After a long two week break over Christmas and celebrating the new year, it’s good to have a slow ease back into the school year and the second semester. Pace does this through minimesters, a week where students don’t take their regular classes. Instead, students are allowed choices within a selection of almost 70 different classes ranging from embroidery, linguistics, engineering and contemporary political satire, all the way to latin dancing. This year’s minimesters were particularly exciting because it was the first year where all five departments (math, science, history, english, and language) participated in minimesters. Although minimesters are a yearly Pace tradition that is loved by both students and staff, there were many changes made to the curriculum this year.
The New Schedule
2026 minimesters introduced a new schedule and formation. The previous year, students were given 5 different minimesters, each about 50 minutes long, and took normal math classes. This year, however, students only took 3 minimesters. Each one was 80 minutes, allowing students to thoroughly explore the topics that they are interested in. Additionally, an 80 minute free period was incorporated into the schedule, making for an even smoother and less stressful transition back into the school year. Around 89% of students enjoyed the new schedule. Still, some students preferred the previous schedule and liked that they could explore more kinds of subject matters. At Pace, every student’s opinion matters, so Mrs. Lawrence sends out a form so the school can be informed of what students think of the experience. Minimesters are loved by everybody, and students look forward to this week next year as well!
New Classes
This year was the first year where the math department joined minimesters. With this, many new classes and new topics were introduced. For example, Mrs. Marable introduced her new class “Let’s Play Mahjong,” where she taught students the rules of the popular Chinese game, Mahjong. Students were not only able to use their competitive spirit to win games, but use strategy and critical thinking to decide their next moves.
Additionally, Mrs. Hagner and Mrs. Hathorn taught the “Origami Christmas Ornaments” minimester, where students followed different tutorials and videos to fold pieces of paper into intricate shapes and ornaments. It was incredibly interesting to learn how a two-dimensional sheet of colored paper can be folded into a much smaller, three-dimensional figure.
Finally, Mr. Smith led a “Japanese Number Puzzles” class, where they explored different mathematical games, away from the traditional Sudoku. This was a perfect minimester for math-lovers, and was full of interesting topics while also being fun and engaging. Some of the games they played include Kakuro, Norinori, Futoshiki, and more.
These new classes allowed students to explore all different subject matters and made for a more diverse range of choices to choose from, making sure that everyone enjoyed the classes that they were in.
Favorite Minimesters of 2026
Although all of this year’s minimesters were amazing, there were a few notable ones that should be mentioned, and a few that students particularly enjoyed. A main one was embroidery, led by Mrs. Cockrill. Around 20% of students who took the class noted that it was their favorite. “It was my favorite minimester because I was able to hangout with my friend and create cool projects,” said sophomore Emma Rosenblatt.
Overall, this year’s minimesters were a huge success and were extremely fun! All of the Upper School is excited and looking forward to the same, or even better experience, next year.
