Latest / IB Unplugged / Knowledge in the Service of Africa w/ Adzo Ashie

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Knowledge in the Service of Africa w/ Adzo Ashie · IB Unplugged

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Welcome to IB Unplugged, a Kognity podcast for IBDP educators,
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that tackles your submitted challenges and questions by connecting you with
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experts and peers who share their ideas and stories from real classrooms.
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Whether you're a seasoned educator or new to the IB world, each bi weekly episode
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and guest aims to equip you with practical tips and positive inspiration,
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helping you teach with more confidence, creativity, and joy.
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So whether you're walking your dog or commuting to school, hit play and join
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a community of educators ready to learn, laugh, and thrive in your IB journey.
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Hi everybody, and welcome to this week's episode of IB Unplugged where John and I
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are coming in from Johannesburg, South Africa at the African Education Festival.
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For this episode, we have the pleasure of meeting with
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Mrs. Adzo Ashie,
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the Vice Principal of
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SOS Hermann Gmeiner International College in Ghana.
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And Adzo is somebody that Kognity has had the pleasure of working with
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so many times in the past.
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The most specifically, we hosted a conference
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at her school in Accra and she has just been a fantastic person
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to work with that really, you can tell she has such a passion for the IB.
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She's a really reflective and
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motivated person to see positive change in the IB in her school.
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And so when I found out we were going to be in the same place
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at the same time, we said we absolutely need to have a chat.
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Yeah. So here we are.
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Adzo is a part of the pioneering class of IB students in Ghana.
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And then since being an IB student, went on to then eventually work at the IB,
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come back and now is vice principal at that school where she went.
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And so she's got this really unique perspective
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of how you can take that journey from being an IB student
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working in the IB, then come over to being at a school.
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What does that cause?
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What are the sort of implications from that? What can we do with that
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sort of information that comes with that experience?
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And how can you create
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a really meaningful educational experience for people in Africa
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so that we can help to have some real growth
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that we can address some of the barriers
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that are there and come up with the new opportunities
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that we could present ourselves with, for education in this area.
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Yeah.
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So I think it's going to be
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a great episode full of ideas, especially around ideas of,
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CAS community service oriented ways of getting your school involved.
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And yeah, we're excited to get started.
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So hi, Adzo, welcome to IB Unplugged.
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We're so excited you're here.
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I am too.
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Good morning.
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Yeah, it's a good place to be, right?
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We're obviously able to chat with you here live at the African Education Festival.
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And so we appreciate you taking your time to chat with us now.
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And, and talk a little bit about what it means to take this idea
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of global citizenship, but act a little bit more locally.
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And I know we're going to get into that more detail.
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But before we do, you were also an IB student.
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So I wonder if you could just, start us off by how did being an IBDP
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student shape your perspective on education?
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Well, you're taking me back about 30 years.
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No, certainly not.
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Even though I don't look it, I know that, but, Yeah.
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So I think
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when I look back on my experiences in IB students, I think about three things.
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I think about the IB as an education experience
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that allowed me to develop my head, my heart and my hands.
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So intellectually I grew.
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I grew compassion in terms of really looking at my community and what I wanted
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to do in terms of making a difference, the heart and the hands.
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I learned to be creative, and I think that, for me sums up an idea.
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Education is about developing the whole being the head, the heart and the hands.
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I love that, yeah, and especially the hands part.
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That part kind of caught me off guard because I also thought, action, right?
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It's you take action on this, not just I've developed more intellectually,
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you know, I'm more compassionate, but now I'm I'm responsible for doing something.
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Absolutely.
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And it's too it's it's about the creativity, right, with the hands.
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But it's also, like you said, is the action with the hands.
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So you. Absolutely right. Yeah. Yeah.
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And then thinking about the school that you're working at right now
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I know that at Kognity we've been lucky enough to work with you in your school.
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And one of the kind of core elements of your school is knowledge
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in the service of Africa.
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And I was wondering if you could share what does that mean to you personally?
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So knowledge in the service of Africa is our school's motto.
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And it defines who we are as a school in terms of the kind of people
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we want to develop.
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And for me personally, I think about it in two ways.
