The GEMS theme is to ensure each graduate is prepared with all the knowledge and skills required for career and college readiness. At GEMS, we believe this requires two core priorities.
First, it is essential to provide each student with a rigorous and personalized curriculum that maximizes academic potential. This is achieved through our small class size, typically 12 – 14 students per class, and our GEMS curriculum which has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards from its inception. Our highly qualified faculty implements these standards from an inquiry-based learning approach. Students are challenged to learn and demonstrate mastery of the standards using real world applications of the content. This allows for optimal growth by providing students with a context for the relevance of the curriculum.
Second, each student must be challenged to develop the maturity required to formulate a plan for their post-secondary experiences. We believe that each student will mature and develop based on the various experiences they encounter in their life as well as their reflection of those experiences. Therefore, GEMS aims to provide students with as many experiences as possible throughout their middle and high school career. These experiences range from volunteering for Habitat for Humanity in Los Angeles to running a shoe drive in our partner village in South Africa. Students also are offered opportunities to live with host families in various international destinations. Students attend classes in our sister schools while also experiencing local customs and culture in these regions. This helps to foster a broader perspective of the world needed for students to better understand their future goals.
Both the academic curriculum and the experiences we provide for students are grounded in our citizenship standards. Students are required at GEMS to demonstrate a clear understanding of the world around them particularly as it relates to community involvement. Students learn how to become active members of their local, national, and international community and also how to become change agents. This challenges students to not just complain about problems that exist in their world, but rather to empower them to become a part of the solution.