With the school year rolling along and 2012 within view, both PACE classrooms are proud to inform you of some of the great stuff that has been happening in the past two months. Apart from our everyday character education and academic classroom activities, both PACE sites have enjoyed some great extra-curricular activities including field trips to: Regis University, S.O.S. and World Vision (with Mile High Youth Corps). PACE East has also had the opportunity to do some community service at the Montbello Recreation Center, cleaning up some of the garbage people had littered outside the building.
To complete our 2011 partnership with the pharmacy students from Regis University, each PACE classroom had the chance to go and see what life is like for the Regis students first hand. A group of Regis students led the PACE students on an extensive tour of the Regis campus, answering questions about what it is like in university and informing the PACE students about some of the activities they get to partake in at the university. The tour concluded at the pharmacy lab where the PACE students got to do some hands on activities, including: making Chap Stick and measuring pills (using M&M’s) and taking someone’s blood pressure. It really was a great educational field trip for the PACE students, who showed great interest and expressed a real liking of the activities and interaction with the Regis students.
PACE gives students an opportunity to have a second chance, to learn from past mistakes, and to create a successful path for themselves in school and in life. Six students from PACE East and West who took advantage of this second chance participated in an all day ski and snowboard trip to Vail through the SOS SnowCore program. The program promotes self-respect, positive relationships, social skills, and positive values all while participating in skiing or snowboarding. Students were provided with all ski clothing and equipment necessary for their daylong lesson with a Vail instructor. Mid-day, students were treated to a hot lunch at the top of the mountain. All six students, who had never snowboarded, felt confident and proud at the end of a challenging yet fun day. PACE hopes to keep working with SOS to continue giving students the opportunity to expand their horizons and promote self-esteem.
The mentoring program that exists between PACE and Mile High Youth Corps has also continued in the past two months to great effect. However to augment our partnerships with MHYC, we have had the pleasure of going out and working with them and the non-profit organization World Vision doing service learning projects. World Vision is an international N.G.O. that supplies clothing, food and other supplies to people in need all around the world. The service learning projects that we have done and will continue doing in the coming months have included, sorting, preparing and boxing clothes as well as putting together HIV/AIDS kits to be shipped to the areas in need. This activity has proved to be great for the PACE students, who tend to do very well working side by side with the MHYC mentors and through showing a great level of empathy for the people they are helping.
We have been blessed with many holiday opportunities this season. Many of our PACE students come from low-income families and the holidays can be a tough time of year when funds are tight. Thanks to the King Soopers Toy Drive toy donations, students were able to select and wrap toys for themselves and their family members before students went on winter break. This was a wonderful opportunity for students to experience and reflect on generosity and giving.
Finally PACE students had the chance to take advantage right before Christmas of a generous donation by the Salah family for children in need. Some students that had completed the PACE program successfully or were currently doing well in the program were selected to go on a shopping trip to buy shoes, coats, hats, and other warm clothes. The students that participated from both PACE sites did very well and showed a lot of gratitude and were especially happy that they were given the responsibility to choose things for themselves. Some of the students were also able to buy for younger siblings, and they did a fantastic job picking out warm clothes and shoes that their brothers and sisters will surely benefit from especially during some of the very cold winter days in Colorado.
After a great 2011, we are looking forward very much to 2012 and the many challenges, as well as fun and educational moments that is has in store.
