It's already the end of my life as a Year 12 student and I just wanted to take the time to reflect on the busy year I had.
I still remember becoming frustrated because I couldn't shift my thinking from an IGCSE point of view (which is pretty straightforward thinking) to an IB thought process (which encompasses a lot of different ideas to add more originality and authenticity). Now, these are becoming second nature; it's easier to do in some subjects than others, but at least I have a grasp on what it feels like.
This academic year was full of chances for me to take on the leading role and guide dynamic teams through obstacles and discussions to reach our goal. Working with the Student Council, especially, has made me understand the importance of building trust between the members at the very beginning in order for the team to work collaboratively.
I was also gaining more confidence in the plans that I executed — before that, I would question my ability to make decisions that would be beneficial in the long run because I didn't want to seem like I was disregarding anyone's ideas. But when you're in the position of a leader, I found that it is necessary to gauge the values and realistic implementations of the ideas. That doesn't mean that the ideas presented in the first place but didn't get picked was any less important. Perhaps it just didn't fit the current situation or perhaps it was hard for us to maintain.
One thing that I'm definitely proud of is that TOK concepts and the way of thinking in TOK are getting easier for me. I can't really describe the way that my brain works when I'm in a TOK lesson, but there is a higher level of thinking that comes through when dealing with the notion of knowledge and its implications on different areas of knowledge.
Year 12 was also when I completely changed up my routine for maximum productivity at school. I'm still keeping the timeframe of going to sleep early and waking up at dawn to do my work. I've never felt more productive in my life! It's also quite motivating to see myself taking less time to finish the work early in the morning than I would have done if I did it late at night when I'm worn out.
I guess now I really have to start thinking about applying to college. It's such a foreign concept that I'll be leaving Jeju to go somewhere else and study; by the time I graduate, I will have spent more than half of my life at NLCS. But the thought of a new place with new friends stirs excitement as well.