Latta High School’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme had a very successful group of students in 2018.
Latta High had a total of 74 students take 182 exams, this represented the largest number of candidates and assessments for LHS since the program’s inception in 2012. Those students contributed to the 165,752 students participating in more than 607,000 exams worldwide, “the largest number since the introduction of the Diploma Programme in 1968” for the International Baccalaureate Organization.

In the 2017-18 school year four students took on the challenge of the full Diploma Programme. On Friday, October 12, 2018, Latta High School proudly presented Brianna Carter, Preston Johnson, and Briana Williams with their International Baccalaureate Programme diplomas. These remarkable young people received their diplomas by completing two years of a rigorous and demanding international curriculum. Their course of study included six academic classes in the subject areas of mathematics, language, world language, science, social sciences, and the arts. The students also had to complete three additional subjects in the core of IB. The Theory of Knowledge class presents students with the “opportunity for students to reflect on the nature of knowledge, and on how we know what we claim to know.” Creativity, Activity, and Service requires students to give back to their local community, and the students served many hours as volunteers with varying organizations. The Extended Essay component is an independent, college-level essay of approximately 4,000 words.
Brianna Carter is the daughter of Chris and Debbie Carter. She graduated as valedictorian of Latta High School. She is attending Francis Marion University and is a participant in the FMU Honors College. She is a Biology Pre-Med major with minors in Chemistry and Spanish. After graduating she plans to attend medical school and become a dermatologist. She said that “IB prepared me for college and life because it taught me how to juggle both school work and life without overdoing it.” She said that her biggest challenge in IB was “learning how to handle the workload.” Her advice to upcoming IB students was “do not give up, no matter how hard you may think it is because it is worth it.” She noted that “IB is honestly not that hard, you just have to learn how to balance your workload and not procrastinate.”
Briana Williams is the daughter of Christine and Larry Williams. She graduated as an honor graduate of Latta High School. She is attending Francis Marion University and is a participant in the FMU Honors College. Her major is nursing, and her plan after graduation is to go to MUSC to get her Doctorate of Nursing with a focus in Pediatrics. Briana said that “IB helped me prepare for college life by allowing me to develop time management. The study tactics I learned in IB helped prepare me for college.” Briana agreed that the biggest challenge in IB is “the amount of work and properly managing time.” She had three pieces of advice for upcoming IB students – “DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Pay attention in class. Plan the work you have and work on time management.” Her final piece of wisdom was that “the skills and subjects that you are taught in IB, but also honors and other classes, come back up and are going to be needed in the freshman college courses.”
Preston Johnson is the son of Charlie and Ashley Johnson. He was the President of the Student Body at Latta High School his senior year and an honor graduate.
He is attending the University of South Carolina at Columbia and is a participant in the USC Honors College. His major is nursing, and he plans to continue in graduate school to become a nurse anesthetist. Preston said that “IB helped him with time management” and that his biggest challenge in IB “was keeping up with due dates for the Internal Assessments.” Preston’s advice to upcoming IB students was “learn to balance your outside world with your schoolwork and take the classes that you want.”
Latta High School is very proud of our three Diploma Programme Graduates. Brianna Carter, Preston Johnson, and Briana Williams join Amber Campbell (2015), Dori Webster (2015), Jonathan Anderson (2016), Andre Mace (2016), and Tamara Spivey (2017) as Latta High School graduates who distinguished themselves by earning this international recognition. The significant achievements that these young people have already accomplished make us all look forward to seeing what they will do in the future. The staff and faculty would like to extend our congratulations to our graduates for their hard work, perseverance, and fortitude said LHS Principal Mrs. Sloan.