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One is that I have a responsibility to use my knowledge that I've gained,
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in education or in my
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life journey to improve the lives of others.
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Right?
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So knowledge, bring it back to the continent.
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And then another perspective is about being aware
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of what the needs of my community, gaining knowledge about the societal
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needs of my community and taking action on that.
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So when I think back to my experience of my school,
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because I was a student there as well, now I'm a vice principal.
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Oh, you were a student at the school? Absolutely, yes.
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I know you were one of the first IB students in Ghana, right?
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Absolutely.
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We were the guinea pigs.
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I told my former principal,
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we were a good experiment because we all turned out pretty well.
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In 1995, when the program started with the first graduates
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of the IB diploma program in Ghana, and there I see West Africa.
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But yes, it was it was, quite an experience.
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And one of the things that we used to do as a school,
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so we believe in service as a school.
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And that was obviously enhanced by the IB as well.
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And I think that's why our school decided to take on the IB,
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because there's so many synergies
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in terms of the kind of people we wanted to grow at the school.
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And so I remember I think it was my, I don't know, three months
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into the school, we spent a weekend at a home, an orphanage,
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and it was life changing because we were hanging out with the kids
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who were playing with them, were eating with them.
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We cleaned up after them, and that helped me to grow my compassion right?
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The heart.
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And ever since having left my school
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and I'm working there, I've always felt the need to contribute to my community.
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So whenever there's an opportunity to serve,
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I'm looking to do that, and I drag my family along with me as well.
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So it's it's something that I think the school really embedded in me.
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And I continue to do that until today.
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That’s such a beautiful memory of, of that time in school.
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I think if I were to ask somebody,
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what do you remember most about the DP program?
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I don't know if they'd remember something as, as beautiful as that.
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Do you have another memory of being at the school at that time
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that kind of sticks out?
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Oh, TOK.
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Because I don't know if it was, a pleasant memory.
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But it was one of those, those memories that I think
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I'm like for this course was really important for me.
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I remember I struggle with I'm like, what are they talking about?
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Because one of the things that I loved about the IB
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and to the diploma program was that I found my voice.
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You know, we talk about agency now in the IB, but the IB gave us agency
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in 1995 when we were the first group of students in Ghana
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during the program, because prior to that, I had been in a curriculum.
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I'm not going to mention any names.
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That was a bit more rote learning. Okay.
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And the IB was now asking me to think and to challenge and to ask questions
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and to have that was really empowering for me as a student.
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I think the IB empowered me
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and empowered us as we started the program, in our school.
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Yeah, I love that.
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I want to continue that journey then. So we're
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talking about kind of these elements and then how do you think that
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between the agency, the experience, the CAS, all of these different pieces,
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putting it together, what led you to then say, I'm going to come back
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and I want to pursue this, career in education?
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Didn't happen that way.
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It was not linear.
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I think I was just thinking about I mean,
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I was just thinking about my journey, right? Yeah.
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And I remember when I was young, I wanted to be a lawyer
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because it felt like it was a cool thing to become like,
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yeah, you know, and I was very passionate about social justice.
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I'm a mission driven person.
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So I remember
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my mom said when I was eight, I was like, I want to be a lawyer
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and I want to change the world and be a social justice lawyer.
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I had no idea what I was talking about.
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But then when I went to college, I shifted gears and I wanted to go
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into international relations, and I wanted to work with the United Nations.
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And then when I finished college, I took a different pathway altogether.
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So I worked in an orphanage for a few years.
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So I worked in an orphanage for a while in Ghana, and then I went to work
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at the university, and I think, I think I just realized
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that to have impact education is there is a role to take.
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Right?
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And that's when you get to impact the lives of young people.
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So I think my journey to education wasn't, you know as straightforward.
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Yeah.
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But I found where I'm meant to be because I love working with young people,
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and I love being able to see the impact that as educators,
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we can have on young people in our community.
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Are there any experiences that you remember from being a student
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that now shape how you eat today, that you kind of hold with you
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and almost kind of empathize with like, yeah, I remember doing that
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and therefore we need to go this direction. Yeah.
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And I think you touched on it, empathy.
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Because the IB diploma is challenging.
