TESTIMONIALS

"From its outset, the Institute for Global Solutions has been one of the most inspirational, innovative and effective programs to engage, motivate and transform the way young people approach the world that I have ever seen.  The program should also serve as an inspiration to other educators, encouraging them to find their own paths to innovation in the spirit of creating many Solutions to the myriad issues facing us, from the local community to the global community.” - Dr. Rick Kool, Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability, Royal Roads University

“I have taken Global Studies and IGS 11, and am currently involved in IGS 12. I can confidently say that IGS has been the best academic decision of my life.

Why is IGS so great?

1. The teachers: In the Institute for Global Solutions, you will find three of the most passionate and knowledgeable teachers around. It is common for many students to feel uninspired and unmotivated in high school. I have found no course or club that evokes a love of learning like IGS.

2. The trips: I have never been the biggest fan of most overnight school trips, but some of my most cherished Highschool memories are from the great IGS trips. The major weeklong trips that are part of both IGS 12 and 11 not only provide unparalleled learning experiences, but also bring you closer with your classmates. This creates a unique class dynamic long after the trips are over. This creates an environment that fosters debate and discussion.

3. Everything else: When I asked a fellow classmate what is so good about IGS he said,“we are treated as adults and prospering members of our community instead of children that can’t think for themselves”. I think this summarizes the feeling of IGS, which is a rewarding academic environment conducive to learning with opportunities to achieve things beyond the classroom. You really are treated like a mature student. A lot of these opportunities will help you through the post­secondary application process. Personally I have earned back ten fold in scholarships what I have spent on IGS. Furthermore the IGS environment attracts like minded students that are critical thinkers, perpetually adding to the IGS experiences.

I am a more engaged and well-rounded person because of IGS. IGS has changed my high school experience infinitely for the better. I would recommend it to anyone, from the book worms to the kids that can’t sit still, everyone has something to gain from IGS." - Jack Saunders, Student, IGS 11 & 12

“Looking back on it—like, hindsight is always 20/20, and I’ve been able to say this for close to 2 years now—that that class definitely changed my life and the path that I thought that I was going to take.  And kind of the program that I’m studying now at university—or the career path that I want—that’s like, 90% because of this class.  And the friends that I have in my life and the relationships with really influential people in this country I have are definitely because of this class. 

You can’t explain it to someone that hasn’t experienced it.  I remember, on the last day of IGS, we were out in the Japanese Garden and Mr. Neufeld was reading Dr. Seuss to us.  And looking around, like, there wasn’t one person there that wasn’t emotionally invested and wasn’t very affected by this class and by the fact that it was over.  And for those of us that had kind of done Grade 10, 11 and 12 in the way . . . in this kind of a program with these teachers, it was very hard.  And I was crying and all my closest friends were crying—guys and girls, so it wasn’t just us being mushy—but it was sad to leave.  And I think that that speaks volumes because, you know, when it’s, like, your end of high school and it’s summertime, and you get to be an adult and go do fun things, I think it’s easy to assume that everyone wants to just be done and throw their hat in the air and go off and live the rest of their life.  But I was sad to leave that class and I still think about it.  And all my friends are, like, “I would never . . . I never want to go back and visit my high school.  I never want to see it.”  And I’m the exact opposite; I was at Claremont within being home for three days; like, a bunch of us went.  And maybe that makes us look, like, super-uncool, but it left such a big mark on us, and that’s why we came back.  And that’s why I think that I can say that it was so impactful because I still think about it all the time.

The stuff I learned in that class still affects decisions that I make on the other side of the country, or whatever I’m doing.  And, yeah, I think the fact that I miss it and that I would go back and do it all over again, I would literally go back to living at home and being 17 and, you know, doing all those things. . . . I would go back to it if I could do that experience over again.  And I think that that says something because it definitely was . . . I didn’t plan on it being as big of a deal in my life as it is; I was going to be in a high school class that was super-fun—which it was—but it was way more than that.” - Annie Macintosh, Former IGS Student

“The class was really able to push me to my boundaries and to develop that idea that, “The fact that I was different and the fact that maybe I was sentimental and maybe I cared about people too much, it was not something that was seen in me as a weakness.  It was not seeing something . . . that I wasn’t man enough because, when I saw a video about climate change and when I saw the destruction, I sometimes cried.”  And, for me it was . . . for the class, for the first time, it wasn’t something that I needed to cover my face up or it wasn’t something that I was . . . as I said, ostracized for, but it was something where I got the opportunity to talk and to grow and to form connections with people that I will never lose.  And from many different individuals . . . from people like Mr. Neufeld and Mr. Mitchell, who I consider not only to be my teachers and mentors, but my friends. 

There are still things that haunt me from my past, and from past experiences that were really traumatic.  But knowing that the actions that I’m taking are valued and knowing that, when I go to a classroom, after winning student vice-president, the entire classroom stands and claps for me without the teacher saying anything.  And then, it really . . . when they were talking about leadership in IGS 11, they take me as an example.  Coming through that, there’s many people in the school that I owe that to.  But there’s a special part in that to IGS and to this idea that, “They’re there to change your world, but also there to change who you are and what you believe in.”  And, really, that idea of a class of learning and of openness and of this ideology of love that I hold so dear to my heart now, and it’s in part . . . and a great part of it is because of this class and because of these two amazing teachers who have really given me so much more than I could ever thank them for. 

And, for me, forming those connections with people in IGS and building those bridges, and having a class that really exemplifies values that I hold dear, which is open-mindedness and this curiosity—intellectual curiosity—and, more than anything, a love and compassion for everyone who enters the doors and the sense of “home.”  And, for me, IGS was like the closest thing to my home when I was in Canada.  And from that point on, for me, the first sense of home I had in Canada was in that class.  And the teachers around it, the students around it, and the physical space, for me, I hold it very dear and I will always do, because it was . . . it is a home for those who feel that they don’t have one, and a space where everyone can talk if they feel that, at home, they can’t; and a place where the teachers will be there to support you and where you will learn. - Fernando Garci-Crespo, Former IGS Student