ICGL in Action

This year, the third grade has focused its community-engagement efforts on Second Helpings Atlanta, an organization that strives to reduce hunger and food waste in metro Atlanta by rescuing surplus food and delivering it to those in need.

During the fall semester, Second Helpings Executive Director Joe Labriola visited Pace to ensure students had a complete understanding of the organization, and students participated in several related community-engagement activities. This past week, at their Valentine’s Day party, third graders decorated paper lunch bags with notecards and drawings and packed 60 lunches to be distributed by Second Helpings.

Second Helpings is always looking for food donors and volunteer drivers. Drivers rescue food from a network of donors, transport it to one of Second Helpings Atlanta’s partner agencies and return home or to their place of work in 90 minutes or less. To learn about becoming a food donor, to donate or to join Second Helpings’ community of volunteer drivers, visit secondhelpingsatlanta.org or email VolunteerRecruiter@secondhelpings.info.  

The Isdell Center for Global Leadership (ICGL) Energy Showcase will take place on Wednesday, March 20, from 4-5 p.m. in the Arthur M. Blank Family Upper School, and the entire Pace community is invited to attend!

The annual ICGL Showcase highlights the learning progression that occurs from Pre-First to 12th grade as students become global leaders and thinkers. Students will facilitate conversations about their energy-related projects, and the event’s museum-like format will allow attendees to visit classrooms featuring projects from multiple grade levels, all focused on Energy. Many projects include QR codes that link to video content, so please bring your phone or iPad— and make sure you’ve installed the QR Code Reader app.

Pero's Pizza will provide dinner (on Pace!), and Honeysuckle Gelato will serve up dessert from 5-6:30 p.m., while local vendors showcase energy-efficient products. Questions? Please contact Rebecca Rhodes in the Lower School, Edna-May Hermosillo in the Middle School or Trish Anderson in the Upper School.

Did you know that people all over the world throw away more than 1 billion tubes of toothpaste each year, and that Americans account for 400 million of those tubes?

On Feb. 7, the Upper School’s Isdell Center for Global Leadership Student Advisory Council led a hands-on workshop to call attention to plastic waste by making toothpaste. Students packaged their homemade products in mini containers made of 100-percent compostable, plant-based materials.

Try making your own toothpaste using their recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon coconut oil
½ Tablespoon baking soda
5 drops of peppermint extract

Combine ingredients and brush away!

On Friday, Feb. 8, Middle School students will take part in one of Pace’s most beloved and impactful traditions—Canstruction.  

In Isdell Center for Global Leadership club groups, students will design and assemble elaborate themed structures made of non-perishable food items. Groups will choose from themes such as “All Things Pace,” “Energy” and “Famous Structures." 

The food collected during Canstruction will be donated to Meals on Wheels Atlanta to help feed the senior citizens the organization serves. Photos to come!

The Middle School’s Knights of the Galaxy robotics team is out of this world! After winning the Robot Performance and Champion’s awards at the STEAMsport Regional competition on Dec. 1, the Knights participated in the Clayton State University Super Regional tournament on Jan. 12.

The team competed in four categories—Core Values, Projects, Robot Design and Robot Game—and placed fifth in the Robot Game competition. Its combined scores across all four categories earned the Champion’s Award and merited a spot in the state tournament on Feb. 2. Out of more than 700 FIRST LEGO League teams in the state, only 24 achieve this level of success.

Congratulations to team members Stone Chambers, Belle Divine, Alex Finn, Morgan Goldstrom, Mary Ellis Irvin, Aarav Kokane, Jaxon Praise Perez and Ethan Rucker, and to coach Zach Slaney.