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It's a very challenging curriculum and I don't know how I survived it.
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In 1995, how we survived it because we were all new to it,
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the teachers, students, the community.
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And I think it was a really brave thing for our school to take it on.
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And I want to give credit to, my former head of school doctor, Mrs.
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Margaret Kumar, who, you know, really worked with the team
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to bring it to the school and, and a lot of other incredible people.
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But it was a really brave step that they took.
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They took a huge risk.
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And I remember thinking, this is hard, right?
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But it's too difficult times that you build resilience.
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And so as a an assistant principal now I think one of the things I try to do
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is just encourage my students that it's possible.
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Yeah, you can do this.
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So I give them those kinds of words of encouragement.
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I've been through it, I survived it, yeah.
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So you can and I tell them about the fact that it's going to prepare them
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for college and for life, and it's worth it doesn't seem that way right now
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when you're doing your IA’s and your EE’s and it's like, why?
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Why am I doing this?
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I tell them it will pay off.
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Just trust me. Yes. Yeah.
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I always like to say it's meaningful, achievable and enjoyable.
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And then my kids go, no, it's not.
10:41
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11:13
So now back to the show.
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For the next segment, I want to be really diving in
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more to that motto and mission of your school.
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And so going back again to knowledge and the service of Africa,
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what does this really look like in practice?
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If somebody is visiting your school, what are they seeing of you
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embodying this?
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So, at our school,
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knowledge in the service of Africa is about how we take in our knowledge
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and having an impact in our community.
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Right.
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So what do we know are the needs of our community, and
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what action are we taking. And our students do this in a variety of ways.
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It's sometimes informal.
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So over a summer break, a student who come and say, hey, Miss Ashie,
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guess what I did to some of them?
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Like, what did you do?
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Do I want to know?
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But they're very excited to share.
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And I go, yes, you know, I had a knee injury
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and I couldn't play soccer, but there was a school nearby and I realized
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that they didn't have any resources or, you know, soccer equipment.
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So I got my dad to give me some money, and I was able to go donate
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and hang out with the kids.
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And that's how I spent some of my summer or another student will come and say,
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I spent my summer going into my hometown in a small community
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teaching their kids how to debate,
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because I've seen the value of the United Nations in negotiation
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and debating, and I wanted to teach kids in my local community how to do that.
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So that's the informal things. That's amazing,
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that that's informally, can we just like, recognize that?
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That's awesome.
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Yeah it is.
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And this is just two of many examples.
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And I think it starts because
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students talk about what they're doing and they're inspired by each other.
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So I know once sometimes when we have an assembly we can have
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students come and share stories like this.
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What do you do over the summer?
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And then we share the experiences and others are like, I want to do that too.
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Yeah. So they inspire each other.
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But the more formal structures we have in terms of service,
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the community is one way we do that is to DP one service, project.
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So every DP one class takes a project that they work on
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for a year as a way of giving back to their community. So
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we've done dozens of projects.
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I'm sure we've raised millions of dollars, but our students in the past
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would actually go and be part of the construction crew
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carrying, you know, materials to build a school in the local community.
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We've had students raised money for an incubator in a public hospital.
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We've had students paint and refurbish,
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the children's wing in a psychiatric hospital.
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So the list is endless in terms of service to the community.
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But this informal, there's a more structured approach.
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And as a school as well, we we rally around a cause sometimes.
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So last year,
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the leadership went with the students to a community to see what their needs
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were and to look at how we could help and and support.
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That's awesome.
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Tell me about what what happens with the students when they do that?
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Not just like here's what we did, but what do you notice
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changes in them when they engage in those types of activities?
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Yeah, I think it opens your eyes
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to the reality because our students, it's a mixed bag.
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Some of our students are very privileged and some of them are coming from,
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vulnerable backgrounds.
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So all of them, I think it's eye opening for them to realize
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that the other school like ours, and they have a very comfortable,
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environment to live and to stay
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and to work in, and they go on into the community and a bit of a bubble.
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It's a boarding school, right?
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So they're there and you're like, oh, everything is,
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yeah, easy to just sit here in a bubble.
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Exactly. And when they go on to community,
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whether they're, you know, on Thursdays we have CAS.
