From beginning each school day with P.E. class to being the only LAUSD all-girls school in the San Fernando Valley, the Girls Athletic Leadership School loves to stand out.
But perhaps what stands out the most is the school is its new Van Nuys campus built entirely of recycled shipping containers.
“There are 32 shipping containers — 16 on the first floor, 16 on the second floor. And once you're inside, you really couldn't tell,” said Vanessa Garza, GALS executive director.
Garza has been with GALS, an independent charter school, since its inception in 2016, but until this year the school was sharing a space with another school in Panorama City.
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Now, students are enjoying their first year in their own space, shipping containers and all.
“A lot of the sustainable building that's done in Los Angeles is around crisis, like FEMA trailers or affordable housing,” Garza said. “And here we wanted to take that idea and stretch it and create a sustainable school.”
It’s one innovative aspect to an already innovative school.
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The curriculum focuses heavily on exercise and the mind-body connection, always beginning each day with sports and dance first and then incorporating movement into other classes.
“A school like this is great because it's small, so you focus more on your academics and you can still do sports and you can still do clubs,” said 8th grader Jamie Barbes. “You feel really confident with yourself because there's not that many boys who sometimes — boys can be foolish. Sometimes boys will laugh, but here, we're all a group, we're community, and we all feel for each other.”
Jasmine Yumul is in 6th grade, and she said she loves the athletic aspect to the curriculum.
“I'm really hyper, and so moving around really energizes me. And sometimes it's like kind of annoying because maybe I'm tired, but like, it's pretty fun,” Yumul said. “All of the girls here are super friendly and it's pretty easy to make friends.”
GALS unique design helps make it earthquake and fire resistant, but its curriculum makes the learning experience that much more fun for students.
The public charter school is entirely free.
About 96 percent of the student body is made up of people of color, primarily Latinos. The vast majority of the school’s population comes from low income households.
GALS is currently accepting new students all the time.
“We are stewards of our futures. That's what we teach the girls. So what better way than to role model it and have the first school built entirely out of shipping containers in all of L.A. County,” Garza said. “This model is needed in Los Angeles. It's now an option for any family who chooses a single gender experience for their middle school child to have that at GALS.”
