Programmes and partners
There are just five high school summers to prepare yourself for college and the world of work. Want to know how to really make the most of this one?
High school summer holidays can be long and if we’re honest with ourselves, boring. Depending on your school, you’re at a loose end for up to three months. Your friends are often away with their families, your activities are limited to when your parents are free, and there’s really only so much time you can spend on Tiktok.
This summer, we aim to change that for some lucky GEMS students. Thanks to our partnership with Summer Springboard, we are able to offer GEMS students access to the Summer Springboard programme, including a discount.
As their exclusive provider of hybrid courses, we are able to offer GEMS students access to this prestigious college preparedness programme.
This summer, we’re offering four hybrid on-campus courses and two online-only courses. All six of those courses are available online, from wherever you are in the world.
Through Summer Springboard, we are offering our exclusive iX LaunchPad Career Exploration & Micro-Internship Programme online over Zoom. These classes will be attended by students staying on campus for the nine-day experience. Outside of the daily, three-hour online classes, students will have the opportunity to do enrichment activities and excursions as well as make friends with other students from all over the USA and the world.
In New York, students will be living and learning at Fordham University’s Lincoln Centre campus and in California, students will explore and experience college life at UC Berkeley.
In New York City at Fordham University, students will be able to take Blockchain & Crypto and Digital Marketing. In California at UC Berkeley, UX & UI Design and Intro to Software Engineering will be available.
For those students who would rather spend their summer elsewhere, the online programme gives them the opportunity to join the online classes with the on-campus students learning and working in teams with them. Outside of class time, online students will be free to do whatever they like!
All four of the on-campus courses will also be available online, as well as Data Analytics and Management Consulting.
First up, on the east coast in New York City, we have Blockchain & Crypto and Digital Marketing.
Blockchain is the technology used to record and control cryptocurrency transactions. This course teaches students how to:
Chandler De Kock will be the Head Teacher for this class. Chandler has several years of experience in the blockchain space, currently serving in a senior role at Astaria. He previously worked at New York-based UMA, where he was a senior growth strategist, after a lengthy period at Luno, a major blockchain technology company innovating in the security and storage of cryptocurrencies. Prior to his time at Luno, he was Chief of Product at Registree, a business focused on solving employment and education frictions in a privacy-preserving way.
Digital marketing is often the central pillar on which all of traditional marketing rests, as it has the greatest reach to the widest audience at often much lower costs than traditional marketing. This course teaches students how to:
Ángela Ávila Peiró is a seasoned and award-winning UX Designer and Digital Marketer, active in the industry since 2017. She has served in roles as a copywriter, growth strategist, community manager, creative designer and editor across several major marketing projects in Spain and internationally. Through her work, she received awards from the Universidad CEU San Pablo and Atresmedia.
On the west coast at UC Berkeley, we have UX & UI Design and an Intro to Software Engineering.
User experience (UX) is the interaction between a user and a thing – a piece of software, a website, a car, a shop, a hat, a piece of packaging, etc. UI design – user interface design – specifically references the design of software interfaces, and is a sub-section of UX design. This course teaches students how to:
Kelly McKerr is a Creative Designer at Picsart, a digital creation tools platform. With more than five years of experience as a graphic and visual designer, Kelly is one of iXperience’s UX Design interns from 2017 and has taught Visual Design alongside our college head teacher for the last two years.
Software engineers are those tasked with creating the systems that we all use to interact with the internet. Some are more heavily involved in backend development while others focus on the front end, where the piece of software interacts with the user. This course teaches students how to:
Akhil Boddu was born in Hyderabad, India, brought up in Nairobi, Kenya and is now building a career in South Africa running two specialist web development companies. He graduated from the University of Cape Town (UCT) with a first-class degree in Computer Science and Information Systems as well as a postgraduate qualification. Today, Akhil owns and runs Zaio, which focuses on training and placements for software developers.
Lastly, we have our online-only courses which will be taught at 12 pm ET or 9 pm GST.
Data analytics is the art and science of analysing that data, extracting patterns, and turning them into insights that can be used by businesses to drive decision-making. This course teaches students how to:
Dr Claire Davis-Reddy is a data product specialist who focuses on the design and development of open data products, atlas portals, and visualisation tools in order to facilitate effective data- and evidence-driven decision-making. She is a passionate data storyteller and has written a number of guidebooks on how local governments can start tackling climate change.
Experts in tackling business problems, with both analytical skills and creativity, management consultants are hired by companies to help diagnose and tackle business problems as they arise, using a variety of tools and frameworks, along with a healthy dose of industry understanding and intuition borne of experience. This course teaches students how to:
Lauren Reeves started her career at McKinsey doing projects in a variety of industries across Africa and Europe. She then joined Allan Gray as an in-house consultant focusing on the company’s technology strategy and working directly with the COO. After discovering a passion for technology, she became the company’s youngest Product Owner at the time. After consulting with the likes of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a few years, Lauren now manages multiple businesses through her work as Director at Revgro Holdings.
Thanks to our partnership with Summer Springboard, GEMS students can also apply for the fully immersive on-campus experience, exploring over 20 careers and many different college campuses.
This experience is available for both the Summer Springboard Session 2, from 2 to 14 July, as well as during Session 3 (July 16 - 28). Session 1 has already sold out!
