The Impact Lab

Theme: Community Elders

PK students engage with elders from Friendship Terrace (FT) Senior Living in Tenleytown. Through classroom read-alouds with FT residents, arts projects, and field trips to FT, students learn more about empathy, kindness, and connection. 

Theme: Changemakers

In Kindergarten, students learn how they can make an impact both within our GDS community and nationally. Through a partnership with Food Rescue US, Kindergarteners work with High School students to collect leftover snacks from GDS and donate them to those in need. 

Theme: Home + Homelessness

In 1st Grade, students explore the meaning of home and partner with our friends at Friendship Place to learn more about people who are experiencing homelessness. Through field trips, food drives, and hands-on service activities, students leave 1st grade with a deeper understanding of their place in the world and how to help others. 

Theme: Racial Justice

In 2nd Grade, we partner with American University for a deep dive into identity and racial justice. In addition, students are encouraged to explore their own identities, learn from High School Student Affinity Group Co-Heads in interactive workshops, and create a poetry project showcasing their learnings. 

Theme: Immigration

The 3rd Grade program allows students to dive into the topic of immigration through a partnership with Mary’s Center. Students learn about various services offered by Mary’s Center to the DC immigrant community and participate in hands-on service projects like a school supply drive.

Theme: LGBTQIA+ Rights

In 4th Grade, we partner with SMYAL so students can learn more about the LGBTQIA+ community and the unique issues the community faces. As a culminating project, students create materials for SMYAL to use in their youth programming. 

Green Corps

The 5th grade Green Corps focuses on environmental justice, urban gardening, and food justice. Throughout the year, students visit urban gardens, meet with local farmers, learn about the history of the Piscataway-Natochank land, and participate in hands-on service projects. Projects include sandwich-making for Martha’s Table with 1st graders and cooking 70+ meals for the women of N Street Village.

District Corps

The 6th grade District Corps explores all elements of DC culture from visual arts to religion to sports and more. In four field trips, students visit all eight wards of DC to deepen their understanding of the city. District Corps features partnerships with local organizations including the Howard Theater, Washington Youth Baseball Academy, La Casita Pupuseria, and more.

Care Corps

The 7th grade Care Corps engages students in learning around physical, mental, and community health. From site visits to local fitness studios and learning about play-based therapy to participating in virtual reality games designed to combat anxiety, students learn about different ways to care for themselves and those around them. As a culminating project, students host Community Health Fairs in Dupont Circle, Clarendon, and Bethesda to share their learnings with the wider DMV community.

Citizen Corps

The 8th Grade Citizen Corps is all about advocacy in action. Students choose from eight different policy areas to dive into throughout the year. During Heart Excursions, students connect to the humanity behind their policy issue through heartfelt conversations with those most affected. On our annual Hill Day, students visit with policymakers and advocacy groups to collect data for their final projects. Students use their learning in an annual “Podcast-In-A-Day” event where they write, record, and edit podcasts to be submitted to the New York Times Student Podcast Contest. We’re proud of our students who have received Honorable Mentions in this national contest!

Purposeful + Joyful Community Engagement

We believe that our students’ understanding of the world is supported by thoughtful, community-driven, impactful, and sustained experiences in direct community service work. In order to graduate, students must complete a minimum of 60 service hours. These volunteer experiences are varied, and purposefully so: we encourage students to engage in service learning that is meaningful to them and the communities they serve.

Three Days of Experiential Learning

Each year, GDS students and faculty participate in a three-day immersive and experiential learning experience separate from the normal day-to-day academic program of the school. Minimester courses have ranged from day hiking in the DMV and a 72-hour filmmaking challenge to tech-free retreats and engaging in civil discourse with those of different political and cultural backgrounds.

Professional Experience for Juniors

The GDS Internship Program seeks to provide rising seniors with meaningful educational experiences in real-world work settings during the summer. We partner with 40+ local, national, and international host organizations across a vast array of fields: technology, finance, medicine, education, social services, conservation, public policy, and more. While this program is geared towards rising seniors, we are able to offer a handful of internships to rising 10th-11th graders each year as well.

Cross-Divisional Community Building

The GDS Buddy Program aims to create meaningful, one-to-one connections between students in PK-12 grades. The 400+ students who participate in the afterschool Buddy Program each year are paired to allow our Lower, Middle, and High School students to build community through play, deep conversations, and shared experiences.