At Lake Shore High School, there is a little-known group among the over 1,000 students. That would be the students that attend the International Academy of Macomb.

You may not have even heard of this school until now and that’s okay. According to their website,  IAM, or the International Academy of Macomb, is a “county-wide International Baccalaureate magnet school.”

International Baccalaureate is also shortened and commonly known as IB. If you complete your senior year and pass your IB exams, you receive an IB diploma. 

There are many benefits listed by not only present but also past IAM students. 

According to Madison Gehringer, a freshman at IAM, “This diploma shows you have the ability to critically think, communicate, solve complex problems, and reflect. An IB diploma is also an advantage because it is recognized around the world.” 

Delilah Bretz, who is also an IAM freshman,  listed some pros including receiving an IB Diploma, prepping students for college, a very interactive community, and getting to experience many different cliques. 

Even Cyber Fetko, a sophomore, and Kristina Selimollari, a freshman,  who have dropped out of IAM, and came back to Lake Shore, see pros in IAM. 

Fetko says, “At IAM there is a community of people who understand you, at Lake Shore, you can’t find a friend group.”

Selimollari also lists her pros as having a good education, IB diploma, and meeting friends.

A common pro is the habits you learn there. 

Most of the girls were able to give some habits they learned during their time at IAM. Bretz and Gehringer both mentioned that their study habits improved. Sellimollari added that she learned to keep a planner that keeps her organized. She wasn’t at IAM for long but this habit will keep her up to date, even here at Lake Shore. 

As there are many pros of attending the International Academy of Macomb, IAM is not for everyone. Gehringer says one con is the shift of schoolwork from the Eighth-grade year to the ninth-grade year. She expands on this by saying, “Your regular middle school does not necessarily prepare you for what’s waiting at an IB school. You deal with a lot of analysis at a school like IAM, a skill that seems simple but takes a lot of time to improve, and critical thinking, a trait that is undermined in typical public schools.”

 All four girls could agree that there is a big loss in free time. Bretz says one of the things she misses most is being able to do school sports. She did them throughout middle school and it was nice to feel like a part of an actual team. There are no prominent sports opportunities at IAM like there are at Lake Shore.

Fetko says that a con is that there is more shame in not being able to achieve higher. 

She explains this as, “The feeling of being behind and being worse than everyone there…”

Gehringer and Bretz also mention missing their friends at Lake Shore, however, they were both able to make new ones. Bretz talks about how she misses her friends from Kennedy and says, “… I’m not able to see most of them. I hang out with a few every once in a while, but I’m mostly cut off from most Shorians.”

Gehringer talks about how she misses her friends at Lakeshore even though she feels more able to be herself at IAM. 

She says, “At IAM, I have a lot more friends because I am much more bubbly at this school, but I do not feel like I bond with my IAM friends as much as I do with my Lake Shore friends.”

One of the cons that influenced the decision of both Fetko and Sellimallari to leave IAM and return to Lake Shore, is the amount of stress that comes with being an IA student.  

These decisions came with the realization of the difference in workloads. Bretz and Gehringer, the girls who still attend IAM, both say that they feel like they are at the right skill level for their pace of learning. 

Gehringer says, “The pacing of IAM’s learning can be difficult at times, but I think I prefer the fast-paced learning over the step-step education provided by a regular high school like Lakeshore.”

Sellimalari noticed the difference once she came back to Lake Shore. She saw that the work is easier and there is less of it. 

She continued to say,  “At IAM it wasn’t that hard either, it was just that there was so much.”

There are many differences between the International Academy of Macomb and Lake Shore. These just show that some different environments are better for different people.