Mily Z(D 24-26) joined Rugby School for Sixth Form and chose to take the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma for her sixth form studies. Mily impressively achieved a bilingual Diploma of 43 points, including a 7 in Mandarin Literature, 6 in English Literature, 7 in Maths, 7 in Theatre Studies and 3 core points – a huge congratulations to Mily!  

We caught up with Mily before she departed Rugby School to hear about her experience with the IB, time at Rugby School and her advice to students still at the School. 
 
I will be attending Columbia University this fall as a Columbia Undergraduate Scholar and an international student from Shanghai! Currently, I am thinking of double majoring in Theatre and Psychology. At Rugby, I took the IB curriculum, selecting Theatre, Maths AI and English Literature at HL and Psychology, Biology and Chinese Literature at SL. 

The IB curriculum was crucial in shaping my growth. A wonderful thing about IB is the interconnections between all subjects. I found the neurotransmission topic in Biology reusable in Psychology and techniques in English Literature applicable in Chinese Literature. For my Maths Internal Assessment, I even modelled a dancer’s body wave using cosine graphs. Beyond all, these interdisciplinary explorations allowed me to stay curious about the world and excited me to delve further into all fields. 

Looking back at the 2-year IB journey, I think the sweat when we chased numerous coursework deadlines, struggled to learn a second language and switched our brains non-stop between English and Maths was all worth it.  

As I prepared for university, I not once realised how applicable these essay-writing and multi-tasking skills are for life. Columbia, for example, has a Core Curriculum, requiring students to take both Literature Humanities and Frontiers of Science - an extension of IB that also aims for well-rounded development. 

Rugby has helped me prepare for life after school through the Rugby 360 programme which is a special community service program that Rugby offers. My 360 option was Theatre Education, in which students from Rugby led drama workshops and directed Shakespearean plays in a local school. This hands-on experience let me realise that an essence of communication is building a sense of security and trust. It also further convinced me of my possible career as an Applied Theatre worker. Rugby and its teachers also encourage student-led societies, where we can freely express our unique interests. I co-led the Psychology Society, and with my psychology teacher Ms Rachael Cave’s full support, we organised Psychology talks covering a wide variety of topics. 

During my time at the School, I have been fortunate enough to meet some of my teachers for life at Rugby! Particularly, my Theatre teachers Mrs Sammy Farmer and Mr Chris Browning, who are always very willing to hear out my voice, motivating me to be imaginative and bold in my artistic proposals. They provided critical feedback to my work and allowed me to see what can be improved. I am also grateful for my English teacher Mr Eyre-Maunsell, his patience when answering questions and his passion for Literature, especially play analysis, sparkle! One of my favourite memories at Rugby is the busy yet fulfilling rehearsal weeks of Scholars’ Play, in which we re-interpreted King Lear using dance language from different cultures. Similar to other group activities at Rugby like the House Singing Competition, the inclusive, cross-year collaboration was very unforgettable. 

Finally, to my younger peers, cherish your time around Rugby and find joy in what you are doing. I am excited for you!