the rest of the Environmental Society, we typically spend this time arranging watering schedules or discussing and researching ideas for the garden. It is my hope that as the weather progressively improves we can start meeting out on the balcony instead.
So far, we have succeeded in the construction of a pergola on the balcony, a structure that we plan to grow vines on to create shade for students to rest or hang out under. Since construction has officially ceased, we are now looking forward to planning new ideas, this time focusing on furnishing the garden.
Story | Lavanya Mahendrakumar, Grade 11
Photos | Environmental Society Group
We celebrated Earth Day on the 25th of April. This year, we wanted to make the ISB community more involved with Earth Day, so we decided to organize some fun activities for both students and staff.
A few weeks before Earth Day, we gave each department a challenge: they had to find an innovative solution to an environmental problem at school and present their ideas through a video. The department videos were very creative, entertaining, and insightful; students had an opportunity to watch them in their homerooms the week before Earth Day and on the day itself.
We were off timetable for the first two periods on Earth Day. We broke up the day into three sections. Firstly, we had a guest speaker, Alexa Firmenich, from ETH in Zurich to deliver a keynote speech to start us off. She provided us with key insights on climate change and an eye-opening perspective about giving our emotions and thoughts surrounding the climate crisis just as much importance as the facts and figures. Secondly, students returned to their homerooms for the homeroom challenge, something similar to what the teachers had to do the week before Earth Day. Each homeroom received an environmental problem at school and had to record a video with a solution, either as an entire homeroom, or in smaller groups. Finally, along with the help of teachers, staff, and some alumni, we organized workshops such as Nature Photography, Birdhouse Building, Make your Own Body Scrub, etc that students could pick from to attend. The workshops aimed to provide students with some easy tips/ways to live a more sustainable life. Throughout the week, along with the Red Cross group, we also hosted a thrift market to raise money for charity.
Overall, Earth Day this year was a success. A huge thank you to all the staff, alumni, volunteers, and of course, the enthusiasm of the ISB community, which made this possible and successful. We are looking forward to planning an equally enjoyable and informative Earth Day next year!
As part of our Earth Day celebration, we offered a Nature Walk Photography Workshop. Students learned some basic photography techniques and participate in a friendly photo competition.
Story | Joanne Rodriguez, Head of Arts & Design
Finalist | Jasmijn, G11 Finalist | Kris, G10
Finalist | Kirin, G11
Finalist | Camila, G9
Finalist | Elias, G9
Finalist | Caitlyn, G9
Despite the rainy weather, the students had a blast exploring the beauty of nature and capturing it through their lenses.
The workshop covered fundamental techniques in photography, such as lighting, composition, and framing. The students were engaged and eager to learn, and it was an incredible experience to see them apply their newfound knowledge in the real world.
We embarked on a peaceful walk through our school’s garden pond and surrounding neighbourhood. The students put their photography skills to the test,
Photo Credits | Kiki, G9; Sian, G11; Piotr, G10 Ritik, G10; Kaede, G9; Zhi Yu, G11
capturing breathtaking shots of nature in all its glory. From the tiniest insects to the grandest trees, there was an abundance of subjects to photograph.
We are thrilled to announce that the winner of the photo competition is featured on the cover of this spring issue! Congratulations to the winner, Thomas Meeus, and all the participants for their stunning submissions. It was a magical day filled with nature, photography, and creativity. The finalists were chosen by a panel of judges, including staff and Environmental Society leaders, and the top entries were reviewed by a panel of twenty-six professional photographers. It was an exciting and competitive process, and we were blown away by the talent and creativity of our students. We can’t wait to see what amazing shots they’ll capture in the future!
As an alumni who graduated from the International School Basel in 2022, Carmelina Fulford has already accomplished so much. She earned a scholarship to attend university and chose to pursue her passion for Art & Design at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco. Although she applied to other prestigious universities such as the Academy of Arts University (AAU) and Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD), CCA offered her the most attractive scholarship package.
During our online chat, she shared her journey from earning a scholarship to attend university to being in the Dean’s list for her outstanding academic performance. Carmelina has made the most of her opportunities at CCA, and she encourages others to do the same.
Being an international student, Carmelina has fit in well at CCA and has made many friends even before starting school. She has learned a lot from her teachers and feels that the IB prepared her well for university. In fact, she was pleasantly surprised to find that she was more knowledgeable about citations and being a critical thinker than some of her peers.
Carmelina is currently enrolled in foundation courses at CCA, which has exposed her to different disciplines in Art & Design, and has helped her improve her drawing skills. She even discovered a new passion in woodwork and created a Mayan weapon to reconnect with her heritage. Carmelina is proud of her creation, and it was a reflection of her mental health journey.
When she’s not studying, Carmelina enjoys exploring San Francisco and working part-time in clothing and cosmetic retail. She loves living in the dorms, which are modern and stylish, and enjoys the melting pot of cultures and cuisines in California. She admits that the McDonald’s in the USA is not the same as Switzerland, but she loves trying out new foods and experiences.
Carmelina has some advice for our ISB students, “While it’s important to focus on your studies, don’t forget to make memories with friends and explore new places”.
Carmelina misses her friends and the environment at ISB, but she’s glad she made the decision to study in San Francisco. There’s always something to do in the city, and the transportation is pretty good, so there’s no excuse not to get out and explore!
Carmelina is thriving in San Francisco and is grateful for the opportunities and experiences that university has given her. She encourages all students to make the most of their time at university by balancing their studies with fun and adventure!
