2011 Citrus County International Baccalaureate

Awards Speech, April 9th, 2011
by IB Coordinator Darrick Buettner

People often ask me, “How’s IB going?”  That’s difficult to answer.  I have my opinions but how do we arrive at the truth behind that question.  Shakespeare wrote that “The eye sees not itself but by reflection.”  So, in order for us to accurately see how IB at LHS is doing, we will need to find mirrors to help us in that reflection.

Reflection — the ability to understand yourself, to see how you fit into the world –is one primary goal of an IB education.  Reflection is the reason IB students do Creative, Active, and Service activities and take the Theory of Knowledge class.  The importance of reflection cannot be underestimated and is not limited to students—it is a lifelong endeavor.

Reflection can be a difficult task but rewarding task because of what it teaches us about ourselves and the world.  I know firsthand the lessons learned from reflection.

In high school, I was considered one of the better basketball players in my grade.  In fact, I made the varsity team as a freshman.  That following summer, I went to an invitational basketball camp in Indiana and was put on a team of talented players—one of whom was Sean Kemp. Sean Kempt eventually played in the NBA for 14 years and was an all-star for 6. At this camp, I quickly realized that although I might be a pretty good player in my small high school in Wisconsin, I wasn’t that great!  The stark reality of my averageness came when I was the last person to play in our first camp game.

That week I worked harder and hustled more than ever before.  By the end of camp, the coach made me a starter for our camp tournament.  I was thrilled.  Before the tournament began, the coach asked me if I knew my role that day.  I said, “Yeah, score points so we win.”  He said, “NO!  Your job is to pass the ball to Sean Kemp.  You don’t shoot.”  He told me that I was starting not because I was so talented but because I could follow directions.

So, sure, my pride was hurt, but I learned a lot about myself and life that day.  Most importantly, I learned that pure, unrelenting hard work will get you farther than personal ability (an IB quality), I learned that there are always people out there stronger than you and that it pays to be humble (another IB quality), and I learned that you always follow directions given to you by the boss / coach / teacher / or your parent (another IB quality).

My experience that summer proved Shakespeare’s point that the “eye sees not itself but by reflection.”  I could not tell how good or bad a basketball player I was until I had a mirror—in this case other basketball players.

The same holds true for us tonight.  To see our IB program accurately, we need to find some mirror by which to see our reflection.

One mirror is Ft. Myers—one of the best IB programs in the state.  They average 200 graduating IB seniors every year.  However, their first graduating IB class (the class of 1995) had only 4 students.  Our first class of 2012 will have almost 40.  It took 5 more years before Ft. Myers had over 60 IB graduates.  At Lecanto, our 2nd class will exceed that number.

A second mirror is to look at other beginning IB programs.  A typical beginning IB program will have round 40% of its students finish as IB seniors.  At Lecanto, 64% of our students in the class of 2012 will finish and, as it stands right now, so too will 85% of those in the class of 2013.

Another mirror for reflection is to ask “Besides public schools, what other schools offer IB?”  The answer?  Some very elite, very private, and very expensive schools:  Schools like St. Andrews Prep in Boca Rotan, Gulliver Prep in Miami (a school with students from 22 different nations), and Windermere Prep in Orlando.  Winderemere Prep, by the way, was the school that Tiger Wood’s children would have attended.  Tuition at these schools can cost $15,000 or more per year.  That is $60,000 over four years—not to mention the extra IB fees parents have to pay for. At Lecanto, our PIBS / IB students have access to the same curriculum as these other private schools—BUT for free.

I would now like to turn the mirror of reflection directly onto the IB class of 2012.

I had the privilege of teaching this wonderful group of students in 10th grade AP English Language and also in 9th grade Inquiry Skills (I am sure that they can all remember the Rubik’s Cube).

It is true that all students who take IB accept a challenge.  HOWEVER, the students of 2012 are serious risk takers.  They had no class ahead of them to ask “How hard is Coach LeCours?” “Do you really have to speak Spanish in Senor Sullivan’s class?” “What’s TOK all about?” No one could answer those questions.  They had no idea what they were getting into.  They were literally and figurative adventurers setting out for a brave, new world, not knowing whether the Earth was flat or round.  Because of their daring and perseverance, all of our future classes will have a much easier time.  Words cannot express how proud I am of this class.

BUT, we also have two excellent classes behind 2012.  To the class of 2013, I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching you this year.  To the class of 2014, I look forward to getting to know you much better next year.  Overall, Lecanto could not have asked for a better group classes by which to build our IB program.

If it is true that “the eye sees not itself but by reflection,” then I hope that I have allowed all of us here tonight to more accurately and truthfully see how well our IB program and our IB students are doing.

I want to finish tonight with a few words of thanks:

I would like to thank our school board members, district personnel and administrators for their unwavering and unconditional support of IB.

I would like to thank our teachers for their own risk taking and constant desire to improve.

I would like to thank our students for accepting the IB challenge AND remind them that hard work, humility, and following directions are the path to success in IB and beyond.

Finally, I would like to thank all of our parents for their support and specifically our IB Parent Organization and the Ceremony Committee headed by Mrs. Keeran for its perseverance in making this event possible.  This event tonight did not occur because of Lecanto High School; it occurred because of our Parent Organization.  A successful IB program must have involved and active parents, and I ask that you as parents continue to stay involved OR to get involved so that our students have the best educational experience possible.

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