WSA Sponsors Second Community Forum on University Recognition of the IB Diploma Programme

March 14, 2011 - PRLog -- West Sound Academy (WSA) and the Kitsap Sun, in cooperation with Annie Wright School and Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, are presenting a community forum on university recognition of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme at Bainbridge Performing Arts on April 18, 2011, from 7 to 9 p.m. This is a repeat of the community forum that took place on March 12th.  The featured speaker will be Sandra Wade Pauly, University and Government Liaison, IB / North America & Caribbean, Vancouver Canada office. Pauly works with the College and University Recognition Task Force of the International Baccalaureate Organization, and advises universities on the unique strengths and qualities of IB Diploma Candidates. She will discuss the college acceptance rates, advanced academic standing and honors placement, scholarships and awards, and enhanced college performance and graduation rates of students who have completed the IB Diploma Programme.

Heads of School from three Pacific Northwest IB World Schools will also be presenting at the forum: Christian G. Sullivan, Annie Wright; Mark Pierotti, Forest Ridge; and Joe Kennedy, West Sound Academy. These school administrators will each make a short presentation, and then participate in a panel discussion and question and answer session with Pauly. Representatives from all three schools will be available in the lobby of Bainbridge Performing Arts after the forum to talk to anyone interested in finding out more about their programs.

The goal of the community forum is to provide information on what the IB Diploma Programme has to offer students and their parents.  Pauly writes frequently for IB publications, including IB World Magazine, and in one such article she gives a rationale for events like the one that West Sound Academy is presenting in April.  Pauly states that while “IB diploma candidates report that they gain immensely from their two-year commitment to an outstanding curriculum” their parents need “to see more tangible benefits of the demanding and intense process that they live through during this two years:  access to the best universities and recognition of the work completed.”  

The event on April 18th is free and open to the public.  Anyone wishing more information can call West Sound Academy at 360-598-5954.

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West Sound Academy: an independent college preparatory school for grades 6-12 on the Kitsap Peninsula in Poulsbo, Washington, providing a rigorous academic and art curriculum and offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in grades 11-12.