This intense program of study helped McCaskey High School graduate Raymundo Alfaro-Aco earn a full scholarship at Swarthmore.

In a few weeks, the college freshman returns to Lancaster to receive a separate diploma from the International Baccalaureate Program at J.P. McCaskey High School.

He is one of 17 Lancaster students who earned IB diplomas in 2008.

The Dec. 23 ceremony will also commemorate the largest group of students to earn IB diplomas in the program's history in the School District of Lancaster.

"In previous years, we had 10 to 12 students try," IB Diploma Coordinator Paul Richer said. "And last year, we had 23 try, and 17 earned it."

International Baccalaureate is an internationally recognized college-level program that has 664,000 students at 2,423 schools in 131 countries.

McCaskey has the only one in Lancaster County. Manheim Township school officials are considering bringing IB to their district.

In Lancaster, IB is part of the Honors/IB Small Learning Community, which is like a school within a school.

The IB ceremony happens in December because students must wait for the results of their assessments, which are sent out to IB-approved evaluators. And the college students can attend the ceremony during winter break.

The IB program was a perfect fit for Alfaro-Aco, who moved to Lancaster from Mexico four years ago and needed to master English and academics.

"It was a really good experience in terms of preparing me for college," he said. The rigor of IB compares to his courses at Swarthmore, he said.

Prepared, he was. He graduated from McCaskey last summer with a weighted grade point average of 4.6. He majors in biochemistry and plans a future in medicine.

And, Alfaro-Aco is the first McCaskey student to achieve a bilingual IB diploma. That means he took IB classes in English and Spanish.

"It's one thing to be conversationally literate" in two languages, Richer said. "It's another thing to be academically literate."

Lancaster's first group to earn IB diplomas was in 2000. So far, 41 have achieved them. This class of 17 raises Lancaster's total to 58.

Worldwide, the 2008 IB class is more than 30,000.

The journey to a diploma begins in ninth grade. Students who want to earn the diploma must take all honors classes before they enter the IB program in their junior year.

Students who do not want to earn the diploma can still take some IB classes and earn a certificate in each of the subjects taken. IB classes may lead to credit at U.S. and international universities.

Over the course of their junior and senior years, diploma candidates take six IB courses in addition to a class called The Theory of Knowledge. They must write a 4,000-word research paper, complete 150 community-service hours and take IB exams. For any service experience of more than 15 hours, they must write reflections on what the experience meant to them.

IB differs from Advanced Placement, or AP, courses, current IB student David Bishop said.

IB courses look at concepts, not just timelines.

In the Theory of Knowledge class, students learn to question knowledge. With every piece of information, they are taught to ask, "How do you know?"

In language arts, students have read "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Colombian-born winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

They read it in Spanish and English. Along the way, they discover the nuances of language.

"These kids are pushed beyond their comfort zone," Richer said.

That's why Bishop chose IB.

"I was looking for the most demanding academic experience," he said.

The senior at McCaskey is aiming for a bilingual diploma in English and German. He's also fluent in Spanish. This year, he's learning Arabic. Richer said if there were such a thing as a trilingual diploma, Bishop could earn it.

Bishop has applied early decision to Cornell University, where he wants to pursue International Affairs.

IB is not free.

The cost to register for testing is $129, and the price of each test is $88. The fee inhibits some students from taking the final tests, Richer said.

Someone who has earned a diploma has paid a total of $657.

Richer said the state assists students who are in the free and reduced-price lunch program with the price of SAT and AP tests, but not with the cost of IB exams.

The IB program has tapped grant funds in the past to offset the cost.

Meanwhile, the program is growing. More students want to push themselves, Richer said.

More than 100 students have registered this year to take a test.

The district is also looking to add more IB courses to the roster.

Richer said the IB experience is like no other, and watching students blossom from ninth grade to graduation is why "I go to work in the morning."

Richer has this message for any student considering IB: "You don't have to be the best and the brightest. Does it help? Yes, I won't dispute that. But there are students who work hard, and when they start to see the connections among their subjects, that is what ignites the flame."


Staff writer Robyn Meadows can be reached at rmeadows@LNPnews.com or 481-6025.