Humans of RBC: “Trust yourself, your knowledge and your abilities”

An interview with Anna-Maria Baer by Clara, RBC 2025-27

Can you please introduce yourself?
My name is Anna, I’ve worked at RBC as a House Tutor, as the Learning Support Coordinator & Special Educational Needs Coordinator and as a TOK teacher. I’ve been at RBC for seven and a half years.

How would you describe yourself without mentioning your name or your role at RBC?
I am someone who likes to run, who likes to read, I’m a sister, I’m a daughter, I’m an aunt, I’m a friend.

What brought you to RBC and what does being part of this community mean to you?
What brought me to RBC was my master’s thesis. I studied Anthropology and Education in Copenhagen and had to do a field work, looking closer at the topic of home and belonging. I was interested in international school contexts and then really by coincidence heard about this school. It turned out that – given its diverse community – it perfectly fit my purposes.

For me, being part of this community means to contribute and to adhere to certain values. I think that can mean different things for different people, but I do believe that being engaged and contributing in whatever way possible plays a big part.

Looking back, what has RBC taught you about home and belonging?
I noticed that students identify a lot with the school: They feel like they do belong and find community. Even more so, they create a home here. But at the same time, they are also quite stressed. My thesis was called “The RBC Paradox”; for me it was paradoxical how, on the one hand, people have these very warm emotions and feelings towards the place and the people, while one the other hand, that same place and its people can cause stress. One outcome assumes it’s partly the stress and intensity of the two years that creates this special bond—that was a very interesting result.

As RBC’s learning support coordinator, can you tell us your top three strategies to tackle the IB?
I think number one – and I will quote Emmett – is to keep perspective. If you have an assessment tomorrow, how important is that for the rest of your two years? Is it worth staying awake the whole night or maybe not? But then also, what do these two years mean for the rest of your life? Sometimes it’s helpful to take a step back and ask: Is this really something to stress about?

Number two is staying organized. Look ahead, look at what’s coming in the flow of the academic year, keep a calendar etc. And number three: Trust yourself. Something I see a lot with students in learning support is that whenever they need to revise, they think they need to revise everything. But usually, they know a lot already. For example, in your third term, you don’t need to revise every little thing from term one, you just need to see where your gaps are —and that’s what you should focus on.

Trust yourself, your knowledge and your abilities.

What is your favourite place on campus and why?
The first one, and I’m going to sound like a student, is my bed in my apartment. Every morning when I wake up, I see only the tip of the hills and that mountain ridge, and it’s really beautiful. I love to be in my bed, read, and look outside. My second favourite spot is the House 4 balcony. When students are away over the summer, I love to have my lunches outside on this balcony – it just has the nicest view. And maybe I even have a third one: the peace wall behind the Auditorium. During Covid, we used to walk out there, because it felt removed from the school even though it is technically still campus grounds.

That might be a new discovery for me, I don’t think I’ve been there before.
Yeah, that’s also one of my recommendations: Try to see everything on campus! Because there is so much to see and it’s lovely to explore.

I’ll have to do that! The last question is: What gives you hope or keeps you motivated to work towards a more peaceful and sustainable future?
Wow, I thought about this and it’s a difficult question. To be honest, I think it’s the students. I’ve now seen several generations, and I have noticed that students never get tired – that’s very impressive to see. Each generation brings endless motivation in terms of initiatives, ideas and thoughts, trying for the best and hoping for the best. It has inspired me year to year and makes me hopeful that we can change things if everyone just contributes a little.

Is that something you only witness within RBC or also outside of it?
While I would love for this spark to have a ripple effect outside of RBC, I think it’s particularly visible here because of the kind of students we have. There are good people everywhere, but it also takes a good support structure to turn motivation into action. We have a dedicated staff and a supportive community. Still, I do hope that the RBC spirit can spread outside, too.

Thank you so much for the interview, Anna!