The end of this year’s MYP 5 marks a significant milestone for students at Ascend. As they wrap up their final year in the Middle Years Programme, it’s a time for reflection on past achievements and future aspirations. In this article, we delve into the journey of 19 students through 10th grade, navigating challenges like the personal project, e-portfolio, and e-assessments. We’ll also explore our excitement for the DP and how the bonds forged in the MYP will guide them through this last step of their school journey.
In 10th grade, alongside our regular classes, we embarked on the personal project journey—a pivotal element of our academic year. This element was a requirement, which helped us learn about our preferred field and create a product to show our learning. While we all had a personal project bootcamp and already had a sense of the ideas we wanted to go forward with, the report writing process was still unknown. Thankfully, the guiding hand of our Personal Project coordinator, Radhika Gahlaut, steered us through every stage of the process. We navigated the complexities of planning, applying, and reflecting, with the final completion of the 15-page report. Balancing the demands of the project alongside our regular schoolwork challenged us to manage our time effectively and prioritize tasks. This journey was finally validated by the exhibition, as the parents, teachers, and other students all came to each one of us personally and discussed our projects, helping us feel content with the exhibition.
While the Personal Project introduced a completely new aspect to our academic journey, we also continued to explore the E-portfolio, a familiar component since the beginning of MYP. Initially offering two options—Design and Visual Arts—in the 9th grade, the addition of Music in 10th grade presented an exciting opportunity for artistic expression, albeit with one less year for practice. The E-portfolio served as a medium for us to unleash our creativity and delve into our passions within th
e fields of design, visual arts, or music. Through reports or Google slides, each of us documented our individual journeys, going through the unique demands of our chosen subjects. By the end of the tiring and long E-port, we had each crafted meaningful pieces that not only reflected our comprehension of the subject matter but also celebrated our distinct artistic voices.
Over the course of five years, the MYP had equipped us with the skills, knowledge, and mindset necessary for the final step: the e-assessments. As the first batch to undergo three sets of exams within three months–an increase from 2 sets–from pre-mocks to mocks and then finals, we faced uncertainties and apprehensions. However, the pre-mocks provided us with the valuable opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the e-assessment software and hone our exam-writing skills. This early practice alleviated much of the stress associated with the subsequent mocks and finals. The final e-assessment was the last step we took in the MYP, and we will now be moving forward with the memories we created.
For 10th-grade students, the MYP was a mix of stress and hard work. However, the achievement of being able to move to the Diploma Programme is something every student anticipates, and makes the work done in MYP more worthwhile. The DP is infamous as one of the most challenging curriculums, and we are all aware that the next two years might just be the most draining of our lives. Nevertheless, something which excites the students is the specificity of subjects and the ability to choose topics that spark their interests. To quote the words of the 10th-grade class representative Naina Madan, “
Most notably, we look forward to the freedom of choosing subjects aligned with our interests and the opportunity to experience new challenges that lead to personal development.” It is safe to say that the DP is something that will always be an excitatory and frightening experience for the 10th-grade class. As a member of the grade, I can confidently say that all my classmates have the capacity to be independent and resilient in order to do well in this programme.
The MYP is a course that allows room for teachers to teach differently and use engaging activities in class. These activities help the class become more comfortable with the teachers, as well as one another. In my opinion, the freedom offered by the MYP in terms of teaching style and workload gives the entire class a lot of time to interact and grow closer to one another. After 5 years of learning, every student’s personality has matured, reshaped and shared certain characteristics with the rest of the class. This never failed to leave room for new friendships with people who joined in the middle of the programme. This was well put by our homeroom teacher Ms. Pooja Sudhir, “In my view, what defined Ascend’s MYP Batch of 2024 was their authenticity. Through the web of interpersonal relationships and the complexity of each MYP subject, each student in this class rose to discover their inner self and come closer to it with each passing day. Their path was not devoid of obstacles but each time, each one of them persevered and emerged as independent young adults that would inspire the adults around them.” Although the 10th grade class was an extremely small group of people, this allowed us to foster meaningful and lasting relationships with everyone around us. We shared our experiences, successes, failures and stresses with one another, which together made the 10th grade seem like a family more often than a class.
Words would not do enough justice to summarize the MYP. The variety of experiences, friendships, conflicts and emotions is truly inexplicable. Nonetheless, I can guarantee that at least a few memories from this chapter of our lives will last a lifetime. Looking back at the MYP, I feel proud of the development that the class has made individually and academically. I wish the best to my classmates for the upcoming two years and I have faith that we can all get through the DP with flying colors.
