February heralds change for the student body of Interlake. Now halfway through the academic year, both the start and end are in sight. For some, this brings great expectation: with graduation drawing gradually closer, many people anticipate news of their future with excitement. In a few months, our seniors step out in the world to pursue the opportunities that await. 

Originally, this felt like the most interesting topic to consider: what do people want to do when they grow up? How does that change over time? Holding onto the passions and visions of the future while growing older is rare. Sophomore Ya-ya Xu and junior Isabelle Wang both wanted to be teachers when they were much younger. Matthew Hou, another junior, talks about the many interests he had as a kid, which ranged from being an astronaut to a policeman to a mathematician. Now, however, many are split between either a strong idea of what they want, or very little. Ya-ya talks about her passion for the sciences and expresses an interest in pursuing those studies in her life. For Isabelle and many others, though, the future feels too uncertain to accommodate a concrete vision. 

Thus, the more interesting question: what gives us hope for the future at Interlake? What motivates us to keep working hard? 

While February precedes the excitement of many Interlake students, others view it as a prelude to the most difficult months of the year. For the junior class of Interlake, IB exams loom ever closer. Already, writing internal assessments and sprinting through deadlines has started to feel exhausting and overwhelming. Many people have wondered whether the rigor of the IB program is truly worth all the work and stress. Ibby Stevens, for example, is an IB candidate who is preparing for testing in May. To her, IB feels like a “scam” that “removes all the joy from learning.” To her and many others, the excessive effort required to be successful in the program doesn’t feel justified or gratifying. While overall opinions of IB vary, most are in agreement that it’s a demanding program that requires effort and motivation to succeed. To this end, it seems like motivations for staying with the program are varied in both content and gravity. When asked in the IB 2026 teams, responses tend to be humorous and irreverent. Some people described IB as a “sunk cost fallacy;” others enjoy “justify[ing] being off task using CAS” to continue gaming. Others privately admitted to continuing only because it felt too late to quit.  

Ultimately, however, the ironic appeal of this grueling program is that it provides some hope for the future. “I don’t think that doing IB means I’m going to make seven figures tomorrow,” says junior Ayden Lee, “but I think that IB is another method of attempting life preparation.” As Ayden puts it, IB is designed to prepare us for the rigor of the real world. Being more prepared right now will have undeniably positive effects in the future. In a different vein, Isabelle views IB as an opportunity to prove herself. “I’m trying to complete IB to prove to myself I tried,” she says. To her, the IB program represents just a “little extra push” that could “snowball into a future which resembles success.” Most people seem united by a similar sentiment: that success in IB will not grant us a successful future, but it will reinforce the virtues needed to succeed in the world. 

“There’s no guarantee that IB will bring us success,” Matthew admits. In the end, it’s more about building the right skills to bring us success in the future. For many of Interlake’s junior class, IB represents hope that we can work hard and be successful in life. So, while the rest of Interlake enjoys the early months of spring, our junior class will be working hard pursuing their distant dreams of the future.