We are grateful and proud to be in our third year of operation at Girls Global Academy and in January will officially call our founding class rising seniors. We have so many things to celebrate and to be thankful for.
Who knew that Girls Global Academy would open during the pandemic and our first year of instruction would be mostly virtual. In year two, students began to transition back to school and we all witnessed the effects of COVID on both academics and social emotional learning.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Girls Global Academy now has 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students. Our space has been renovated and is beautiful. We have athletic teams for all three seasons and daytime enrichments and service opportunities. We’ve expanded our CARE team to support our students with social emotional learning and became officially authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme in August of 2022. None of this could have been possible without the extensive network of support we’ve received from you and look forward to sharing more milestones with you.
Have a wonderful holiday season!
~Karen and Shayne
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Community before content was our quarter 1 motto, as students focused on building relationships that will serve as their foundation for success this year, and engaged in meaningful work in all of their classes. Courses analyzed issues related to global development and women's rights, explored deeper understandings of what success looks like in the business world, created campaign platform websites based on pressing social issues, gathered and analyzed data about perspectives on the environment, and developed models depicting different architectural styles or features. Our academic model seeks to allow students to simultaneously develop practical and intellectual skills, while exploring topics that resonate with them and are pertinent to the world today.
We recently celebrated the exceptional work of our 62 quarter 1 honor roll students, and are excited to continue building on our breadth of classroom learning for the remainder of the year. Our focus for quarter 2 is all about inquiry; students are answering big questions, problem solving, completing projects and using critical thinking skills in all spaces.
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IB World School Authorization
As of August of 2022, Girls Global Academy is authorized for the International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme, which is designed to support the needs of students engaged in career-related education by leading to employment, apprenticeships, and/or higher education.
Girls Global Academy decided to pursue becoming an IB school due to the founding team's focus group findings about what girls want and need in an education. Students in these groups reported that they were looking for a school that would offer a sense of belonging, high expectations and rigorous courses, learning outside of school through service and volunteering, career related activities to build technical skills and empowerment, especially around identity. The Career-Related program supports us in a pathway to offer students these essential opportunities in their high school experience, alongside an exceptional education.
All 11th grade students are enrolled in at least 1 IB course, and a significant cohort is pursuing the full program. IB students are learning about themselves and the world through engaging classroom activities and local service projects; students have 3 options for Diploma Program courses this year in Language A: Language & Literature, Environmental Systems and Societies, and Visual Arts.
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Classroom Spotlight: Personal and Professional Skills
Personal and Professional Skills (PPS) is a cornerstone of the IB program, which begins by focusing on personal development and thinking processes, as one cannot evaluate ethical issues or understand different cultures without first focusing on our own growth and individual perspectives. In Quarter 1, students furthered their research and presentation abilities by crafting and delivering speeches related to the psychological impact of social media, while practicing key public speaking skills. Students reflected on their areas for growth in school, and created strategies related to work-life balance.
In the coming quarter, PPS will continue to focus on personal growth and confidence in relation to public speaking. Students will practice creating strong arguments in relation to complicated ethical dilemmas in the business world, and defend their positions. In the final stages of the course, we hope to create a grade level Model United Nations, with students representing different countries with complex interests and connections.
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College and Career Readiness
Girls Global Academy is excited to integrate College and Career Readiness (CCR) into all of our grade levels with the addition of our College & Career Counselor, Ms. Galloway! During the transition to high school, CCR supports 9th-grade students in gaining more self-awareness and self-respect while introducing them to professional tools they will need throughout their careers. Once students are in 10th grade, they learn more about interpersonal and communication skills. We take the time to be sure to learn the proper way to craft an email, and teach them the valuable skills of follow-up and follow-through. When students are in 11th and 12th grades, we give direct guidance on pursuing their postsecondary goals, tour colleges, and assist with polishing resumes, mock interviews, networking, and preparing for the college application process. We integrate college and career readiness into our school day schedules to help students be successful and provide a foundational understanding for how high school students can be prepared for a spectrum of post-secondary opportunities.
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Family Engagement Day
We're excited to have hosted our first in-person family engagement day in November! It was a great success thanks to our families and students, who joined us in the building to share their student's learning over the course of the first quarter and hear from staff members and partners about our current and future opportunities. Thank you to the 100 families that participated in this event, and we look forward to continuing these family engagement experiences this school year!
If you or someone you know are interested in visiting Girls Global Academy and learning more about our school, there will be opportunities to do so on upcoming family engagement days as well as our open houses.
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Black Girls Code Workshop |
Black Girls Code (BGC) recognizes the particular importance of addressing the underrepresentation of women of color in STEM, and trains thousands of girls to be innovators and creators in these fields. They are a nationally-recognized organization with 15 chapters across the United States, and GGA is excited to have had the chance to welcome a team from BGC to our school for the first time for an Intro to Gaming workshop. Over 100 of our students worked on creating a role-playing game by adding codes to create new levels and characters.
