The International Baccalaureate Career-Related Certificate will be available to rising juniors beginning next year.

The IB CC is a new program which will serve as an alternative to the IB Diploma program. This program targets students who want to take IB courses, but do not wish to obtain the IB Diploma. Also, the program will attract students who are interested in specific career electives.

In order to achieve this certificate, students will be required to take two IB courses in core subjects plus an advanced career-specific course in which they are interested. Examples of these career-related courses include, but are not limited to, marketing, JROTC, auto tech, and culinary arts.

In addition to the course selection, the IB CC differs from the IB Diploma program in other ways in regards to the Theory of Knowledge course.

“The Approaches to Learning course will substitute the TOK class,” said business teacher Susan Brownsword, who is designing the new TOK course especially for the certificate. “Seventy percent of it will be computerized through Blackboard and the other thirty percent will include face-to-face time. We haven’t decided if this time will be after school or perhaps during Learning Seminar.”

Also, CAS hours and the final project, or Extended Essay, will vary from the IB Diploma requirements.

“Service hours won’t exactly be counted, because we want students to reflect more on their experience,” said Brownsword. “A student in the program will have to complete two reflections of service conducted through their career-specific course. The Reflective Project can be a 3,000 word essay, however, students may choose to make a visual representation along with a smaller written component.”

Students who are interested in this new certificate option are encouraged to attend the IB CC interest meeting this Wednesday, Feb. 15 during R&R.