As you plan for 2020, consider making one of Pace’s many summer programs a part of your schedule. Pace Summer Programs offers full- and half-day camps, as well as specialty programs in athletics, the arts, STEAM, driver’s education and more. 

Dates and details regarding programming for 2020 have been posted on the Summer Programs section of the Pace website, and registration is now open. Questions? Please contact Director of Auxiliary Programs Zach Slaney. 

You may have noticed additional activity on campus this week as the Pace debate program hosted the annual Justin G. Wilson Debates. The tournament celebrates the memory of Justin Wilson ’94, a Pace and University of Texas-Austin student-debater whose life was cut short while returning from a college debate tournament. 

Expert judges and top policy debaters from around the country participated in the two-day tournament, which took place Jan. 22 and 23 and centered around the topic: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce direct commercial sales and/or foreign military sales of arms from the United States. Student participants will continue debating this weekend at Emory University’s Barkley Forum for High School Debate. 

Monty Python’s brand of surreal humor is definitely “not yet dead”—our Middle School performers are making sure of it. Monty Python’s Spamalot - School Edition will take the Fine Arts Center stage Feb. 20-22 at 7 p.m., encouraging audiences to “always look on the bright side of life.”

Pace Arts Alliance members may purchase tickets, available at pace.booktix.com, beginning Jan. 29. Faculty, staff and parents of students in the production may purchase tickets beginning Jan. 31. Ticket sales open to the general public on Feb. 3. 

On Saturday, March 21, Pace will host its first-ever TEDx event, created in the spirit of TED’s overall mission to research and discover “ideas worth spreading.” 

TEDx events are organized by passionate individuals who seek to uncover new ideas and the latest research in their local areas and spark conversations in their communities. 

Led by Upper School English teacher Robert Kaufman and junior Michael Fu, the TED Committee is searching for five speakers—two Pace students, two Pace faculty/staff members and one outside presenter—to illuminate the theme Challenging the Status Quo.

Interested students and faculty should reach out to Kaufman or Fu to learn more. Save the date and join us for what is sure to be an inspiring event! 

On Saturday, Jan. 11, four Pace robotics teams comprised of students in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades participated in the FIRST LEGO League Clayton State Super-Regional tournament and came away with impressive results. 

The fifth-grade team, the Robo-Knights, won the Champions Award, automatically advancing to the state tournament in February. The fourth-grade team, the Coding Catastrophes, took first place in the Core Values category. Both sixth-grade teams—Team Void and Microchips & Salsa—and the Coding Catastrophes will soon learn if they advance to state. 

Congratulations to coaches Hayley Hardwick, Tara Hovan, Katie Sandlin, Alyson Tockstein and all of the student participants! Best of luck to the seventh- and eighth-grade teams as they compete in the Mill Creek Super-Regional Tournament on Jan. 18!