Dr. Mea Ahlberg is captivated by cultures. You could say that they’ve been her life’s work.

“I love the interaction with people of different backgrounds and cultures,” Ahlberg said. “Other cultures always fascinate me. There is always something new you can learn from a different culture. Even my dissertation is on cultures and development.”

Ahlberg received her doctorate from the University of Texas at Dallas and has done extensive research on cultures and development. She joined the Dallas International School staff in 2008 as the director of admissions, a post she still retains. Besides working at DIS, she serves as a faculty member at Collin College where she teaches policy and economics. Ahlberg’s background is as diverse as the many families she helps through the admission process into the school. She loves being able to witness first-hand the growth of all students.

“When the day is stressful, it is a privilege to just step out of your office and look at the children, and everything is fine,” Ahlberg said. “Nothing else matters. It’s very easy to de-stress yourself and watch the children play. They are simple and peaceful. We should look up to them to learn to be that way.”

Ahlberg’s own two children are in CP and CM1, respectively, and they share the same enthusiasm for the school as their mother does.

“They enjoy it so much,” Ahlberg said. “I know that when every morning they’re excited to go to school. And you constantly hear that they love their school. It’s the only school they know.”

Ahlberg’s deep connection with the cultural mission of the school has helped propel her to new heights in her career. She recently was invited to be a keynote speaker at a conference held by the Admissions Group of the French American Schools (AGFAS) in New Orleans. The directors of admissions of the French American Schools across North America were in attendance. Ahlberg’s presentation focused on strategic enrollment management.

“It’s really about working in the most efficient way with what you have available,” Ahlberg said. “The admissions office is the entry and exit of the school. It’s the gateway to the school. A working admissions office can be a key component to the success of the school.”

While efficiency is key to a director who interacts with every family that comes and goes at DIS, so too is equality. It’s a rule that Dr. Ahlberg lives by.

“To have a well-functioning organization we have to be fair and adhere to the policies and rules that are effective and have been put in place with the best intentions in mind,” Ahlberg said. “That can help support the goal and the mission of the institution. It helps create the cohesiveness that makes an institution successful. It doesn’t matter where you come from. We stick to policies and fairness.”

Cody Gelbrich is no stranger to adversity. He’s had some tough breaks, but he manages to maintain a smile while chatting about his somewhat bumpy road to one of the top universities in Germany.

“I really struggled to get into university,” said Gelbrich, who now studies economics at Humboldt University of Berlin. “It was really hard for them to accept my diploma.”

Gelbrich and his family are originally from Germany, but moved to Dallas when he was young. After spending every summer in Berlin, he decided that he wanted to return to his homeland for university after he graduated from Dallas International School. He had no idea that he would have to wait years to get in. But he kept a positive attitude.

“I really learned that from nothing comes nothing,” Gelbrich said. “You can’t be negative, because nothing will come of it.”

While his transition from high school to college was anything but smooth, Gelbrich maintains that he lived a charmed life while studying at DIS.

“I went to [another high school] before DIS,” Gelbrich said. “I loved being at DIS so much more. I loved the IB program, because it was much more long-term and there were a lot less grades, which is exactly like in university.”

Gelbrich also enjoyed the global mindset that his classmates had at DIS, something that he said was lacking in his previous school.

“People here have great summer experiences,” Gelbrich said. “When I would come back to school, they would talk about how they went to Italy or France. At my other high school, they didn’t even know where some of those places were. It blew my mind.”

Gelbrich said that the main differences between DIS and Humboldt are the amount of grades and academic supervision.

“One of the biggest differences is the only thing I have at university is the exam at the end of the semester,” Gelbrich said. “It’s all or nothing—no projects and no essays. There’s not even any roll call. So I think going to DIS helped prepare me for that.”

Gelbrich would like to work for a German airline once graduates. His one piece of advice to DIS students? Never give up.

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes you as long as you get it done,” Gelbrich said, with a smile.

The first thing that you notice when you walk into the courtyard of the Churchill Way campus of Dallas International School is the color. Not only are there vibrant play structures and buildings, but the northwest corner houses a huge mural that is a veritable rainbow. Visitors admire the whimsical characters and scenes that are depicted, but beneath the paint lies a vast number of educational opportunities for the students of DIS.

“Before the mural was painted, all the walls on that side of the school were white,” said Yohanis Mibrathu, director of preschool at DIS and the overseer of the mural project. “They were boring. We decided that we wanted to use those walls as a pedagogical tool.”

Initially, the plan was to paint numerous words on the wall so that students could enhance their vocabulary. But then bigger ideas began to surface.

