Our increasingly interdependent and interconnected world is in dire need of leaders who possess the values and skills to adapt to the world's newly developing systems and to sustain a productive and peaceful global community. Undoubtedly, schools have one of the greatest opportunities to graduate such leaders by developing nontraditional curricula that foster global abilities, including empathy and compassion, holistic and big-picture thinking, collaboration and partnership, creativity and innovation. Through the World Perspectives Program and specifically through the Challenge 20/20 program, GFA is actively addressing its global responsibility.
Self-selecting groups of rising seniors apply to the Director of Global Studies, Jason Cummings; only one team is chosen. Over the course of their senior year, the students work towards developing a sustainable solution to one of twenty identified global problems. Throughout the year, the 20/20 program emphasizes several key characteristics such as: highly autonomous work both as individuals and as a team, the importance of advanced research and resources outside the school's walls, a willingness to listen to and consider multiple perspectives, and a mixture of assessments that includes traditional and nontraditional formats and expectations.
The first semester is research-based so that students gain expertise in different aspects of the chosen issue. In the second semester, the National Association of Independent Schools coordinates a partnership between GFA's group and a team from an international school also studying the same topic. The work of the second semester is comprised of discussing possible solutions to the problem, co-authoring a professional proposal, and delivering a full-length assembly to the entire Upper School of their findings.