Long Beach High School congratulated graduating seniors who successfully completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program during a recognition ceremony held on June 6. The sixth annual event featured an open mindedness theme, which is one of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile traits.

Sixty-two students were presented with stoles, signifying their completion of two higher-level and three standard-level International Baccalaureate courses, internal assessments, external exams, Theory of Knowledge course, extended essay and 150 hours of community service this year, a monumental task on top of an already challenging high school academic program.

Long Beach High School became an International Baccalaureate World School in 2010. International Baccalaureate classes are known for their academic rigor and encourage students to be inquirers, well-balanced, thinkers, caring, reflective, knowledgeable, principled, open-minded, risk takers and communicative.  

Superintendent of Schools David Weiss addressed the students and audience, and discussed the purpose – or the “why” – of International Baccalaureate. Principal Jeffrey Myers followed up these comments by describing the “how” – the ways in which the district makes it possible for students to receive this extraordinary opportunity for a world-class education.

IB Coordinator Jennifer Quinn shared remarks as well.

“It is with great pride that we come together this evening to celebrate our 62 IB Diploma Candidates,” she said. “They are a group that is really quite special and have captured the hearts of our teachers, counselors and administrators.”

Senior Sarah Wachs was chosen by peers as to speak on behalf of the IB graduates.

“The IB world lens on life provided us with a rich and full understanding of the topics we have studied, and allowed us to internalize knowledge, rather than memorize it in attempt to get a good grade on an exam,” she said. “All the hard work done inside the classroom opened our minds to the future, to the lasting world connections we have yet to make.”
    
Teacher Tamara Filloramo served as the evening’s Key Note Speaker and focused on the open-mindedness attribute.
    
“We open doors that would otherwise be welded shut; we are able to see and to wholeheartedly believe in life’s limitless opportunities and boundless possibilities,” she told the seniors. “We are in a constant state of evolvement, of movement, of growth.”

Each student’s name was announced and administrators presented stoles to Kayla Abbott, Kristen Abbott, Ian Adler, Liza Adler, Joseph Aebly, Kailey Ahearn, Mashiyat Ahmed, Jennifer Arnaud, Finian Ashmead, Melissa Baldeo, Emma Biffer, Samantha Chase, Chloe Curley, Robert Del Prete, Kelly DiResto, Luc Esformes, Brad Evangelista, Tamia Evans, Caroline Farrell, Alexander Gavilanez, Nicholas Gorlatch Boswell, Kate Hanson, Brooke Harrington, Bianca Hayes, Christopher Hutchinson, Christian Jovel-Arias, Savannah Kile, Justin Kolodny, Natalia Lake, Matthew Maquet, Jessica Marcote, Mary-Elizabeth McCourt, Peter McQuade, Samuel Miller, Shane Morris, Kaitlyn Murphy, Phillip Persky, Thomas Purizaca, Natalia Quintero, Siobhan Rafferty, Stacyann Ramsaran, Eric Ricci, Quincy Roman, Jorge Romero, Jonathan Rovitz, Erica Russell, Taras Rybalchenko, Farrah Salazar, Leah Shokrian, Blaine Siegel, Aidan Smyth, Ruany Soca, Megan Sofield, Charles Spada, Govinda Thomas, Alexandra Thursland, Jessica Umanzor, Fey Villagomez, Sarah Wachs, Iain Wall, Jarrett Weitz and Cassidy Zawatson.