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And so they go out and, and they go into classrooms
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that don't have the same infrastructure as we have in our school.
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So that gives them pause
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to appreciate what they have. So they appreciate what they have.
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I think it also gives them a sense of responsibility.
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I need to do something with my knowledge after I have graduated,
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after I've gone to college, how am I going to help this community
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that you know, I'm a part of?
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And so is the gratitude is there is a responsibility.
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And I think there's a bit
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of a domino effect as well, because like I said, when other kids
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share about the things they are doing, they're like, oh, I want to do that too.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So it achieves those in our students.
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I have to ask. You said on Thursdays we have CAS.
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Yeah. What does that mean?
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Because like when I think of CAS, we kind of go you go at your own pace.
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We have meetings throughout the year.
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What do you mean we have on Thursday?
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I think our school is a bit weird with that.
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So this is something we've done for 30 years or more.
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Every Thursday is kind of after school,
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is like our CAS day.
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And I think we do CAS in different ways. Right?
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We have sports on different days.
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We have, you know, activity, whatever throughout the week.
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But then Thursday afternoons we try to make more time for CAS activities.
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So some students would go and do, crocheting
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for an hour and a half.
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Other students would go and tutor in a local school for an hour and a half.
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Other students would go and do some dancing for an hour and a half.
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So Thursday afternoon is we dedicated to doing
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some more creativity activity, service.
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I like that because it, it, it automatically puts
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a lot more focus on this is the intention and what we want to do with this time.
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Yes. Yes. You'll be active in other spaces. You'll serve in space.
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You'll be creative.
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But now I want you to intentionally think about it here.
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That's cool.
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Yeah.
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And we get teachers
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as well as advisors and supervisors of that of the process, too.
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I'm taking that with me. Yeah. Okay.
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For the next that we're
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transitioning again now I'm taking you back in your journey.
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So I think, it's so fascinating to me to talk to people who've worked in
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both the IB organization, and now you're working back into a specific school.
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You've learned from both these experience of being able to work across
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Africa and your role with the IBL.
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And how have you seen the IB grow and evolve across Africa
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since you began working in this space in the beginning when you joined the IBL?
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So I joined the IB as the first development
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and recognition manager in 2012.
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Yeah, so that was 14 years now.
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And it's remarkable.
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I think the IB has made some important strides on the continent.
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To first create this role for me was an indication that the IB was looking
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at, you know, how do we grow and how do we have a footprint on the continent.
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And it was a good start.
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And I was again, the guinea pig.
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You know, I like to take risks, I think I think I'm a risk taker.
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Yeah.
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Even though I don't like to think of myself as that.
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But anyway, I was the first development manager,
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and and 14 years later, I see a lot of growth.
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I think, you know, I remember in my country, Ghana, where I started,
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I think we had a handful of schools, maybe 4 or 5.
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There are now 13 IB schools.
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And that's also across the continent.
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You've seen the growth of IB schools.
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You've seen,
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organizations like education, advertising take on the IB.
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So we have seen the IB now in groups of schools which didn't exist before.
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You've seen the IB hosted incredible festivals, right?
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Like what we are going through right now.
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And it started in 2018, in Ghana.
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I remember the the head of development at the time, my,
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my manager said, let's do a festival in Africa.
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I said, let's do it. Yeah. And this is where we are.
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How many years later, you know, eight years later, this incredible festival
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that's bringing educators together, we are celebrating
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what's so great about Africa and African educators.
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So the IB festivals has been incredible.
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We had one meeting.
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I was an only development manager, and now they have three people in the role.
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Yeah.
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I think the IB now has,
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you know, provided opportunities in terms of access,
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giving discounts to schools that want to introduce the IB program.
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So I think we are making strides in terms of, you know, the IB
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is making strides in terms
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of, you know, really growing the the IB on the continent.
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I love these examples because it's true.
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You can see how it is really growing and it's
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creating these flourishing moments for for the IB to exist.
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Do you see other opportunities that might be like on the horizon,
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what might be coming up in the next 5 to 10 years that we feel
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are kind of the biggest opportunities for the IB on the continent?
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I don't know, I mean, I think there's a lot more that we can do.
