When I finished the IB in May 2022, the prospect of 16 and a half months of no “education” seemed a mix of the most exciting, yet terrifying, time I had yet to experience. After spending such a long time focused on nothing but exams, I was overjoyed to be able to focus on other areas of life I am passionate about. During the summer, I loved traveling in Europe with both IB and A level school friends, celebrating our successes and leaving the thought of exams far in the distance.
I found it slightly ironic that my first real job out of school was as a reception teaching assistant, where I helped in the vital transitioning period for these children, starting the school journey I had just completed. It was stimulating, challenging and at times, physically exhausting- but the joy of helping these children to read their first word or do their first addition was truly thrilling. The IB definitely taught me the importance of spreading out my interests, because I also spent time working as an intern for a casting director, working on a range of feature, horror and smaller scale films too. I learned about the industry, through taking as many opportunities as possible to talk to professionals, watching how they worked and asking questions. I read scripts and made character reports, created cast lists and even helped to choose actors and actresses in some upcoming films!
The IB also sparked a deep curiosity and passion for traveling, from Global Politics lessons discussing development in Vietnam to Spanish lessons watching videos on life in Peru, I was also determined to visit as many places as possible on my year off. From weekends in Madrid and Dublin, visiting friends at University in Washington and New York, to my upcoming 3 month backpacking around South East Asia, I think I can successfully say I have packed my travel itinerary to the maximum!
At the end of school, my gap year felt like it would be ‘education-less’ but I would now entirely dispute this. My mindset was that if I wasn’t actively engaging in things from a textbook, or attending lectures like my friends at university that I wasn't learning. However on reflection, I have been able to gain experience in different fields of work, experience a taste of what the ‘real world’ is like, commit to traveling and exploring new places, and had the most fun, spontaneous, inspiring year so far.
Daisy Studd (Class of 2022)