We're grateful to BGC for sharing their expertise and exposing students to the world of computer science and technology!
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Electives Spotlight: Debate Team Updates
The Debate Team seeks to equip students with the skills to pursue their ambitions and to be successful beyond their time at GGA. Our new Debate Team has 10+ students who regularly attend debate practice, and are competing in the Washington Urban Debate League (WUDL).
The topic for the year is: The United States federal government should substantially increase its security cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in one or more of the following areas: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and cybersecurity.
The league is dedicated to fostering community, and preparing students with the skills they will need to be competitive in their careers and lives. The Debate Club leaders, Ms. Rhee and Ms. Corcoran, are excited to continue working with our students on debate skills and empowering them with confidence to know their voices will be heard.
Debate has had a great start to the season. Six students attended the opening WUDL tournament of the season in October. 10th graders Rickai and Amira won both of their rounds, it was their first competitive debate tournament! The team looks forward to continuing their competitions through March.
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Athletics Updates
Our fall athletics teams wrapped up their most recent seasons with several milestone performances! Volleyball finished with a school record of 4 wins and our Purple Wave fan section got to attend their first volleyball game, as 54 supporters got to cheer on our Trailblazers at an away game.
Cross Country finished their season with Jaymie getting the most accolades for sisterhood ever displayed at a cross country meet, after stopping to help a runner that was injured and still finished her race! Cheer had their first performance of the year at the pep rally where our partner school, Ron Brown was able to come and cheer them on! Soccer laid the foundation for next year, with their inaugural season coming in the fall of 2023. Way to go Trailblazers and coaches! Our student-athletes are currently participating in winter basketball and cheer seasons.
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Student Wellbeing and Care Team Services
The Care Team runs weekly groups and mediations, which are done to encourage students to talk with their peers about conflicts and/or life situations. Groups cover topics such as emotional regulation, conflict resolution, self-esteem, trauma recovery and empowerment. The Care Team provides the space and structure for students to be productive and come out of every group or mediation with the necessary skills to implement on their own in the future.
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Student Professional Development Day
Over 30 team members from Heidrick and Struggles' DC Office visited Girls Global Academy to lead a student professional development day. H&S provides executive coaching and consulting to talented leaders across top organizations in the country, and we had a great experience learning from their expertise. The H&S team provided invaluable insights about professional skills and career paths, held workshops on resume writing, and helped students create polished products. Students came away from the experience realizing more about how to share their multitude of skills and experiences both on paper and in person. Thank you to H&S for spending their office's day of service with Girls Global Academy! We look forward to our continued collaboration.
If you, your organization, or someone you know is interested in joining us for a service-learning or volunteer opportunity, please reach out to Shayne Swift, Director of Family and Community Engagement, at [email protected].
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IB Service Learning
Our 11th graders are participating in an IB service-learning course, where they engage in community service to respond to relevant social issues in our region. The IB understands service to be a staple of their program, and sees service-learning as an ongoing process of reflection and action. It involves exploring and interrogating one's own perspectives, coming to more deeply understand complex issues, and sharing one's learning through advocacy and/or philanthropy efforts.
Our first theme of the year has focused on homelessness and housing insecurity. Students have had the chance to visit and/or learn about root causes of homelessness and how the issue is addressed through local partner organizations such as So Others Might Eat, the National Coalition for the Homeless, Martha's Table, and Everyone Home DC. Students have analyzed how homelessness is just one of the many symptoms of inequality in the region, and investigated the effectiveness of current and potential policy solutions. We're grateful to our partners for sharing their expertise and helping us increase our depth of knowledge and involvement on these important topics.
We're looking forward to continuing to explore issues that are important to our founding 11th grade class through their service-learning opportunities.
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Girls Global Academy Staff |
We still have a few positions open for the 22-23 school year. We are looking to hire and retain diverse staff to best meet the needs of our students. If you or someone you know could be a good fit for our school, please check out our career page!
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Support our Students
GGA has an ambitious goal this holiday season. Before the year ends they are hoping to raise $20,000 to support our students. We want to expand our IB program even more, buy new engineering computers, sports equipment and uniforms, and be able to sponsor even more experiential learning opportunities .
Our students deserve to have all the resources and support possible for them to thrive next year and we need your help to provide that. Please consider donating to our Because She Matters campaign here.
We're excited to have had the chance to share more about the programs and opportunities we are offering at GGA. If you have any questions, we would love to talk with you about the plans and goals we have for our amazing students. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you in advance for your generosity! Your support shows time and time again that our students matter.
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Girls Global Academy
733 8th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
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