A warm October greetings from the PACE crew!

The PACE classrooms have now been up and running for almost 2 months and we are proud to say that things are going great! This school year we are proud to again be working in partnership with both Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC) and students from Regis University.

The partnership with MHYC is being run similarly to in years past, allowing the PACE students and MHCY members to engage in educational activities for an hour a week. This unique opportunity allows the middle school PACE students to get a real look at the possible consequences if they do not modify their behavior positively. Some of the activities and games the students will partake in this year will include team building and life sharing. The activities are designed to be engaging and also to allow the students to express themselves and learn in different many ways.

This year the partnership with the Regis university students, will allow these pharmacy students to come into the PACE classroom and work with the PACE instructor teaching hands on health, science and nutrition lessons. These exciting activities and the mere presence of the Regis students in the PACE classrooms will be a breath of fresh air for the PACE students. The distinct backgrounds and experience that each of the Regis students offers the PACE classroom great creativity and allows the PACE students to participate in lessons and activities they would otherwise not get to participate in.

PACE is proud to be participating this winter in the Snowboard Outreach Society (http://www.sosoutreach.org/page/winter-1) program that takes underprivileged youth to the mountains to learn some core values and also how to snowboard. Both PACE classrooms will get to take 5 students that have shown great character, behavior and academic achievement for a full day’s activity including learning about self-respect, positive relationships, social skills, and positive values and culminating in snowboard lessons and some free time on the slopes. This great program will work as a positive form of motivation for some of the PACE students that will earn the right to participate in the program through achievement and hard work.

PACE West is pleased to be partnering with University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work as an internship site for first year student MacKenzie Andrews.  As PACE’s intern, MacKenzie is in the classroom and working with the students Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.  Her experience as an Emergency Medical Technician and her previous work with high-risk youth add integral support to our students and their families.  This year, MacKenzie will be focusing on developing our family wrap-around services, as well as leading classes and connecting with youth one-on-one.  We are very excited to have her here! 

Welcome

Welcome to the PACE blog. We will be using this blog during the 2011-2012 school year so that we can update students, families, and schools on all of the great things we are doing at the program this year. We are very excited about the new opportunities this will provide for our program and the community.

Please take some time to look over all of our pages, which provide more information about the program and its goals. And check back often for updated PACE news, events, pictures, and more.

We would also love to hear from current students, past students, families, schools, and partners. Please feel free to contact us with feedback, comments and questions at our email: jareda@bgcmd.org

Youth Summits

PACE was lucky to participate in 2 youth summits this spring. Both sites took students to the Safe City Youth Summit on March 24th. The students enjoyed all of their sessions, and gained a lot from the experience. In addition, PACE had two instructors- Erica and Joe - present at the conference. They did a session on cooperation and group work. People in the session had to create and original invention from random items and create a 30 second infomercial for it. It was a lot of fun and the inventions were great!

Also, students at PACE East attended the National Beacon's Youth Conference on April 8th. It was put on by the Cole Beacons Program at Cole Arts and Sciences Academy, and included youth from Beacon's programs across the country. The students had a lot of fun and really enjoyed a day out of the classroom.

Joe also presented at this conference. He presented a lesson on incorporating media into teaching at the adult conference, and a lesson about transitioning into middle school at the youth conference. Both were extremely were received. Congratulations to Joe on putting together 2 amazing presentations.

We at PACE are glad to have so many great partners and great opportunities throughout the area!

Mile High Youth Corps Partnership

This year we are really excited to renew our partnership with Mile High Youth Corps. PACE students meet with MHYC students once a week for about an hour. They work together on character education, and the MHYC share their experiences with PACE students. It is a great opportunity for PACE students to make more lasting relationships with members of the community; it is also a good way to allow Corps members to reflect on their own experiences and, hopefully, help keep others from going down the same path. Our students look at the MHYC members as mentors, and they really look forward to their time with them every week.We will be posting pictures and details from our recent MHYC visits soon.