“We started talking to different artists, and the one thing we told them is that the wall has to be interactive,” Mibrathu said. “One of the artists came up with the idea of using magnetic paint. The students could use magnets and change it based on the topic that they were working on.”

School administration loved the idea and the project began. There was only one problem. The artist, Jelena Opacic, had planned to move to California before the project would be finished. She knew she wouldn’t be able to complete the wall in time, so she sent out a call for help.

“We thought, why not organize some painting parties?” Mibrathu said. “So every weekend we would have painting parties and everyone came and painted. Complete strangers would stop by and help. We would start at 7:30 in the morning and go sometimes until midnight.”

Opacic would sketch the figures and characters on the wall and then assign colors to each section. Volunteers would simply paint in the assigned colors.

“It really became a community project,” Mibrathu said. “That was the most exciting part about it.”

Opacic left for California and the finishing touches were put on the project. Wherever shoelaces are depicted on characters, holes were punched in the wall and real laces were threaded through to help younger students learn to tie their shoes. A clear coat of paint was placed on the entire wall to protect it from weather damage.

Then, the administration let the kids have at it.

“Kids loved the colors, and they immediately wanted to touch them,” Mibrathu said. “Teachers would bring boxes of magnets for fractions or letters or whatever and use them to teach. They can draw up anything they want to teach on their computer and print it out on a magnetic sheet and use it.”

And it’s not just meant for fun and games. Mibrathu said the mural has helped the young students improve their cognitive skills immensely.

“Teachers are saying that it makes the kids verbalize,” Mibrathu said. “They ask questions. They want to speak about it. Sometimes you see kids gathering around it on their own and talking about it.”

The mural is now a hallmark of DIS, and it helps reinforce a well-known lesson about teaching children.

“Visual support is always better than the alternative,” Mibrathu said.

Imagine if you finished your undergraduate degree in less than three years. Your friends are still in school. You have all the options in the world in front of you. What would you do?

For Danial Saiyid, a 2013 graduate of Dallas International School, the choice was easy. Go to Africa.

“I’m going to be working in Morocco with the Peace Corps as a youth asset builder,” Saiyid said. “I’ll be providing stuff such as English classes, resume building and other things so that people there have a better future.”

Saiyid recently graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a degree in international political economy. When he first started college, he had some trouble figuring out what he wanted to do.

“For me, I still didn’t know after my first year what I wanted to do,” Saiyid said. “Not many people have a really set plan. But this is the direction that I want to go in.”

Saiyid said that his experience at DIS helped him make decisions about his future career while still in college.

“At DIS, I met people from so many different cultures and that gave me a taste to talk to someone from another country,” Saiyid said. “It definitely gave me a more globalized view. I feel very fortunate to have gone there and experienced that. It definitely influenced my major and what to do afterwards.”

While DIS helped shape Saiyid’s career path, he still noticed how his workload and study patterns changed once he got to college.

“The big thing with college is, when you’re given an assignment, there are no reminders,” Saiyid said. “At DIS, the teachers were a lot more involved to make sure you succeeded. There was a lot more work in college.”

Despite the changes, Saiyid was able to thrive during his time at UTD. His piece of advice for soon-to-be college students?

“It’s OK not to know exactly what you’re going to do,” Saiyid said. “Just take an active role in making sure you get your work done.”

As identical twins, Marie and Camille Prulhiere can be difficult to tell apart. It doesn’t help that they do virtually everything together.

The Prulhiere sisters graduated from Dallas International School (DIS) in 2014 and just finished their second year at the University of East London. Both Marie and Camille are studying business management with a specialty in marketing and both star on the school tennis team.

“It’s basically half school, half sport,” Camille said of her college experience. “It’s high-performance. They provide everything we need, like workshops, volunteering and our scholarship.”

The twins grew up in Toulouse, France and moved to Dallas at the age of 12. Marie recalled their feeling of apprehension before their first day of school at DIS.

“We knew almost no English,” she said. “But it was great because we learned fast and at the same time, we didn’t lose our French.”

They loved the tight-knit community at the school and the feedback they received from teachers. According to the twins, the biggest difference between DIS and university life is the amount of academic supervision.

“School-wise, you’re by yourself,” Marie said. “If you want to work, it’s up to you. The professors aren’t going to push you, because at the end of the day, you’re paying for your degree. They’ll help you, but they won’t push you.”

Camille said that DIS helped her get outside of her comfort zone when she got to college.

“DIS is a social bubble,” Camille said. “You just need to wait a bit and you’ll meet a bunch of people. I was scared to get out of the bubble. But eventually, you’ll like it. Everyone is in the same situation, so just introduce yourself.”

Of all the things they learned before moving on to college, Marie and Camille emphasized just three.

“Be open-minded,” Marie said. “Be organized. Meet people.”