The Results of IB

Hell is officially over. Nothing on the planet could possibly compare to what I went through emotionally and psychologically and what I have successfully completed. For those of you who don't know what the hell that is the International Baccalaureate Programme is, you're lucky. It's a 2, 4, 7, or 12 year program that is supposed to be helpful. Check out the International Baccalaureate Programme link for more information because that's far more politically correct than what I'm about to say about it. Me, I went through seven years of that. Started in 6th grade and I had no idea what I was getting into. Now, looking back, I just shake my head and wish my past self luck in her endeavors. I would go through it again just because of how much I learned and grew because of it. I understand stress more than I could possibly want and that can only do me good in the future. As much as I have complained about IB, especially the past four years, I'm grateful. I really am. I promise the world this. There were days that I hated it and days I hated myself for choosing to put myself through it. There were days when I wanted to quit and give up and take the easier path. There were many sleepless nights and stressed out days, breakdowns, and being so tightly strung that one more little thing would have made me break. And I'm not ashamed to admit it that during Junior year, the only two things that kept me going were pride (because some sick part of me enjoyed the torturous work I was going through and I didn't want to go back to a normal school when I'd been part of accelerated classes) and sheer stubbornness because that was my sixth year of torture and there was no way that I would let it beat me (and the same thing went for my seventh year of hell). Now those are two of my most prominent personality traits and I know that because of what I had to go through to get them so finely honed, those two will last with me for the rest of my life. Come hell or highwater, I will have pride and I will have stubbornness and between the two, there is not nor will there be a challenge too great (see, told you the pride was a central characteristic) for me to overcome.
I did not give up. I kept fighting through everything. And I am so very proud to say that I am a recipient of the IB diploma. And for my class of 2014 who stayed in IB, we did it. We stayed. We didn't quit. We each had our own reasons for staying, but that doesn't matter now. We earned what we learned about ourselves. And best of all, it's over now. New challenges await us and we are ready to face them with heads held high and the confidence that can only be earned through coming, seeing, and conquering. We're ready. I'm ready. And I'm ready to step out of what I know and embrace that which I have in my future. Because if I know me, and I've done a lot of soul searching because of this program, not even the sky is the limit for me. BRING IT ON!

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
~Albert Camus