The first high school students to complete their International Baccalaureate on P.E.I will graduate this month.
There are 35 IB grads from two Charlottetown high schools. The advanced course in high school studies is run by an international group, which sets the curriculum and marks the final exams.
Colonel Gray and Charlottetown Rural high schools say they are happy with how the program is going, even though there was a high drop-out rate. Half the original class left the program between grades 11 and 12, many because it was too time-consuming or too difficult.
"It certainly is more challenging," said Lori Ronahan, Colonel Gray's IB coordinator.
"The students themselves will find really busy times. They may not be able to drop what they're doing and go off to the movies on a Thursday night. They do have homework probably to the tune of two hours a night."
While her classes are over and exams done, Tate Ferris was back at Colonel Gray this week painting a goodbye message on the wall under the title Class of 2011. Ferris said the IB program is just what she needed.
"Just the push and the challenge of it was really what I feel I needed to have a good education going in to university," she said.
Even before their grad ceremonies the students' hard work is being rewarded. Many of them already have full-tuition scholarships, and some of them have even earned enough credits to jump right to their second year at university.
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