Jimena Guerrero, a student of the Bachelor's Degree in Systemic Psychology, obtained an international scholarship to study at the Universidad Mayor in Santiago, Chile.
When you entered UNI, did you know there were international programs?
Yes, I already knew about these programs and had researched the requirements to meet them.
When you entered your career, did you think you would go to live and study abroad?
I had known for a long time before my career that living abroad was something I wanted to do and I made it my goal to have this experience at some point in my career, even though because of the pandemic I thought it would not be possible.
What prompted or motivated you to study in another country?
To be able to surround myself with people from other countries, to learn about cultural differences and how they affect the way we relate to each other. To have this international experience for my CV. Besides living this experience alone and knowing the personal growth it was going to be for me.
Why did you decide to study in that country?
It was a totally different country from what I had always thought and from which I could learn a lot since I knew almost nothing.
How did you feel when you arrived in the new country?
There were a lot of emotions together, uncertainty, pride, happiness, nostalgia, etc. But I knew how hard I had worked to get there and what an enriching experience it was going to be for me, and that filled me with excitement.
How have you been received at the university where you arrived?
People in this country can be very closed and sometimes very difficult to approach, but as everywhere, there are all kinds of people and many of them also made me feel very welcome and loved.
What will you miss most about Mexico and UNI?
From Mexico to my family, friends, the food definitely and from UNI to my classmates and teachers.
What is the most exciting thing you have experienced so far in this experience?
Getting to know myself more and more in different aspects, learning to be with me 24/7 and enjoy my own company, starting friendships from scratch and in another language, getting to know beautiful places, and feeling an unparalleled freedom in many aspects.
And the hardest part?
Being away from all my comforts, having to adapt to another culture and even though we speak the same language, it was difficult to communicate with Chileans because of the way they speak.
What do you expect as a person and as a professional from this experience?
As a person I hope that this experience will be one of many more in which I learn and get to know myself much better and in different aspects in which I could not do it staying in my comfort zone. Professionally, I hope that this experience will give me the necessary tools to broaden my knowledge and generate a more open mind.
Do you recommend these opportunities provided by UNI to your colleagues?
Totally, it is something that everyone should try to live since it gives you a totally different way of looking at life and gives you very valuable friendships.
Culinary Art student Daniela Olmos won an international scholarship to study at PUCRS, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
When you entered Uni, did you know there were international programs?
Yes, I knew they had agreements, but I did not know what they consisted of.
When you entered your career, did you think you would go to live and study abroad?
The truth is that it has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember to get to know other countries and their culture but I never thought I would have the opportunity.
Have you ever lived or studied outside of Mexico before?
No, this is the first time I have left the country.
What prompted or motivated you to study in another country?
The experience of getting to know another culture, another gastronomy and ways of living, including their languages, as well as being more independent.
Why did you decide to study in that country?
For its gastronomy, they offer the gastronomy course; also the curiosity to learn a new language.
How did you feel when you arrived in the new country?
It was a feeling of disorientation as it implied arriving in a place where I could not communicate freely because of the language and assimilating that I would not be close to my loved ones for a while.
How have you been received at the university where you arrived?
Excellent, both the staff and the students treated us with great warmth and curiosity about Mexican food.
What will you miss most about Mexico and UNI?
My family, friends and food.
What is the most exciting thing you have experienced so far in this experience?
It has been to see the sights of Brazil and its gastronomy.
And the hardest part?
It is being away from my loved ones because in difficult moments I cannot lean on them in the same way.
What do you expect as a person and as a professional from this experience?
I hope to learn a new language, about the gastronomy of this country and to get to know myself.
Do you recommend these opportunities provided by Uni to your colleagues?
Of course, it is an opportunity to learn both culturally and personally, it is not just a study trip but to enjoy and learn.
The University of Celaya, in the framework of its 35th anniversary, presents the 1st. edition of the call " We Mean: a space for what you want to express" which adds to the various activities of student life promoted by the institutional program. Leading womena platform that promotes talent and encourages the development of women's potential.
The "We Mean" call aims to open a space for the artistic and creative expression of all students who make up the Uni community, regardless of gender, through which they can express their own perspective of women as fundamental pillars in all social spheres, as well as the impact of their work on the growth and progress of the world .
In this first call, the participants expressed themselves through essays and posters. More than 150 young people participated in the initiative and the works will be published in various media to disseminate them.
