“When I was a student, everything and everyone were just part of my daily routine, so I didn’t fully appreciate how special the experience was at the time. Now, I look back on my Beacon years with deep fondness. My memories of my time at Beacon are more vivid than in high school and university! Walking by random corners of the school brought back specific memories from my Beacon days. I can still clearly remember how it felt to walk into my third-grade classroom in the mornings.
“My memories of my time at Beacon are more vivid than in high school and university.”
Beacon cultivated our individuality and taught us how to be curious from an early age. I find it so important that we were guided by the IB learner profile (something I STILL refer to as an adult!) because even though I didn’t have the highest test scores and grades growing up, I notice how the elements of the learner profiles manifest in my work now. I run a body acceptance community @hi.smithy and a clothes brand @kaddadía, which both advocate for body acceptance and respecting your body in all its versions. We plan events, have a podcast, and create content for social media on all relevant topics about respecting our current bodies. When I first started, I was running both brands all by myself, but now I have a small team that is helping me out. My goal is to raise awareness about body acceptance and bodily autonomy by empowering people to celebrate unique individuality and all the versions that they come in.
I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t have the foundation that Beacon helped us build when we were younger.
“Even though I didn’t have the highest test scores and grades growing up, I notice how the elements of the learner profiles manifest in my work now.”
“I run a body acceptance community @hi.smithy and a clothes brand @kaddadía, which both advocate for body acceptance and respecting your body in all its versions. We plan events, have a podcast, and create content for social media on all relevant topics about respecting our current bodies.”
“My goal is to raise awareness about body acceptance and bodily autonomy by empowering people to celebrate unique individuality and all the versions that they come in.”
I love how even though it’s been more than a decade since we graduated, we’ve all still kept in touch. Even as adults, when I get to meet former Beacon kids from different batches that I didn’t get to talk to growing up, one of the first things we say is “I remember you— you’re from (Narra/Acacia/Molave)!”
“I remember you— you’re from (Narra/Acacia/Molave)!”
Some of my fondest memories of Beacon include our field trip to Sagada where we got to experience planting rice, and all the projects we got to plan, film, and edit our own videos for different subjects.”
– Sabina Yulo, Founder, Hi Smithy and Kaddadia, Beacon School student, Grade 3 June 2002 – Grade 8 April 2008
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