For students who attended Pacesetters during their senior year of high school, February is a month to reminisce. February is the time when many students took their first step to becoming a Boxer, by taking tests that were a lot harder than they anticipated. Four Pacesetters events will be held on campus this year with a few additions to improve upon the nature of the scholarship competition.
This year, 696 participants will have the opportunity to attend an additional academic session during the weekend competition and see a welcome video produced by sophomore Jonathan Schell. Participants will also be given the opportunity to take language placement classes to make it easier for advisers to help incoming students pick their courses in the fall, said Executive Director of Admissions Karen Dunston.
“Participants can expect to be introduced to the Pacific education, meet current students, talk to faculty and earn scholarship money for taking the two Pacesetter Exams,” said Dunston.
The two exams focus on problem solving and creative writing. Pacific faculty create the tests and also grade them. For attending the event, participants receive a $2,000, an increase from the $1,000 attendance scholarship in previous years. Students can also be awarded anywhere from $2,000-$5,000 per year depending on their tests scores. The two participants who place the highest on the exams will receive full academic scholarships for their undergraduate education.
Last Saturday, Feb. 1, was the first Pacesetters competition. The remaining event dates are Sunday, Feb. 9, Friday, Feb. 21 and Monday, Feb. 24.
As students travel from all over the United States for this event, Dunston offers them some words of advice.
“Be yourself. Do the best you can on the tests. Enjoy your day and getting to know all of the people that make up Pacific,” advised Dunston. “Think about being a student here and take advantage of all that is offered in the day. We love it that you are here.”
Leave a Reply