PACE: Promoting Awareness & Community Engagement
PACE: Promoting Awareness and Community Engagement is a co-curricular program designed to ensure that all students develop self-awareness, healthy living habits, a sense of belonging, and a lasting sense of social responsibility. Classes are graded on a pass/fail basis, and meet once per week. The program is comprised of two parts: Promoting Awareness (PA) and Community Engagement (CE).
The "PA" (Promoting Awareness) program helps students explore their identities, understand their school community, and learn how to take care of themselves and those around them.
The "CE" (Community Engagement) component introduces students to the concept of service learning and provides them with opportunity partner with local organizations to enact meaningful, impactful change.
The program culminates with a senior capstone project that showcases that showcases the skills students have developed over the course of their time at CSW.
Curriculum Overview
List of 4 items.
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Grade 9 Curriculum >>
Mods 1 – 3
Promoting Awareness (PA): We Are Wednesdays
"We Are Wednesdays" programming is designed to welcome and integrate new 9th graders into the CSW community, fostering feelings of connectedness and belonging. Students develop shared language around diversity, equity, and inclusion; learn community expectations; cultivate academic skills; and build relationships with peers and adults alike.
Mods 4 – 6
Community Engagement (CE): 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 Curriculum >>
Mods 1 – 3
Promoting Awareness (PA): Mind-Body ConnectionStudents build an understanding of mental, physical, and emotional connection, learning how to exercise self-care; make informed decisions in their personal and academic lives; and explore connections between themselves, others, and the environment.
Mods 4 – 6
Community Engagement (CE): Service LearningThe 10th and 11th grade community engagement program connects students with meaningful, hands-on opportunities that align with their interests while fostering collaboration with external organizations. Students engage in hands-on opportunities, in person and from afar,
making a tangible impact while gaining valuable skills. -
Grade 11 Curriculum >>
Mods 1 – 3
Promoting Awareness (PA): Alliance Building Across Cultural DifferencesIn 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 4 – 6
Community Engagement (CE): Service Learning
The 10th and 11th grade community engagement program connects students with meaningful, hands-on opportunities that align with their interests while fostering collaboration with external organizations. Students engage in hands-on opportunities, in person and from afar,
making a tangible impact while gaining valuable skills. -
Grade 12 Curriculum >>
Mods 1 – 6
Senior CapstoneAll 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.
PACE Initiatives
- Foster community and sense of belonging
- Develop human skills like empathy, creative thinking, and ethical responsibility
- Build meaningful relationships
- Practice cultural responsiveness
- Cultivate confidence, self-awareness, and public speaking skills
“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
PACE Coordinators
List of 10 members.
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.