Thank you very much and congratulations to the students for their proactivity and proposal.
Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) is one of the three core elements that all IB students must complete as part of the IB Diploma Programme (DP); you can also identify it as a subject that is at the heart of the IB Diploma Programme along with two other subjects: Theory of Knowledge(TOK ) and Extended Essay (EE).
With this article I intend to present you the reasons why it is worth being an IB student thanks to the benefits that CAS gives you or, as some young people describe it, the best bit of the IB Diploma... read on and I'll tell you more !
We can describe CAS as a subject that motivates young students, like you and me, to show initiative, perseverance and to develop collaboration, problem solving and decision making skills; it helps us to live new experiences. In my case, I can tell you that I have had the advantage of discovering how important it is to recycle oil, since it is very harmful to the environment; I have also made a vegetable garden at home, which has allowed me to discover skills that I did not know I had and I was able to acquire new knowledge about the growth cycle of a plant, an experience that gave me the responsibility of care and monitoring. These two CAS activities that I give you as an example, did not take me one or two months to complete, but took me at least six months during which I learned about the responsibility of giving continuity to a project and also taught me to be persevering in order to achieve a more real learning based on experience.
Experiential learning supports personal and interpersonal development, while fostering important skills, such as: critical and abstract thinking, memory, stress management, etc... and social competencies, such as: communication, active listening, cordiality or friendliness, which positively shape and enrich IB students.
But to understand CAS from its formal definition, let's start from the fact that it is divided into three areas, Creativity, Activity and Service:
Creativity: refers to the exploration and expansion of ideas that lead to an original or interpretive product or performance. You can learn to play a musical instrument, for example.
Activity: has to do with physical exertion that contributes to a healthy lifestyle. You can practice the sport of your choice.
Service: it is related to the collaborative and reciprocal participation with the community in response to a real need. You can help foundations, homes or any civil association.
Having the CAS subject gives IB Diploma Programme students benefits for life, even after university... Yes, you read that right! these will last forever and I list them below:
It gives a practical sense to those who do not have a theoretical or scientific point of comparison.
It leads to self-knowledge.
It may exceed the logical.
Every IB Diploma Programme student must do both CAS projects and live CAS experiences, because experiences are individual, and projects are in teams. Both experiences and projects help us to be inquirers, bold, collaborative and informed. The experiences you choose can be of any CAS letter, but the projects are obligatorily of Service and some other letter, but the benefits will be the same. For example, an experience can be to learn to knit and a project would be to make a collection of clothes to donate to a specific place.
Benefits of CAS
With the time I have spent in the IB Diploma Program, I can share with you the following benefits that I value from my personal experience and that I have acquired through the CAS subject matter or even skills that I have strengthened through the work I have put into my experiences and projects as an IB student:
You choose what you want to do, because the teacher gives you ideas about experiences, but in the end you are the one who decides what you want to work on, what your goals will be and, ultimately, how you want to leave your mark on the world, making it a better place.
It allows you to improve skills, such as: perseverance, self-management, collaborative work, creativity, etc...
It de-stresses and inspires you.
It allows you to live new experiences; for example, you can go to do community work at a home or a nursing home, and learn what they do there and how you can help them achieve their goals.
You organize your own time, working hours are up to you.
Freedom, because you decide the days on which you want to carry out your CAS responsibilities.
Independence, since the teacher gives you the forms to fill out, but you are the one who does the work; that is, the teacher only guides you if you feel confused, but you advance at your own pace.
Reflection on your actions; for example, you realize the global impact that some products you consume or use in your daily life can have.
You develop communication skills, collaboration and trust.
You get out of your comfort zone, because you go out into the real world and learn based on experimentation, rather than just based on theory.
It is challenging and rewarding.
Personal development, because you know yourself better, as you improve your own qualities, such as empathy and leadership.
CAS makes you reflect on your impact on society
During the CAS course, all IB students must complete a portfolio with both evidence and reflections that demonstrate their work in this program that they develop during the semester.
In addition, you can make your blogs in different ways; for example, I write poems when I write my blogs, other colleagues make stories with morals and even some make works of art (draw or paint), the important thing is to reflect on how you are leaving your mark on your community through your actions, but the format in which you do it is your decision.
