Welcome Seniors!

The Bonita High School P.A.C.E. Program is designed to help students choose subjects/topics that they find purpose in doing and hope to pursue as a career or hobby. All seniors must successfully complete all phases of Bonita P.A.C.E., which is 50% of the senior English course grade, in order to pass English Composition, a requirement to earn a Bonita High School Diploma. Bonita’s diploma thus becomes a benchmark for knowledge, ability, and real-world experience.

What is P.A.C.E.?

P.A.C.E. stands for Purpose-Driven, Active, Career Exploration. The emphasis of P.A.C.E. is for students to choose projects and topics about which they are truly passionate and would like to explore further. The ultimate goal of P.A.C.E. is to help students identify the passions they have in life, explore them, and hopefully find ways to turn them into career opportunities.

Each senior English class incorporates the P.A.C.E. program into its curriculum; consequently, students are guided with detailed instruction for each step of their P.A.C.E. project. Bonita’s P.A.C.E. program enables students to research and to develop a project in an area of their choosing. Although teachers are giving students guidelines and requirements, students are in charge of developing a paper and project that appeal to their individual, unique interests. Just because the project is housed in the English class does not mean that P.A.C.E. projects are restricted to English-focused topics. The papers and projects can range from researching homelessness and volunteering in a shelter to researching rock climbing and learning to conquer granite.

P.A.C.E. as an Extension of Bonita’s Educational Goals

Bonita’s P.A.C.E. project reflects the skills and outcomes Bonita High School envisions for all graduates: Civic Leadership, Personal Leadership, Pursuit of Personal Passions, Career-Oriented Training, Critical Thinking and Reflection, Creativity, Academic Rigor, Communication Skills, and School Spirit.

P.A.C.E. is student-oriented and student-driven: therefore, students are required to actively participate in networking with school and community members to make their research project viable as well as connect to their P.A.C.E. physical hours requirement.  Most teachers and community members will welcome the opportunity to share their expertise. Bonita High School, La Verne, and surrounding communities provide rich human resources to aid in most any subject of interest.

The Four Major Components of P.A.C.E.

Though the P.A.C.E. project includes many connected assignments and activities throughout the year, there are four main products that students complete:

• Project Hours: Students must complete 20-30 hours of an internship, creating a product, volunteering, learning a new skill, or participating in a community service project.
• Research Paper: Students must write an 8-9 page research paper related to their Project Hours.
• eFolio: Students must create a website that showcases the breadth of their project over the course of the year, including their Project, their Paper, and their Future planning.
• Board Speech: Students must give an 8-10 minute speech discussing their Project, the Link between their Project and Paper, their Research, and their Learning Stretch during Senior year.