Pace School Celebrates Career Day

Lots of kids dream of growing up to be firefighters or architects. Some kids envision themselves as president, or piloting a NASA spacecraft. For them, anything seems possible. 

But at Pace School, a private institution that specializes in children with special needs, many students have to squint to bring their dreams into focus. To help them imagine their future lives, Pace hosted its annual Career Day Thursday, where students could interact with a variety of adult professionals. 

“Many of these students feel they don’t have a future,” said Kelly Uzzo, Pace’s community outreach coordinator. But Uzzo points out that many graduates have gone on to become healthy adults, not to mention chefs, graphic designers and even a gospel singer. 

Career Day took place in a large multi-purpose room, and guests decorated foldout tables with examples of their work. Sherry Colarusso, a massage therapist, displayed an upright model of a human spine. Two chefs from Nemacolin Woodlands Resort showed off their carved watermelons and honeydews, whose skin had been sculpted into flowers. Tom Forrest, a tough-looking probation officer, merely sat at his table with arms folded, ready for questions.

Students filed into the room and carried sheets of standardized questions, such as “What is the hardest part of your job?” and “What kind of training do you need to do your job?” They slowly made their rounds, moving from table to table. Many of the students experience emotional problems and anger management issues. Others have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. But whatever symptoms in class and out of school, students were exceedingly well behaved. 

Because Pace specializes in “trauma focused care,” administrators must become experts in conflict resolution and even physical restraints. “There’s a ton of training,” says Uzzo, particularly in “verbal de-escalation.” 

The school’s strategies are working: In the past four years, Pace reports over well over 50 percent reductions in forced restraints of students. The school has come a long way since its founding in 1967, when the first 24 students were “largely diagnosed as learning disabled,” according to the school’s history.

Part of the Pace’s success in recent years may be its reliance on creative activity. When asked what their favorite subjects were, students gave a variety of answers.

“I like math, because there’s always a right answer,” said one. 

“I like drawing,” said another.

“I like gym. I like basketball, but I really play football. I’ll play any position you want.”

Pace occupies an unassuming building off of Greensburg Pike, but the small structure draws students from seven countries and over 60 school districts. According to Uzzo, some students ride the bus for one and a half hours to attend classes each school day.

As students roamed around the room, they asked questions of each professional and wrote down responses in pencil. Although students gravitated toward the free fruit-bowls (available at the Nemacolin table), and a bowl of Laffy Taffys (located beneath the spine model on Colarusso’s table), Berlin, who was scheduled to start a Rusted Root tour the very next day, played songs from her laptop that had been recorded by her students. Most were covers, but at least one was original.

One student, feeling inspired by a visiting writer, scampered out of the room to find a computer. When she returned, she carried six pages of poetry. 

“Except for this one,” she said, trying to hide her enthusiasm as she pointed to the title, “Once upon a fairy tale.” “That one’s a song.”

Editor's Note: Because Pace also is designated as an approved partial hospitalization program, names of children have not been shared in this story.