Ana Clara João is a 10th grader who has attended OLM since the 7th grade. She is a member of the Junior Honor Society, coordinator of the community service project (ESM) and does after-school tutoring to help other students excel.  From 4th to 6th grade, Ana Clara lived in the Netherlands. Now, she is getting ready to leave OLM and move back there again.

 

Ana Clara’s family is moving due to her father’s job at Petrobras.

 

Her sister, Amanda João which is an OLM alumni, is currently in college in the Netherlands studying physiology and this is one of the main reasons Ana Clara is looking forward to moving back.

 

She is returning to her old school, the American School of the Hague, where she expects to reunite with her classmates and teachers. She thinks this will make the transition to from OLM less daunting. Even though she is thrilled to move, she told the Lancer Chronicle that she will “deeply miss the warm and welcoming community of OLM.”

Marina Koria, one of Ana Clara’s classmates, said that “Ana plays the role of class nerd and helper. She will be deeply missed because she is always opened to listen to others, help them solving their doubts, and laughing along if somebody tells her something crazy!”.

 

Ana Clara says what she will miss the most about Rio de Janeiro are the “salgadinhos” and about OLM, “the chaotic, but fun class of 2020”.

 

 Ana Clara plans to attend a university in Europe to study astrophysics, which will be easier to accomplish if she graduates from a high school in the Netherlands. There, she will have the opportunity to enroll in International Baccalaureate (IB) classes as well as choose courses that are more focused on her goals. Ana Clara is leaving OLM “with a heavy heart, but the prospect of a bright future.”