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I don’t want to be Oliver Twist and ask for more,
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but I think I think, you know, I think then and I still do think now,
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when I was IB manager, I thought..
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The IB is the best kept secret for this content.
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I don't think as many people know about the IB as it should.
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You know, and I think that's something that the IB could really leverage.
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Yeah.
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And that might require some more marketing or other approaches.
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How do you make the IB better known on the continent?
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Right?
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And part of it is to recognition, whether it's government or universities,
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you know, if you can get key institutions
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to know about the IB, but also parents,
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and teachers. Right?
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I mean, like I said, there's a lot that's been done.
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But I think if we can grow, just get people more knowledgeable
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about the IB and the impact and what the program does,
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it would help us as schools get more students and parents,
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but it will also help our students when they're going to university
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to make sure that the IB diploma is recognized so that they can go get,
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you know, the credits that they would get in the US college,
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which they wouldn't get in an Africa university.
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So recognition
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and and growing the IB. The IB should be a household name.
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Yeah. On the continent. Yeah. Yeah.
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It's been so interesting talking with different people here at the festival.
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And so many of them even are kind of explaining like,
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oh, this is my first time knowing something about the IB.
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You know, I just wanted to come to learn a little bit more about what it
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what it is.
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And then you hear like, well, this is the context in which I'm teaching now.
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And it's very kind of
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it was jarring for me, actually, to be at an IB conference
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kind of thing, an IB Festival and hearing people
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talk about this style of learning and like, I'm the professor.
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The students sit here, they listen to me, I tell them what's up.
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I don't care what they have to say.
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And it was like, this is a completely different way of looking at things.
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And for me, it was jarring to go, well,
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yeah, that's that's IB that's kind of what's going on here.
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So I agree with you.
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I think the really a lot of this is just growing that knowledge, growing
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that knowledge base. What is the IB and why is that a useful thing.
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Right. Exactly.
21:42
I think recognition is definitely one of them of getting there.
21:45
But then I'm wondering if you have any other reflections on other barriers
21:49
for schools facing implementing these programs in the African context?
21:54
I think I mean, there are many barriers.
21:56
I think one is cost, of course.
22:00
As working the school now,
22:01
I see how expensive it is to implement the IB.
22:05
And if you are on the continent and you're dealing
22:08
with exchange rates, that's an extra challenge for you.
22:12
So in Ghana, the exchange rate is like what
22:15
depending on the year right now,
22:16
it’s like 11 cedis to a dollar. Okay.
22:19
In Nigeria is like a thousand cedis to a dollar.
22:22
So implementing a program in dollars or euros or whatever is expensive
22:26
because you are charging fees in cedis.
22:28
So the exchange rate is a barrier
22:29
and the costs of implementing the program.
22:32
Finding teachers who are trained
22:34
and understand IB pedagogy, like you were talking about,
22:36
John, making sure you're not professing, you know, the professor, but you actually
22:41
you know, facilitating the learning and training teachers to understand that,
22:44
you know, that's also a barrier because you have to get
22:46
the right kind of teacher, you know, to be an IB teacher. Right?
22:50
So,
22:51
the constant exchange rate, the teacher.
22:54
And then also, as I mentioned, recognition, right?
22:56
If your students can get into a university on the continent,
22:59
then why would you or a country?
23:01
Where would the parents want a child to do the IB
23:04
unless they are leaving the country or the continent then it makes sense.
23:08
Okay.
23:09
All right I understand that.
23:10
And now that relates really closely
23:12
to some of the things that we've been hearing at the festival
23:13
so far with the idea of like build up competencies, build up growth
23:18
and that know your local context and get back to your local context.
23:21
And I think a lot of what other people
23:22
have been saying so far as a lot of times people grow this education.
23:25
They might learn these things in the IB
23:26
with the intent on leaving the continent to go to some university
23:31
that, you know, might be known well, but then it's that idea of like, but
23:34
we need to enrich this here in the continent itself.
23:37
Absolutely.
23:38
And I mean, I think when I, when I went to school,
23:42
what, 30 years ago, that was the goal, right, was to get an IB
23:46
education, get a high quality education and access top universities
23:50
around the world, which I did. Yeah.
