Impact and reach
The Global Geospatial Institute has shown what’s possible when you give young people real tools to understand their world. Since opening its doors, GGI has introduced more than 85,000 Louisiana students to Geographic Information Systems—turning curiosity into capability in classrooms across the state.
For many, the experience runs deeper. More than 200 students have taken full courses, and 134 have earned industry-based certifications in GIS. These credentials, rare at the high school level, give young people a head start in fields where demand is rising—from environmental science and emergency response to logistics and technology.
Employers say these graduates stand out: they arrive with practical skills, problem-solving ability, and confidence.
The impact is clear. With the right investment, GGI can give even more young people a future of choices—college, careers, and the ability to use their knowledge for the good of their communities. For employers, it means graduates arrive with skills and confidence. For parents, it means a path for their children. For funders, it means a return measured in stronger lives and stronger places.
A student hunts invaders
Sean Green has always been curious about the hidden lives of plants and animals—the way they depend on each other, and sometimes exert their dominance. At East St. John High, that curiosity deepened when he took two courses with the Global Geospatial Institute. Using GIS, he mapped invasive species near his home in LaPlace: Chinese tallow trees that muscle out native growth, and apple snails that strip wetlands bare.
With a phone app in hand, Sean traced their spread and turned field notes into maps that revealed how a landscape can change. The project set him on a path he still follows as a freshmn environmental science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
It also gave him a foothold in the working world—an internship, and later a summer job, with Riverland Surveying. Looking back, Sean credits not only the skills he gained but also the teachers, who, as he puts it, “made the work digestible and the classroom a place you wanted to be.”