PACE: Promoting Awareness & Community Engagement

PACE: Promoting Awareness and Community Engagement is a four-year developmental curriculum meant to intentionally develop competencies and skills in the following areas: Health & Wellness, Mindfulness, 
Social-Emotional Learning, Equity Literacy/DEI (Diversity Equity & Inclusion), and Service Learning.
GRADE 9
Mods 1 – 4: Health & Wellness
In Mod 1, students begin with an overview of CSW culture to help them integrate into the community. In Mods 2-3, students develop important foundational thinking related to physical, mental, behavioral, and relational health.

Mods 5 – 6: Service Learning
Our 9th-grade community engagement program introduces students to the concept of service learning and provides them with the space to build and practice implementing skills for meaningful community engagement.

GRADE 10
Mods 1 – 3: Mindfulness & Social-Emotional Learning
In Mods 1-3, students build an understanding of mental, physical, and emotional connection, learning how to exercise self-care for personal and relational health, and building a positive self-identity while practicing effective decision-making skills through mindfulness education.

Mods 3 – 6: Service Learning
Our 10th grade community engagement program asks students to define a problem with a local community group or organization, research that problem, and begin to formulate an action plan that fits the needs of the partner.
GRADE 11
Mods 1 – 3: Alliance Building Across Cultural Differences
In Grade 11, students deepen their understanding of the historical roots of current inequities through study, experience, and reflection. Learning opportunities allow students to gain a more personal understanding of equity and justice, as well as build on their knowledge of individual and shared identities.

Mod 5 – 6: Service Learning
In the 11th grade, students initiate new projects and/or build off of relationships forged in earlier years to strengthen the impact and sustainability of the work that they are doing in their chosen communities.

GRADE 12
Mods 1 – 6: Senior Capstone
All seniors are required to complete a Capstone Project that demonstrates the interdisciplinary, critical, and creative thinking skills they have learned at CSW. Students work closely with their capstone advisors to develop and propose a topic to explore in-depth over the course of the year. Students are encouraged to think beyond traditional classroom curricula to choose a topic that is of interest to them and connects to the interests of a wider community.


The Big Ideas

  • Learn History
  • Examine Power
  • Build Relationships
  • Develop Global Citizenship
  • Practice Cultural Responsiveness

“As director of Harvard’s Making Caring Common initiative, it’s exciting for me to see CSW taking sincere, actionable steps to integrate social-emotional learning and human development programming into their educational model.”

— Richard Weissbourd, Senior Lecturer on Education; Faculty Director, Human Development and Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education

What if every student...

  • Truly understood the meaning and value of empathy and compassion?
  • Lived proudly in the present, understanding the disparities between the digital universe of their cell phone and everyday life?
  • Felt confident and comfortable with person-to-person, face-to-face interaction, self-advocating with assuredness and poise?
  • Developed a sincere desire to engage with their communities, building meaningful relationships and gladly lending a helping hand as needed?
  • Made personal health a priority, knowing how and when to care for their bodies and their minds?
  • Valued and regularly sought to perpetuate a more equitable and diverse world?

PACE Terminology


SERVICE LEARNING
Service learning is community engagement work that is:
 
  • rooted in relationship building and leadership opportunities
  • directly connected to academic programming
  • regularly assessed and reflected upon
Unlike traditional "community service," which involves the logging of volunteer hours, service learning is highly focused on strategic relationship building over time. 

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
Social emotional learning is the process by which students develop cognitive, emotional, and relational competencies.
45 Georgian Road | Weston, MA 02493 | 781-642-8600

CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.