23:51
But now with my students, I'm
23:53
getting them to think about opportunities on the continent
23:56
because we have equally good universities on the continent.
23:58
And so we should be able to get you into a local university for you to thrive
24:03
and succeed as well.
24:04
How are you navigating that conversation?
24:06
I mean, I imagine
24:06
there's also a big conversation with the parents, because maybe a lot of
24:10
parents are thinking, I'm sending my student to an international school
24:13
because I want them to have an international future.
24:16
Exactly, exactly. I mean, I think that's the thing.
24:19
Parents want their kids to go abroad.
24:21
They want them to go
24:21
to the top universities to have a two year old at Cambridge.
24:24
And yeah, around the world, you know the big names, right?
24:27
But they can also send them to the Ashesis.
24:29
Ashesi is an incredible invest in Ghana as a leading university globally.
24:33
And that's recognized and it's in Ghana.
24:35
So it's about having those conversations and helping parents realize
24:38
that you also have some high quality universities.
24:42
And we do what we have a study in Africa Fair every year.
24:46
So our students can also explore the opportunities
24:48
that exist for them on the continent.
24:50
That's something your school sets up for this.
24:52
Okay. Exactly.
24:53
They bring people from the universities then. Yes.
24:56
So we host a fair.
24:57
Yeah.
24:57
And we invite universities to come and talk about what they offer
25:01
for our students because the students also,
25:03
I don't want to stay on the continent. I want to go abroad.
25:05
Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:06
But now we have more and more.
25:07
Over the years, the students are seeing that they're getting a valuable education.
25:11
And and they recognize that I can stay here.
25:14
Yeah. And I’ll be fine.
25:15
Not just fine, but it's kind of reframing
25:17
what's what is a great university experience for me. Right?
25:20
And I think too often we kind of go to QS rankings
25:24
or something like this that ranks a university and say, well,
25:26
this is the top one and therefore that's where to go.
25:28
But reframing what are the things I'm looking for from a university?
25:32
Because yeah, rightly or wrongly,
25:34
knowledge is a little bit more accessible in some ways.
25:36
So what are the things I'm
25:37
trying to get from this, this university that's going to help me out?
25:40
And then maybe that helps them realize this actually
25:43
is the best university for me.
25:44
This is the best one, the right fit. Yeah.
25:48
You've got to be a little bit, forgive me I'm just naive.
25:51
You got to be a little bit uniquely placed as somebody who came up through the IB.
25:55
Worked in the IB now in an IB school where you were before.
25:58
And one thing you mentioned just before really caught my attention is now being
26:02
a leader in the school.
26:03
I recognize how challenging it is, fiscally or otherwise, to bring in the IB.
26:07
Are you able to have conversations with the IB back again?
26:10
Are you kind of reflecting back with them,
26:12
saying like, hey, I've been there and now I see this in this light?
26:15
What does that look like?
26:16
Are you in those conversations?
26:18
I am, and I think it's places like the Festival
26:21
that allows me to connect with the IB and talk to former colleagues
26:25
and, and say, guys, you need to do something about this.
26:29
You know, here's what we meant.
26:31
I'm wearing a different hat now, right?
26:33
Now I'm a school administrator,
26:35
so I'm thinking and looking at things differently.
26:38
But but yeah,
26:39
so now I have the opportunity because I have the benefit of having been there.
26:43
Right.
26:43
And having the links and the contacts and the people that I can speak to
26:47
and say, actually, and I've done that actually.
26:49
I'm like, we really struggle with this.
26:51
Can you do something about it?
26:52
Like, we'll get back to you in five years.
26:54
No, no, no, because you know the IB, right?
26:56
They have to have an implementation plan that takes like five years.
26:59
You know, it's just like the curriculum review.
27:01
Yeah, but it's because, you know, intentional.
27:04
And you want to make sure that you don't, you know, rock the boat, right?
27:08
You want to make sure you're really doing things in a very intentional manner.
27:12
Otherwise you know the implications, right? Yeah.
27:15
If you start jumping down one way and then suddenly,
27:16
oh, we have to turn around that, that's a lot harder. Exactly.
