Middle Years Programme (MYP) background information

Mayo Ou, Editor in Chief • February 12, 2025

For some background: The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program is a program for 7th through 10th graders that encourages the investigation of global perspectives and for students to connect ideas learned between classes and the real world, requiring different grading styles, rubrics, and classes than what has been the conventional standard. In addition to implementing the entire MYP program last year, CUSD also slowly phased out Honors classes at CHS, another controversial move by the district. While MYP, unlike IB Diploma Program courses for juniors and seniors, is said to not be more “elite” than non-MYP, there still exist different images of the program and whether it is “baby IB (DP)” or not.

The Middle Years Program requires that all program candidates do a Passion Project. In this project, students develop an idea, research it, create a product, and write a paper reflecting on the project. Then, they make a presentation to give to the MYP coordinator and members of the CUSD staff before finally presenting it in a showcase to parents, where specific projects are awarded. The project intends to allow students to research an idea that they find meaningful to themselves and their community, lending itself to the program’s overall mission of having students apply their learned knowledge to real-world situations.

Note: this page was initially published as a companion to the article “Wall-to-wall MYP Makes You Panic,” about the recent teacher vote to make MYP classes mandatory for all freshmen and sophomores. Please CLICK HERE to read! [Note: article is releasing on Friday, February 14th, at noon, and link will be updated then].

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Mayo Ou, Head Editor-in-Chief

Mayo Ou is the Head Editor-in-Chief of the Wolfpacket and a senior at CHS in her fourth year on the staff. Her goal this year, other than not procrastinating on her college applications, is to figure out how to keep the Wolfpacket functioning and in print with her fellow EICs and the business team. Her passion on the paper is graphic design, but having previously been business and website manager as well as Head News Editor for two years means she knows (and loves) every part of the process. Outside of the Wolfpacket, Ou is the president of German club and Women in STEM, a captain of the cross-country team, runs and pole vaults in track and field, volunteers at the Botanic Gardens, and leads a chapter of KidzCoding, a nonprofit that teaches children how to code. In her nonexistent free time, she likes to read, unicycle, make balloon animals, and chat with her friends, both from Claremont and around the world. She hopes to help everyone have a great year in Wolfpacket!

Kate Mitchell, Co-Head News Editor

Kate Mitchell is eager to start her senior year at CHS as the Co-Head News Editor and one of the social media managers. The Wolfpacket has impacted Mitchell tremendously throughout her three years on the staff. She has learned so much from her fellow staff members in and outside of fourth period. Mitchell is excited to spend her senior year back in room 104 with her Wolfpacket friends. Switching from Features to News Editor this year, Mitchell is ready to see all the new ideas this section will bring to the front page. Outside of the packet Mitchell is starting her 13th year of Girl Scouts as an Ambassador, hopefully she will finish her Gold Award soon. She also enjoys concerts, traveling and traveling to concerts. Over the summer Mitchell went to the Eras tour in Munich, Germany well kind of… She stood outside of the Olympic Stadium alongside 50,000 other swifties just enjoying the atmosphere and slightly jealous of the 70,000 swifties inside watching the show up close. As Mitchell finishes up her college applications and boat loads of homework she hopes to find some time to enjoy all of the fun activities senior year has to offer!