TOLEDO, Ohio — A group of students is excelling in an internationally recognized program that's only offered at Notre Dame Academy. Some of them have enough credits to be halfway done with college.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Notre Dame Academy has been in place for more than a decade, but over the last two years, it's seen tremendous success.
All of the program's students received a specialized IB diploma and 90 percent of them earned the highest test scores.
"The last two years during a pandemic, after looking at our scores, we were amazing. What we realized is it's the content and how IB is structured that took us through the pandemic that allowed our students to excel," Program coordinator Angie Joseph said.
The program is only offered to high school juniors and seniors, but what makes it so unique is the international part.
Students at NDA are also taking the same classes with people in all parts of the world.
"I'm better able to communicate. I'm better able to learn on my own, especially these last two years that's been a really important asset," Recent NDA graduate, Brooke Seelenbinder said.
The IB program prepares the students for college and can also give them college credits.
For Seelenbinder, she's heading to Michigan State University with enough credits to be a sophomore.
"I'm able to take all these animal science classes I'm interested in. I'm in the honors college which lets me tailor my learning much more than the general college. And then I'm excited to go to school for like, eight more years," she said.
Seelenbinder is planning to get a zoology degree to become a veterinarian and also a business degree because she's going into college with so many credits.