27:19
And we had this conversation about, at the end of the day,
27:22
as hard as it is for us to imagine, to understand
27:25
our students are going to universities and these universities
27:28
have expectations, right?
27:30
So they want the marks.
27:31
They want the points.
27:32
Sure.
27:32
Right at the end of the day.
27:34
But we want more for our students.
27:35
We want them to be, you know, about the head, the heart
27:39
and the hands, so that's not just the head.
27:41
Yeah. Yeah.
27:41
So sometimes you have that, you know, bit of a conflict.
27:44
Yeah.
27:47
If you were reversing the role of
27:50
if we're playing a hypothetical situation and you went back to the IB now,
27:54
what is something that you'd be doing differently?
27:56
What would I do differently?
27:57
I think I'll listen to schools more.
28:01
You know what their challenges are here, what their hiccups are,
28:04
and feed that back to to the organization
28:07
as opposed to this is what we are doing and this is what we should be doing.
28:11
But what are the challenges?
28:13
What, the things that you're,
28:15
you having difficulty with and how can we make it better for you?
28:19
Because at the end of the day, our schools, our partners. Right?
28:21
The schools are the ones that are going to implement our programs successfully.
28:25
And so we need to make sure that we are listening and
28:28
and addressing when we can
28:31
some of the the challenges.
28:33
So I can't give a specific thing.
28:34
But just in general.
28:36
I was wondering if we could now reflect a little bit on, you've talked earlier
28:40
about the kind of service oriented pieces of the school,
28:44
things like this, and I'm wondering what is something
28:46
that you could share with us that you're really proud of a of a change or something
28:50
that you've seen develop over time, with your experience at your school?
28:54
Okay.
28:55
So I think something that we, we do well as a school, and that's a part of
28:58
the culture, is our sense of giving as a community.
29:03
I think everyone staff, students we give.
29:06
Right?
29:07
Whether it's our students spending the summer giving back
29:10
to the community or the whole school doing those core school projects,
29:17
or as
29:17
hosting a conference, like a Kognity podcast.
29:21
Yeah, we appreciate that. Yeah.
29:24
And we opened up to the whole community because teachers came in, they loved it.
29:27
And they thought, this is great, right?
29:30
One of the things I think we've done really well over the years,
29:33
it's just opened up our school to other schools.
29:36
But there's IB non IB, come learn from us.
29:38
Can our teachers come help you out as you figure out how to implement the IB
29:42
in your schools. So we have school that gives.
29:44
We have school that says we have school that opens up ourselves.
29:48
Our students or staff
29:50
to help in our community, our community of learners, our community around us.
29:54
So I think that's something that as a school, we are very proud of, we give.
29:57
Yeah, yeah, I love that. It shows.
30:01
I mean, I have to say, I just feel a really good energy
30:05
being around you and having this conversation.
30:08
I think what you mentioned at the start,
30:09
you know, I want to develop the head, the heart and the hands.
30:13
All that's really clear is you're so knowledgeable,
30:16
you've got these wonderful experiences and you know, all this stuff as well.
30:20
It's really impactful for education.
30:22
It's really impactful for young people.
30:23
And just speaking with you, I can tell that comes out in your
30:27
in your classes and at the school.
30:30
But what you've just mentioned is culture.
30:32
And I think culture, it's it's kind of how you feel when you walk into a new space.
30:35
And at least how I feel right now is like, I want to go see your school.
30:39
You should come.
30:40
I will welcome any time you and I think when you come, you wouldn't want to leave
30:44
because you love it.
30:45
Yeah. Awesome.
30:46
You would. Adzo, you're wonderful.
30:48
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us.
30:49
Thank you. Yeah, we so appreciate it. Thank you.
30:52
I've really enjoyed talking to you both.
30:54
Thank you for the opportunity to share.
30:56
Thank you and reflect as well. Yeah yeah.
30:59
All right.
31:00
IB Unplugged is a Kognity podcast hosted by John Patton
31:04
and Courtney Marline and produced by Katilina Gaffney.
31:07
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31:10
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31:13
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31:17
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31:18
and support each other in teaching with confidence, creativity, and joy.
31:22
See you next time.