Juliette Buiter was a student of Erika Elkady, the Uptown High Middle Years Programme Co-ordinator. Juliette kindly provided us with her perspective and learning as an IB graduate.

When did you graduate (DP)?

• 2007

What was your subject package?

• English A1 HL
• Dutch A2 SL
• History HL
• French B SL
• Biology HL
• Maths SL

What were your results per subject and your total number of points?

• English – 6
• History – 7
• Biology-5
• Dutch - 7
• French - 6
• Maths – 4
• Total- 38 points (3 extra points)

Some info on the Extended Essay, CAS (Community, Action, Service) and Theory of Knowledge.

I put considerably more effort into my Extended Essay than anyone I know! Most people were satisfied after two or three drafts and I think I ended up having at least ten. But I chose an interesting topic and had a wonderful supervisor (Ms Elkady) and I think that those two things (along with intrinsic motivation) are most important in producing an ‘excellent’ Extended Essay. I also think that many people underestimate how much the Extended Essay can actually help you – all my hard work paid off in the end as it helped me get three extra points totaling my score from 35 to 38 points! Plus for the Extended Essay you have to learn all the MLA and APA rules, you need to learn how to write an abstract and you need to find a systematic way to do research and plan everything: all useful skills for university!

For CAS I ended up getting 510 hours, and that halfway through DP2 I just stopped counting. CAS was supposed to be challenging and push you into activities which you normally wouldn’t do and it worked!! I volunteered at the Eindhoven Marathon twice; I was editor of the yearbook and ISSE update; I gave Dutch lessons to an American teacher; I started with piano lessons and I joined the musical. So I think that CAS really helps shape students into more rounded all developed people because you are more or less forced to step our of your comfort zone – for example, if you are not a sporty person you still need to do at least 50hrs of sports!

In DP1 I really enjoyed Theory of Knowledge, I learned to look at things from different perspectives and I was very enthusiastic about the class.

How did the DP prepare you for university?

Looking back I actually found IB a lot more stressful than I am finding college. The whole system is based on you passing your exams at the end of a two year run and that is very stressful and not everyone can handle it; but if you successfully complete the program and have worked hard for it, than I am convinced that you are truly prepared for university. Looking at my peers, I see that their writing skills, analytic skills and knowledge of other cultures and systems is very behind my own! (Note: the students in my courses have all gone to national schools and not an international one). Already this has put me at an advantage, although I’m disappointed that I haven’t had to apply many of the skills I have learned in IB to University. In IB, it is not a matter of learning and cramming lots of little facts into your head and just writing them down on paper; of course you do need to learn the facts, but then you need to think about them and draw links between them. You need to apply the facts you learn and not just regurgitate, and I think that it a great skill to have learned because that is also the way things go in the ‘real world’.

Where and what do you study now and in what year are you?

• University of Tilburg
• Freshman Human Resource Studies

Welcome to Juliette’s CAS Journal

As I write this my DP2 exams are fast approaching and when I look back over these last two years I am amazed at how much I’ve learned! I’ve grown inside the classroom and outside of it and I attribute a large part of my growth to CAS. Later in life I see myself being an important manager of a multi-national company and with this goal in mind I chose many of my CAS activities.

Participating in the musical(s) helped give me confidence in my speaking ability, while volunteering at the Eindhoven marathon gave me the chance to get a ‘behind the scene’ look at the organisation required to plan such a big event. Being the Student Council President gave me the opportunity to practice coordinating and organizing, while teaching Ms. Halsey Dutch taught me about patience, using different approaches (to learning) and being creative. Of course my writing and communication skills also need to be good if I want to be successful, so for that reason I decided to become editor of the ISSE Update, Yearbook, and I joined the Creative Writing Club.

Of course as a manager you also need to find the correct balance between work and relaxing…and playing the piano, doing yoga and running allowed me to get ride of my stress and find an inner balance – so that is good practice for later on.

I know that I still have a long way to go before I can start my career, but I feel like the Diploma Programme and all it’s aspects (CAS, Theory of Knowledge, and the Extended Essay) have prepared me well. I have become a better-rounded person and thanks to CAS I have also made many more friends (in different years and outside of school) than I would normally have and that helped make my experience at school more worthwhile!

No matter what happens now, I have many wonderful memories, new skills and friends, and goals…and that is all at least partially due to CAS!