Hello NSCS members!

Have you wanted to get a better, more involved experience out of your college experience and your NSCS membership? A great way to go about doing that is to join the PACE (Planning for Academic Collegiate Excellence) program for NSCS. Basically, as a member of the the PACE program, you get to join other fellow PACE members (from NSCS) in tutoring and helping out K-12 students at The Cambodian Family Center in Santa Ana on an every-other-week basis. :) PACE maintains a relationship with The Cambodian Family, a non-profit organization in Santa Ana that serves the refugee and immigrant community of Orange County, CA. Their mission is to provide opportunities for these families to develop knowledge, skills, and desires to create health and well-being in their lives. Current members of the PACE program have reported a satisfying and enriching experience helping younger students with their math, reading, science, and other various subjects. It is a great way to get involved in the community and is something that contributes towards the future success of these kids; we try to help these students understand the importance of higher education. The PACE visits themselves are very relaxing and not overly formal and the center is very receptive towards us UCI college students.
   
A recent event the PACE program planned was the first ever annual March to College Tour Day in collaboration with The Cambodian Awareness club from UCI. PACE members (and many other NSCS members) helped partake in a fun-filled morning of activities and events planned for middle/high school kids visiting from The Cambodian Family Center. We had a student panel, interactive game, campus tour, raffle, Puzzle Quest, picnic lunch, and more!!! Overall, it was very successful and fun because members got to interact and talk on a more personal level with the kids. Our next upcoming event we have planned is an Assembly to take place in April, where PACE members will give a presentation about college life/academics etc. The PACE program has blossomed this year and will continue to grow with the involvement of NSCS members, such as yourselves. Being involved in the PACE program is a great way to stay active in the UCI NSCS chapter if, for example, you are unable to attend the NSCS Tuesday general meetings, but still want to be involved and make the best use of your membership! :)
   

To browse pictures from our recent March to College Day event, please visit our Facebook Fan Page:

https://www.facebook.com/nscs.ucirvine?ref=ts

If you are interested in becoming a member of the PACE (Planning for Academic Collegiate Excellence) program for NSCS Spring Quarter, please keep your Tuesdays 4:00-6:00pm timeslot open. PACE members will be traveling to the Cambodian Family center every Tuesday. We will be helping out on Tuesdays with their Homework Tutor club for youths (grades K-12) and look forward to volunteering there and making a positive impact on the lives of the youths! Participation in this program requires a commitment of attending every week (exception of one absence).
   
Information about our partner organization The Cambodian Family can be found here:

http://www.cambodianfamily.org/

If you would like to be involved or are just interested, please
email me at chowkc@uci.edu and I would love to tell you more! You can also sign up now here!!

Karissa Chow
VP of PACE for NSCS