ISBerne Student Stories: Sofïa Bohórquez Grade 7

A few years ago, I decided that my dream was to be a surgeon and that’s why I asked my dad, who is a surgeon, to teach me how to do surgical knots. To complement my learning, my mother taught me how to make funny crafts to make learning fun, and I was fascinated! I could practice my manual skill  by making bracelets and other crafts. I wanted to share this passion with other people, but because I was in a traditional school and had to make multiple trips due to my dad’s participation in international oncology conferences, and the trips to attend my mother’s art exhibitions in different parts of the world, and due to my health problems, I felt very overwhelmed from complying with a strict schedule and a study system that did not provide me with the adequate support I needed to be able to carry out several projects successfully, which led me to stressful situations that did more damage to my health. It was then that as a family we decided that we needed to find a school that would adapt to our lifestyle, our projects and our dreams.

So on January 22, 2020, I came to ISBerne Online! It was a new school, a new form of education. I adapted immediately, the result of my grades and MAP tests were excellent and I showed the results to my parents and proved to myself that it is not sitting in a school that can help you. 

A couple of months later a terrible virus arrived that forced us all to go into isolation. It was then that I found a problem in my country. Because of the isolation all the low-income children in my country, who used to go out to play with their friends had to be at home and since they were low-income children they did not have many options to have fun at home. I had the idea of making a YouTube channel to teach them how to make crafts with simple and easily available items. Then I thought about how they could buy the materials if they couldn’t go out, so I decided to make some kits to give to the children with the materials to make the crafts. 

Then I thought how I could take them if we were in isolation and it was then that I remembered that the municipal secretary of education brings school meals to these children’s homes, and that perhaps with food they could bring kits and a little joy for these children, also helping them to develop motor skills. The municipal secretary of education immediately expressed their support and that was how one of my dreams came true without losing the academic rhythm or stopping doing the things that I like at my age.

Thanks ISBerne!

Sofía Bohórquez Ramírez