Ideas for experiences/projects you can do at CAS
Now I would like to share with you some ideas of CAS projects and/or experiences if you are considering becoming a high performance IB student, hoping they will be very useful for you when it is your turn to live the experience:
In the field of Creativity, you can do activities such as:
Learning to cook or bake
Learning to play a musical instrument
Making a magazine
Writing and illustrating a children's book
Writing a cookbook
Drawing or painting
Create a blog
Writing a novel or short story
Create a travel vlog
Making a stop motion video
Learning to apply make-up
Make your own jigsaw puzzle
Create your own jewelry
Learning a choreography
Learning to dance a style of music
And any other activity that you can think of that can benefit the community; have you already done any service activity in which you seek to benefit the common good? How have you felt about this type of experience?
Undoubtedly, the great advantage of CAS is that it will allow you to discover and understand your own competencies (skills, knowledge and attitudes), enhance them and put them at the service of others to make the difference you want to see in the world; see why some call it the best bit of the IB Diploma? Because from your passions, hobbies and love for helping others you have the opportunity to leave an important mark in your environment. Being IB is worth it!
If you are interested in receiving more information about the IB Diploma Program at the University of Celaya, please contact us at https://www.udec.edu.mx/prepa–uni/or to answer any questions or concerns that you or your parents may have about this program, please feel free to contact the IB Diploma Program Coordinator at Uni de Celaya: Alejandra Núñez via email at: alenugo@udec.edu.mx or by phone +52 (461) 613 90 99 Ext. 1411.
Bibliographic References
CAS project guidance. (2014, October 24). International Baccalaureate®.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme subject synopsis (n. d.). Retrieved February 2, 2023, from.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program (DP) provides many benefits to young people who make the decision to accept the challenge and live the experience of being high-achieving students; these benefits are evident in their daily lives, as well as in their academic path to university (and even after graduation) thanks to the program's global approach and the mechanisms it has to promote the development of disciplinary andsoft skills in students.
There are many schools in the world that offer the IB Diploma Program and one of them is the Preparatoria de la Universidad de Celaya. (https://www.udec.edu.mx/prepa–uni/) that has been offering this program since 2015, with six generations of graduates. I am part of the seventh generation and we will graduate in May 2023, to continue writing more success stories.
The IB Diploma Program at Prepa de la Uni is considered a challenge by IB students themselves, as it takes you out of your comfort zone and approaches your learning and skill development in a different way. We believe that those who like challenges and have a clear vision of their life project are the ones who profile themselves to be IB students, enrolling in the Diploma Program. Unfortunately, it seems to me that there are few who are really informed and based on my experience, it seems to me that many of those who do not enter the Diploma Program do so because they are unaware of the benefits of this program, its structure, its evaluation methodology, its scope and how the IB environment is lived day to day in our high school classrooms.
That is why in this article I want to share with you some of the most memorable IB experiences shared with me by several graduates of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth IB generation of Prepa Uni, whom I interviewed to answer questions whose answers, I am sure, you will be interested to read in order to enter the challenging but fascinating world of the IB Diploma Program.
The graduates of Prepa IB at the University of Celaya whom I interviewed are: Ana
Flores (1st generation), Regina Oviedo (1st generation), Fernanda Cervantes (2nd generation), Mariana Santibáñez (3rd generation), Sofía Andrade (4th generation) and José Santibáñez (5th generation). All of them are from different generations, but they share common experiences from the IB Diploma Program that they still keep in their hearts and that accompany them during their studies at the university or even in their working life. They were very charismatic and friendly during the interview and I thank them for their great willingness to share what it was like for them to be IB Diploma Programme students at Prepa Uni.
Below, I share with you several key questions with an answer in which I synthesized the feelings and comments in common that I identified among the interviewees, with the intention of letting you know, from the voices of IB alumni, the reasons why they consider it was worthwhile to have studied the IB Diploma Program at Prepa Uni:
1. What is the usefulness of the IB in your university life?
Respondents commented that it helped prepare them to work under pressure and helped them to be more organized in terms of time. They also commented that it helps them to be better prepared for the challenges that university brings and to take them more calmly, compared to students who did not take the IB Diploma Program. They commented that they feel capable of researching and learning on their own and that they also feel they have very good skills, especially in terms of thinking, as they are critical, analytical and reflective.
