By Juliet Rotondo
This year, 171 Rye High School students took at least one class in a new program designed to develop critical-thinking skills and prepare students to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
As the 2025-26 school year came to a close, Rye High School completed its first year as an International Baccalaureate World School, a program that emphasizes critical thinking over rote memorization. Students can participate in the IB Diploma Program, where they complete IB coursework during their junior and senior years — or they can take individual IB classes in addition to Rye’s other course offerings.
In the 2025-26 school year, 239 IB class seats were filled in total. The enrollment numbers for the coming year have jumped to 260 for one class and 392 total.
While starting the IB program has involved its own growing pains, administrators said IB’s benefits are making it a worthwhile path for students to follow.
The biggest challenge has been integrating IB with Rye’s existing course offerings.
“You need to constantly be reflective and auditing the program to make sure, at least in my role, that we’re offering IB courses that make sense for the greater academic program,” said RHS Principal Andrew Hara.
During the last school year, 86 students enrolled in IB Business Management, leading administrators to consider the impact of offering IB for other courses.
“Are they taking less electives? Are students not choosing to take a world language in their final year of high school?” Hara asked. “These are the kinds of trends we have to monitor.”
Hara is confident Rye can offer both IB and Advanced Placement courses. During the IB start-up process, he spoke with administrators from Somers High School, a peer in the area that “introduced the IB program about a decade ago, and they didn’t compromise their AP program.”
Cody Blume, Rye’s former IB coordinator and assistant principal, said the program aligns with his teaching style and “emphasizes the student as the center of learning.” He added that it helps students “develop a sense of efficacy, meaning the ability of ‘I can do things.’”
In class, teachers focus on discussions, projects, and essays that prompt serious thought over content memorization for a multiple-choice exam.
“Ninety-five percent of the time I’m sitting in this little horseshoe with the kids, and so it’s very Socratic,” said English teacher and IB coordinator Anthony Frabizzio of his IB English class. “We’re sitting down and we’re talking about literature.”
Students have good things to say about smaller, discussion-based classes.
“It’s been very interesting getting to work with people in my class very closely, and we’ve all become pretty close,” said Greydon Cast, a rising senior in the IB Diploma Program.
IB is unique because of its signature course offerings — including IB Business Management, IB Digital Society, and IB Theory of Knowledge — that introduce students to studies of business, AI, and philosophy.
The Theory of Knowledge course “changes up the way kids think,” said Caitlin Schmidt, who teaches the course. They are “more comfortable with a little bit of ambiguity, with not getting a step by step: ‘Here’s what I want from you in this order in this way.’”
IB faculty said the emphasis on critical thinking prepares students for undergraduate college coursework. “If we’re thinking about college readiness, I think it’s a good program,” said Frabizzio.
IB Business Management teaches practical skills and includes a networking expo that helps students learn to pitch themselves.
“This is about learning how to speak to someone in a professional way,” said Schmidt. When developing projects, she asks herself: “How do I get [students] to behave as professionals, not just read about it and read case studies about it?”
“You’re forced to reflect on your interests and what you’re passionate about,” said IB Diploma student Lulu Marchand, who completed an IB Spanish project on environmental concerns in the Spanish-speaking world. She selected Argentina, where her mother is from, as her country of interest.
“It just was really meaningful in general to me,” Marchand said.
Rye now has six IB Diploma candidates, and IB faculty expect the program to continue to grow.
“Six, hopefully in a few years is 12, in a few years is 18, and we have this kind of really robust IB program,” Frabizzio said.
“I would definitely recommend this to students who want a little bit more challenge and rigorous classes,” said Marchand. “You’re exposed to so many new things that you maybe would not have encountered if you hadn’t taken the program.”
