The Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE) is a nonprofit organization which runs the National Scholastics Championship (NSC), an end-of-year championship for North American high school quizbowl teams. The NSC has been run in June of each year since 1998.
In addition to running the tournament, PACE awards the Benjamin Cooper Academic Ambassador Award each year at the opening ceremony of the NSC. The award is chosen by PACE members to honor "a high school academic competition team member, advisor, or organization whose character best promotes the spirit and honor of quiz bowl competition." It is named for Ben Cooper, who, as the captain of the It's Academic quizbowl team at Georgetown Day School, worked with the PACE founders to provide a player's perspective on the plans for the inaugural NSC. Ben Cooper died in an automobile accident just before the start of his senior year. In 2004, PACE expanded its recognition program to include a "Young Ambassador" Award to recognize individuals from high school or college quizbowl programs (or alumni) for "valuable and significant contributions to the high school academic competition community". These awards are essentially the only national awards given in recognition of contributions to high school quizbowl.
Beyond running the NSC, PACE offers advice and staff assistance to high schools and colleges who run high school quizbowl tournaments. PACE does not supply questions for regular season tournaments or offer a collegiate competition program.
Read more about Partnership For Academic Competition Excellence: Summary History of The NSC
Famous quotes containing the words partnership, academic, competition and/or excellence:
“Society is indeed a contract.... It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“Being in a family is like being in a play. Each birth order position is like a different part in a play, with distinct and separate characteristics for each part. Therefore, if one sibling has already filled a part, such as the good child, other siblings may feel they have to find other parts to play, such as rebellious child, academic child, athletic child, social child, and so on.”
—Jane Nelson (20th century)
“Playing games with agreed upon rules helps children learn to live by rules, establish the delicate balance between competition and cooperation, between fair play and justice and exploitation and abuse of these for personal gain. It helps them learn to manage the warmth of winning and the hurt of losing; it helps them to believe that there will be another chance to win the next time.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)
“The whole appearance is a toy. For this,
The dove in the belly builds his nest and coos,
Selah, tempestuous bird. How is it that
The rivers shine and hold their mirrors up,
Like excellence collecting excellence?”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)