By Rene David Basulto - Monsignor Edward Pace HS
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski receives a thank you card for the 650,000 dollar donation toward new roofs, from Msgr. Edward Pace High freshmen Leticia Saladrigas, center, and Marie Prisca Maymaurice, right, as Principal Ana Garcia looks on.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
NBC 6 In the Mix anchor Roxanne Vargas, left, a Msgr. Edward Pace High School alumna, prepares to do a live shot as the Spartans in Harmony choir sings in the background after delivering toys for the Caravan of Joy Dec. 12.
MIAMI | During the season of giving, Msgr. Edward Pace High School gave — and got.
Fresh from delivering more than 500 toys to the Caravan of Joy collection in the NBC/Telemundo studios in Miramar — where they sang for TV viewers throughout the day — the Spartans in Harmony paid a visit to the archdiocesan Pastoral Center, regaling employees and Archbishop Thomas Wenski with a repertoire of Christmas favorites.
The visit was motivated by gratitude, as Archbishop Wenski and the archdiocese have given $650,000 to the high school to pay for new — and badly needed — roofs for the school buildings.
“We’ve had a lot of leaks,” explained Pace Principal Ana Garcia.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Student government representatives from Msgr. Edward Pace High School pose with Pace alumna and Six In The Mix anchor Roxanne Vargas after delivering some 500 toys to the Caravan of Joy collection outside the NBC6 studios in Miramar.
“Archbishop Wenski is appreciative of the good work in Catholic education that is accomplished at Pace and supports the work through this donation,” said Sister Elizabeth Worley, archdiocesan chancellor for administration.
“It’s a very kind act to help the school during this time of year,” said class of 2014 alumna Natalie Leon. “(The gift) will help improve the school so it can continue to help improve the lives of others.”
During the Dec. 12 visit, Garcia presented the archbishop with a giant card of gratitude made by Pace students and signed by hundreds of members of the Pace family.
The Spartans in Harmony are part of the high school’s Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, which prepares students for careers in those fields.
A donation earlier this year from the Hugoton Foundation, a regular donor to the school, helped Pace acquire two 3D printers and build the Hugoton STEM Lab. The lab will serve as the hub for Pace’s new STEM Signature Academy, which will be offered beginning next school year.
The school will also begin offering a Law Studies Signature Academy for the 2015-2016 school year.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Spartans in Harmony sing Christmas carols for archdiocesan employees and Archbishop Thomas Wenski in the atrium of the Pastoral Center.
