Genesis Innovation Academy, a free public charter school, is boosting major success after its first year of operation. The elementary school is hosting multiple information sessions for parents interested in enrolling their children for the 2018-2019 school year.
Founded by Dr. Gavin Samms, Genesis Innovation Academy accepts students entering kindergarten through 7th grade. The school offers students a cross-disciplinary curriculum with a heavy focus on coding and engineering.“Coding is the language of the future,” says Samms, a graduate of Harvard University and Georgia Institute of Technology. “Though learning a foreign language has great value, coders can create apps that allow people to communicate in another language without knowing it. Almost every aspect of our life is going to be run by a code. So are we training our kids to be consumers or producers? I vote for producers.”
While students share the same campus, Genesis is actually two single-gender schools, a Girls Academy and a Boys Academy. “Boys are less engaged, suspended and expelled more, and have lower grades. For urban boys, this is a crisis,” says Samms. “Our girls are often discouraged from pursuing high paying, high-power fields that men dominate. We cannot continue to pretend our sons and daughters have the same needs.”
In its first year, Genesis recruited more than 400 students and received nearly one million dollars from the Charter School Program federal grant. The school will use the funds to ensure each student has an electronic device for learning. “I love the excitement on our girls faces when they are working on science, engineering, and/or computing. It’s become normal for them,” says Samms. “And our boys, I love how they’ve embraced coding, that coupled with the fact they can also sit quietly and engage with a good book,” he adds.
Genesis is now accepting applications for the 2018-2019 school year.
Information sessions: Saturday, March 10 | 2 p.m and Tuesday, March 13 | 6:30 p.m.
Location: Genesis Innovation Academy |1049 Custer Ave. SE | Atlanta, GA 30316
School Tours: Tuesday’s and Thursday’s 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
To RSVP for information session or tour visit: www.GenesisInnovationAcademy.org
