Pace Academy

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Pace Academy

Motto	To Have the Courage to Strive for Excellence
Established	1958
Type	Private, Coeducational
Head	Fred Assaf
Location	Atlanta, GA, USA
Campus	Suburban
Enrollment	915
Mascot	Knights
Colors	Navy Blue, Grey and White
Homepage	www.paceacademy.org

Pace Academy is a pre-first through twelfth grade college preparatory private school, located at 966 West Paces Ferry Road in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, Georgia. It has approximately 900 students total, with approximately 400 of those in the Upper School (ninth through twelfth grades).

1 History
2 School programs
3 Sports programs
4 Notable alumni
5 External links

[edit] History

Pace Academy was founded in 1958 and graduated its first class in 1964. Originally, the school occupied a single building, a home previously belonging to the Ogden family. As the school expanded, the building was converted to serve as the school's administrative and business center. Its external architecture led it to be referred to colloquially as "The Castle" by members of Pace's community. The Castle was eventually named Kirkpatrick Hall in honor of George Kirkpatrick, who served as headmaster of the school for twenty-two years between the 1970s and 1990s.

In the 1970s, the school purchased the adjacent property belonging to the Randall family and converted the home on the property into the Lower School, housing pre-first through sixth grade. In the early 1980s, the school expanded the Upper School (then seventh through twelfth grades) with the addition of a library, cafeteria, and lower hall. The fall of 1990 saw the opening of the school's Fine Arts Center, finally giving the school's renowned theater program a home.

In the past decade, the school has seen significant expansion. The school's original natatorium and tennis courts were levelled in the late 90s and replaced by the Inman Center, which opened in January of 2000. New tennis courts and a lacrosse field were built on land (referred to by students as "Pace Mountain") behind the school. A middle school facility and a new natatorium were completed in 2004. The middle school allowed Pace to move its sixth through eighth grades into a single facility.

The Inman Center is a hub of Pace Academy activity. It houses lockers for grades nine through twelve. The building also houses the Campus Store, cafeteria, wrestling room, gymnastics area, indoor track, and main basketball court. Boyd Gymnasium, which opened as the school's original gym in 1966, is still in use, but sees less frequent activity.

While the school's location in the heart of Buckhead's posh residential area can be seen as one of its assets, it also creates significant limitations. For most of the last decade, the school has battled with its neighbors over its wishes to add a track and field facility to the campus. A 2001 plan (spearheaded by former Pace parent Arthur Blank) to build the facility on a nearby piece of land was met with significant local opposition and was retracted. A subsequent plan to build a smaller facility on land adjacent to the campus was again met with opposition, and was denied by Atlanta's City Council in 2005. In January of 2006, the school decided to acquire land off-campus in nearby Cobb County to expand its athletic facilities. In February of 2007, the school unveiled its master campus plans for the next two decades. The plan includes an addition to the Lower School, a new Upper School, new fields, a new house for the headmaster, and a parking garage located under the playground. To see more, you can visit the website at http://www.paceacademy.org/page.cfm?p=88.

Of recent interest, the school has announced plans to add a football team, with varsity play scheduled to begin in 2009. For most of its existence, the school focused on its soccer and baseball programs, opting to take part in a smaller fall soccer season to allow players to play baseball in the spring. However, the cancellation of the fall soccer season left the spring season the only option, encouraging the school to finally develop a football program.

[edit] School programs

For most of its existence, the school has been best recognized for two of its programs. Pace's debate program is renowned throughout the country, and has won the Georgia High School Association's State Debate Championship each year since 1988. The program also captured the national title in 2002. In 2004, the team captured its sixth-straight Richard B. Russell All State (All Classification) Debate Championship.

Pace is also widely recognized for its Fine Arts program. In particular, the school's theater program has received wide accolades since the 1970s. The program's unusually large budget, as well as the school's recruitment of young acting talent, has allowed the school to produce musicals and dramas on par with professional theater groups.

Recently, Pace Academy has also developed an FLL robotics team referred to as the "Roboknights". The team is coached by Middle School computer teacher Jo Ray Van Vliet who led the team to the 2005 state championship tournament. This year, the team will be participating in the "Nano Quest" challenge and the Clayton State Regional.

The technology program at Pace Academy is one of the most sophisticated in the state. The schools has five desktop labs and eight laptop carts. One of the Upper School labs consists of a variety of both Windows and Apple computers. Currently, there is a advanced Windows Vista computer in the lab. There is a student copy center located in the Upper School computer lab.

[edit] Sports programs

Pace is also known in the region for several of its sports programs. The baseball team won the Georgia Class A State Championship from 1993 to 1995, all of which included future Major League Baseball player Michael Barrett.

The boys soccer team won the final three Fall Soccer League championships (2002 to 2004), and finished second nationally in the final NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches of America) poll during the fall of 2003. [1] In its first season in the GHSA Spring League in 2006, the team captured the Class AA/A State Championship and finished 19th nationally [2] and 5th in Region II [3] in the Final NSCAA poll.

The boys lacrosse team, coached by former All-Ivy League defenseman Mike Gannon, has consistently contended for the GHSA All-Classification championship in its eight years of existence. The team reached the state finals twice, and played in the last two state semifinals.

The Middle School football team reached the championships of the Atlanta Metro Football League in its first year in existence. The school has hired a football coach, Matt Hall, to lead the program as it goes from only a Middle School team on to when a Varsity team is to be added in 2009. He is a former player on the Amherst College football team.