Our 2023 ISB Summer Program was jam-packed with learning, fun, and fantastic field trips around the city. This year, a number of young, talented, and hardworking community members came back to ISB to help make it an even more enriching experience for our students. As our alumni community grows, we continue to support our graduates’ initiatives and learning beyond their time at ISB. In this spirit, we offered two exciting and edifying opportunities in our 2023 Summer Language Immersion Program.
The Summer Program High School Internship for alumni who are rising 9th-12th graders was the perfect chance for them to reconnect with the ISB community and continue their language practices, all while gaining real-world experience and developing essential workplace skills. This year’s spectacular group of high school interns included Leo A.-U. ’20, Karla A. ’20, Simran S. ’20, Manu L. ’22, and Joaquin M. ’23. Our alumni had a great time reconnecting with former classmates from various grades, reminiscing about their time at ISB, and making new memories. They also added their own French and Spanish language skills to all aspects of the program, from the classroom to the playground.
Meanwhile, the ISB Counselor position for college-aged alumni was all that and more for Miguel Davis Sánchez ‘18, a rising junior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Miguel is currently majoring in Education at UMass and “wanted to work in something that has a direct relation with my major over the summer.” He wants to be a high school guidance counselor because of his own experience in high school, where two guidance counselors “went out of their way to be a mentor for students of color.” Miguel continued, “They made a tremendous difference in my academic career and my personal life, and eventually led me down this path; seeing the impact that had on me as well as other students was so inspiring.” Even though he hopes to eventually work with older students, Miguel enjoyed working with our ISB summer kids, and was happy to be spending time and gaining experience in a place he says “is very special to me, where I met my best friends – who are still my best friends today!”
Miguel has also enjoyed the linguistic aspect of the Summer Program, saying “ISB does a lot of great things for students in the sense of building communication skills in French, Spanish, and in English.” He was an asset to the Summer Program in both the French and Spanish groups, as he has continued to use the languages in both his personal and academic life since his time at ISB. A graduate of the Spanish track, Miguel has kept up his Spanish with his family and in college, where he has many friends who are native Spanish speakers, and he also hopes to spend an upcoming semester in Spain. Since his MYP French Language Acquisition class, which he says “set a really strong foundation in the language,” he has gone on to continue coursework in both high school and college, and most recently took a conversational French class with discussions centered around racial and social issues in francophone countries.
Summer Program Director Elizabeth Lahart shared that Miguel, Karla, Simran, Leo, Manu, and Joaquin all made fantastic Summer Program team members. “ISB alumni are proactive, adaptable, receptive to feedback, and they genuinely enjoy using their language skills. Each of our Alumni Counselor and CITs brought their unique energy and bone-deep understanding of ISB’s culture and immersion model to the program. The children also loved knowing that some of their counselors had graduated from their school and formed a special bond.” Our Summer Program team looks forward to having another group of ISB alumni join us next season!
