Upcoming Projects in IB Classes

Story & Graphic by Kate Gerding – Staff Reporter

   The next few weeks are a big deal for IB students. Most IB classes are finishing up their IAs or “internal assessments”. Kennedy McEnany, senior, is enrolled in several IB classes this year and has been working hard on upcoming projects.

   “I’m taking IB Biology, IB History, and IB English. IB Biology is probably my favorite class that I take because it’s just so fun,” McEnany said. 

   A significant part of IB students’ grades are the different assessments each course requires.

   “For English, we write essays and we have orals and speeches, for IB Biology we have an experiment, and then for IB History, we have a deep analysis of a particular thing in history,” McEnany said. 

   The topic that students choose for their IAs is pretty much completely up to them. The most important goal is that students can apply what they have learned in the course to their projects.

   “It’s really about students interpreting the course to their own extent and their own likes and values,” McEnany said. 

   Students can start working on the project whenever they want, as long as it is completed before the due date the teacher assigns.

   “I started working on it last semester, I had all my data collected before winter break.  I really wanted to be ahead of the grind, but a lot of people are starting on it now and I’m glad I started it a lot earlier,” McEnany said. 

   McEnany’s experiment for her Biology IA involves topics that are very close to her.

   “I am talking about how mycelia, which is mushrooms, how they have the potential to soak up oil pollution…hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were poisoned by the water,” McEnany said. 

   It is important for students to choose something they are passionate about to keep them interested in their research. 

   “As someone that’s really concerned with indigenous people’s representation in our modern-day society, and also someone that’s obsessed with mushrooms, I was super excited to have the opportunity to experiment on my own,” McEnany said. 

   Looking ahead to the last few weeks of school after IAs are wrapped up, students will take their IB exams in May.