Co-curriculars Provide Balance for Academic Rigour

September 29, 2022

Academics

GNS

September 22, 2022, marked the first official day of fall and while the leaves have begun to turn orange the weather has remained warm and sunny. School has been in session for almost one month, but luckily for Grade 9s, summative assessments have not yet appeared and the new MYP students are still getting accustomed to the high expectations of the teachers when completing assignments.

“For me, IB is hard,” said Kerry Ning ’26, a new student at GNS. “There is too much homework, but GNS has nice people so I’m okay.”

Thank goodness our teachers are prepared and have already begun reaching out to help. Ms. Simard, Mr. Basaraba, Ms. Popescu and Mr. Osborne have created a Science workshop for all new GNS students in Grade 9 and 10 to learn and practice how IB labs are designed.

Not all students have the same view regarding the homework load.

“It’s not as bad as I expected but I think it will pick up,” said Anastasia Lavrenyuk ’26, a returning student who has been at this school for six years.

But Grade 9 at GNS is not all about homework as students can also participate in many different co-curriculars. For those students coming up from Middle School, the Senior School seems to have an infinite amount of clubs and sports and many are already participating in multiple activities. While some students enjoy a wide range of interests, some prefer only the arts.

“I’m doing Art and Photo club,” said Kate Roed ’26, a talented artist and an International student from China. “But I’m also doing Mahjong club for fun.”

Completing our assignments on time and at a high standard is on everyone’s mind, but being able to just shift gears and get involved in all the different clubs and sports keeps students coming to school with excited smiles and high spirits looking forward to the day.