Senior Fedora Cherelus on Academics and Leadership
By Janvi Rao, Staff Writer
Sept 20th, 2023
What is senior year at School Lane like? A senior shares her experiences with the full-DP program- the challenges she faced, the opportunities she has been given, and how she used these experiences to improve herself.
Photo By: Fedora Cherelus
Fedora Cherelus is a senior at School Lane High School; she is a Full-DP student who shares her experience and talks about balancing her life between her studies, leadership and adjusting to a new schedule. Fedora talked about being in a full-DP program and taking SL (Standard Level) and HL (Higher Level) classes, and how she manages her classes with her life.
Fedora explained the DP program, saying, “The DP curriculum is made up of six subject groups and the DP core which comprises Theory of Knowledge (TOK), creativity,
activity, and service (CAS) and an Extended Essay (EE). Similar to essays students write at the college level.”
According to the School Lane website, “The [DP] curriculum spans the student’s junior and senior years allowing them to develop a deeper understanding of knowledge and learning align with the school’s mission to prepare students for lifelong success.”
“I am a Full-DP student, I am taking SL and HL Classes such as DP Lang & Lit (HL), DP History of Americas( HL), Theory of Knowledge (TOK), and APP classes,” Fedora said. “When I was deciding whether to do Full-DP or not, people were like, it is tough, and they kind of scared me, but honestly Full-DP is not hard,” she added.
Though being a full DP student can be difficult at times, Fedora says that as long as you keep yourself dedicated to your goals, you can be successful. She says choosing full DP can be helpful, regardless of your goals after high school. “If you care about your post-secondary plans, whatever they may be, if that looks like college for you, military, or entering the workforce,” Fedora claims, “as long as you know that you are a dedicated person who gives their all in everything they do, you are fine.”
Fedora also elaborated on her leadership skills and the programs she participated in or organized. She talked about The CAS Project, where you create a program/project, and you are required to take part in activities that can be classified under creativity, activity, or service. It is necessary for full-DP students to do this project to get credit for it. Fedora organized a Talent Show for the 2022-23 school year, she said, “doing it was stressful, but it did pay off because I learned a lot of leadership skills, and I came out different than I was before.”
Lastly, Fedora can prove to be a good leader in the near future because of her way of communicating with others and the way she organizes and manages her work as a full-DP student. As Fedora waits eagerly to hear from the many colleges she applied to, we wish her all the best in her future beyond School Lane!
Work Cited
Diploma Programme. School Lane - YouTube, 9 March 2019,
https://www.schoollane.org/o/slcsib/page/diploma-program-dp-grades-11-12. Accessed
16 October 2023.
