By Rebecca Sontag

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through inter-cultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.” – Bob Herring, Purcell Marian High School Director of the International Baccalaureate program.

College credit, principled learning, engaged thinking with an international perspective: This and more are what Purcell Marian High School offers its students with the school’s new International Baccalaureate (IB) designation. The International Baccalaureate is a non-profit organization that partners with schools to deliver an education that teaches not just facts and figures, but an innovative approach to education, placing an equal focus on academics and other transferable skills, in order to best prepare students for success beyond high school.

Principal Andy Farfsing said, “We wanted to offer our students a more holistic education that will instill in them the skills, knowledge and outlook to succeed in the 21st Century, both in their local community and in the wider world. At the same time, we wanted to give our teachers the opportunity to be a part of an international network of experts leading the field in education. We are delighted to become an IB World School and look forward to the many benefits of the program.”

Purcell Marian, the only private school in the Greater Cincinnati region to receive this distinction, has appointed Bob Herring to oversee its IB program.

To receive an IB diploma, the students are required to take nine college-level courses, with each course extending over a two-year period. In addition, students write a 20-page thesis and have the opportunity to travel abroad as part of the program. Students not seeking the IB diploma designation still have the opportunity to take individual IB courses for college credit. Regardless of whether or not students choose to enroll in the particular IB offerings, they all benefit from the faculty and staff’s shared vision of educating thoughtful and dynamic thinkers who have a global perspective.

Colleges and universities, both in the U.S. and elsewhere, widely accept IB courses for college credit. The credits given vary from one institution to another. Yet students graduating with an IB diploma can oftentimes start their college careers as sophomores.

For more information regarding Purcell Marian and the International Baccalaureate, visit: www.purcellmarian.org and www.ibo.org.