Student Spotlight: Imo von der Linden
July 4, 2023
VHS Principal Stephen Baker loves listening to students and parents share the stories of their lives, especially when their history involves an unconventional pathway to success. When Mr. Baker signed Imo von der Linden’s Ontario Secondary School Diploma, as he does for all VHS graduates, he couldn’t wait to learn about Imo’s journey as a mature student from Germany. We hope you’ll enjoy reading about what he shared too!
Although Imo has spent most of his youth and adult life in Europe, he actually lived in Toronto for three years from ages 18 to 21, so he’s quite familiar with Ontario. It was during this time that Imo was introduced to the idea of starting school in Ontario, and he discovered that he could keep studying the Ontario curriculum in any country by choosing a fully online school like VHS. Eventually, Imo hopes to move back to Canada and reconnect with the friends in Toronto that he hasn’t seen for many years:
“Having had some of the best times of my life there and really enjoying the weather, nature, and diversity makes me want to move there again.”
Having grown up in Europe, Imo came to us from a very different educational system. Since he plans to pursue post-secondary education one day, he knew that he would need to earn his high school diploma and the OSSD could open up more international doors for him. Rather than having Imo start back in Grade 9 in the Ontario system, our Guidance Team was able to work with Imo to assign him equivalent credits for the courses he had already completed in his international high school. From there, Imo knew exactly which Ontario courses he still needed to take to finish up his diploma and he was away to the races.
So what made Imo choose Virtual High School? First and foremost, he highlighted the course selection as an attractive feature for him. While at VHS, Imo completed a wide selection of courses in different areas, from business to nutrition to biology, to determine what he was most interested in. He also valued the flexibility that allows students from anywhere in the world to earn Ontario credits:
“I have benefitted from taking courses at VHS because it allowed me to study in different locations and without fixed hours.”
Imo provided the following tips for success in a VHS course for any new students:
- Try summarizing the content you’ve learned in each unit instead of memorizing everything word for word. If you can explain the concept to another person in your own words, you’ll remember it better!
- Read through each set of assignment instructions before going through the course content to determine the types of notes you should take throughout to help you later.
- Go over all feedback from your teacher to help you improve future assignments.
Now that he’s earned his OSSD, Imo hasn’t quite decided which post-secondary program he wants to apply to, though he has narrowed his choice down to information technology, psychology, and business. In the meantime, we hope he’s able to spend some time focusing on his true passions in life: training working dogs and drawing. A few years ago, Imo was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to train Belgian, German, and Dutch Shepherds to become police and military dogs. While he hasn’t had the time to work with dogs lately, he considers that experience to be one of his greatest achievements since he was able to conquer his childhood fear of dogs in the process!
As a long-term student at Virtual High School, Imo has been with us through many updates over the years, from new courses to increased student support services and everything in between. We couldn’t be more grateful to have him, and all of our alumni, along for the ride.
If you’re living in another country and looking to learn more about how you can enrol at Virtual High School, check out our International Students page today!