2. What is it like to be an IB graduate?
What they shared with me is that it is very special to be part of a global community, where everyone went through very similar experiences. They also commented that they feel a great satisfaction for having achieved something they set out to do, because now they know that with determination and perseverance, they can achieve all the goals they desire.
3. Would you recommend that other young people enter the IB Diploma Program?
All the interviewees recommend it. In general, they mentioned that it is advisable for high school students to take the program because it brings many benefits and it is a very good experience, although it is also necessary to take into account the way each person faces the challenges and handles the pressure.
4. How was your IB Diploma experience?
Based on the responses of the six IB graduates interviewed, the experience was mostly good, although there were things that sometimes did not go so well; however, they were supportive of each other and thus had a more satisfactory experience. For the most part, the groups were very united and there was a very pleasant atmosphere. On the other hand, the teachers were always attentive and willing to support them.
5. What difficulties did you encounter during the IB Diploma course?
The general response was that the biggest challenge was learning to organize their time and activities to meet deadlines, especially internal evaluations. On the other hand, there were some who found some subjects more difficult than others. Apart from that and the final exams, they considered that there were no major difficulties.
6. What advice would you give to someone who is taking the IB Diploma at Prepa Uni?
The interviewees agreed that the main advice is to support each other... they are each other's best support, as they are going through the same thing. Another common piece of advice was time management and deadlines, never leave anything to the end; finally, that the most important thing is mental health so be balanced and give yourself time to exercise, socialize and have fun.
7. Do you regret taking the IB Diploma?
No (all agreed); none of the interviewees regret having taken the IB Diploma Program and if given the option again, all would enter, without exception.
8. Did the IB Diploma help you improve your life skills outside of school?
Yes, they commented that the IB Diploma made them more sociable, helped them to be more organized and more present in the world: to be global citizens.
9. Was the IB Diploma Program worthwhile?
It was worth it, although it had its challenges, the benefits are superior and are long term.
Analyzing the responses of my six graduates interviewed, I could see that all agree that the IB Diploma Program brings with it both benefits and challenges, but with the great difference that the difficulties you may face are only temporary and are what ultimately make you a resilient and more prepared person. Although sometimes you may feel pressured, that happens, while the benefits remain in the student's life and will accompany you during your journey through college and in your life project. From the voices of the graduates, some of the most outstanding benefits they recognize from the IB Diploma program at Prepa Uni are that:
It opens your mind.
It makes you more organized.
Change your way of thinking.
It prepares you for the pressure of college.
It makes you understand the topics, not just learn them (memorize them).
It can help you decide on your college career.
In general, the graduates perceived themselves at a higher level of performance compared to their university peers, as they felt more prepared for the reasons listed above. There were those who also mentioned some social benefits, especially from the theater class, as it helps you to be more open, express your ideas, express yourself better, etc.
And well, just as the IB Diploma Program has many advantages that will propel you to become a high-achieving student who stands out for being: inquiring, caring, thoughtful, informed and educated, a good communicator, balanced, reflective, bold and open-minded, it also has its counterweights, since being an IB student requires constant work, discipline, concentration, commitment and optimal time management.
So, if you are determined to accept the challenge and live the IB Diploma experience, you must be prepared to be a determined person, with the conviction that it will work, and to be aware of the decision, because it is a decision that will change the course of your future by enhancing not only your knowledge, but also your way of seeing and living life. It is an investment of time that can turn your life or your way of thinking and seeing the world, making you a much more prepared person with a more global vision.
Of the six interviewees with whom I spoke, there are two who have already graduated with a degree in Communication and Audiovisual Media also from the University of Celaya; they shared with me the advantages that they can perceive from the IB Diploma in their work, mentioning that in the curriculum it is well regarded to be a graduate of the IB, since it is a globally recognized program that opens many doors. The attributes they developed while in IB, allowed them to get scholarships during their undergraduate studies and stand out among their peers, besides being currently committed professionals with an excellent preparation. Being IB is worth it! Be IB!
I invite you to be the one to discover the world of possibilities that the IB Diploma Program offers from your own experience. If you are interested in receiving more information about the IB Diploma Program at the University of Celaya or in answering any questions or concerns that you or your parents may have about this program, please feel free to contact the IB Diploma Program Coordinator at the University of Celaya: Alejandra Núñez via email at: alenugo@udec.edu.mx or by phone +52 (461) 613 90 99 Ext. 1411.
