Students and Teachers Blog

At the International School of Paris (ISP) middle school, design is a core course offering. According to the International Baccalaureate Organisation, this course focuses on “applying practical and creative skills to solve design problems”. During the course students learn to safely operate equipment (sewing machines, woodworking tools, laser cutters, 3D printers, etc.) and to use technical software like Photoshop or CAD tools in order to design and test their own products. Collaboration and feedback are key to product development and improvement. 

During social distancing students no longer have access to the equipment and software necessary to carry out their design projects. They also have to brainstorm and give feedback virtually. So how can collaboration and design still happen at a distance?Junk Kouture may be the answer!

January, in the middle of a rainy Parisian winter, is not usually the best moment of the year for an outdoor ping pong tournament. However, a group of International School of Paris (ISP) middle school students organised one despite the weather. They convinced students and staff to participate in an epic ping pong battle, and to donate over 130 euros to families in need of food.

This act of solidarity was supported by Ernest, the non-profit responsible for transforming this monetary donation into a week’s worth of fresh produce for 14 families.  

This year, students at the Beethoven campus have been worked hard to prepare their performance of a modernized version of the Greek tragedy Antigone. In this article, we will plunge into the backstage work that went into presenting a show of this caliber.

The ISP Medicine Society invited its first guest, diagnostic radiologist Dr. U. The ISP Medicine Society is a student-led initiative, which aims to help students understand the different professions in the medical industry and possibly to make some early choices about attending medical school. Dr. U, whose path to becoming a radiologist was atypical, is a great example of the importance of being adaptable and keeping an open mind at all stages of one's education and career.

“Afraid?” Grade 11 ISP student Mila wasn’t exactly afraid to leave home for the first time and travel 9,000 km away to attend San Francisco’s renowned International High School of San Francisco (IHS). “I knew that my mom was only at the other end of the phone. So I felt fine,” she said in retrospect.