ACE Center Then and Now: From Learning to Lead to Teaching About Learning

Middle Schoolers at the Affinity Group Fair check out a range of affinity group options before signing up.

 

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the ACE Center took place in the fall of 2011, only 12 years ago. In that short time, however, the ACE Center has become a crucial learning hub on campus, offering meaningful programming to every student at every grade level.

Stacey Kertsman, the first director of the ACE Center, remembers the charge she was given as she took on the role. “I was supposed to create a library of experiences,” she says. At the time, she was building those experiences from ongoing global programs, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) work, outreach that was then called community service, leadership development, and of all things, a few pieces of aging radio equipment. 

When she began, the staff consisted of six different people, and for each of them, their work in the ACE Center was only part of their role at Castilleja. “Inspired by their insights, within a few years we created full-time roles dedicated to the work we were doing in the ACE Center,” Ms. Kertsman says. Almost immediately, community service was redefined into reciprocal partnerships that were better described as community engagement. Similarly, student leadership, which had consisted mostly of positions that students had been elected to, was redefined to become more expansive because true leadership could not rely entirely on those titles. “We felt ACE needed to be a space where students could explore leadership in new ways and become the leaders that our future needs, so we introduced the Leadership Competencies in 2014," Ms. Kertsman says. "As students habituated new terms for leadership, they began to understand what leadership means on a much deeper level.” Since then, conversations about leadership at Castilleja have been completely transformed.

In 2018, the ACE Center launched ComeAsYouAre, an annual community-wide celebration of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and over the years, different speakers and thought leaders—including author and Palo Alto City Council Member Julie Lythcott-Haims, poet and performer Andre Bradford, and author and activist Michelle MiJung Kim—have spoken to the Castilleja community to explore what it means to come as we are and thrive as we learn from one another. 

Today, the ACE Center programming relies on the Leadership Competencies and Antiracism Competencies, which were created in 2020 to continue to extend students' learning in key areas: DEIJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice), Community Engagement, and Global Education. Director of the ACE Center and Global Engagement Jessica Yonzon explains, “The role of ACE is to go beyond the classroom and provide opportunities for experiential learning and leadership, so students can grow in Castilleja’s Leadership and Antiracism Competencies. We try to design everything around that." 

Through the Global Education pillar of the ACE Center, Ms. Yonzon mounts Castilleja’s annual Global Week event and organizes and prepares students for Global Investigator Trips. These trips have evolved over time; students once went to India, China, and the Dominican Republic. Then, during the pandemic, Ms. Yonzon found a domestic option with partners in the American Southwest that could explore the same topics with the students. This year, students went to Indonesia and Morocco. "The trips are responsive to the moment. Wherever students travel, the questions are the same, and overall, we hope to help them make connections and see that the unfamiliar isn't unsafe."

Casti juniors exploring historic sights in Morocco as part of their Global Investigator Trip in January 2024

 

Through the Community Engagement pillar, Becca Winslow, Director of Leadership and Community Partnerships, provides career and internship resources and hosts speakers. She supports Castilleja’s nine student enrichment activities, including Counterpoint, Mock Trial, and Financial Empowerment Education; over 30 interest clubs that range from Current Events to Casti Coders to the Theater Advisory Board; and 17 ACE organizations for social impact. Through these ACE Orgs, students seek to effect positive change on issues such as advocacy for veterans, environmental sustainability, reproductive justice, and access to education. “A lot of my work is student-led and student-driven initiatives,” Ms, Winslow explains. “They learn from and build relationships with experts as well as with local community organizations, they learn about policy and legislative initiatives, and they develop their own engagement opportunities to move the needle on these topics.” 

Finally, through the DEIJ pillar of the ACE Center, Director of DEIJ Hannah Nguyễn supports and develops programming for Castilleja's Middle School and Upper School affinity groups, where students connect over shared experiences, grow in their antiracism practice, and co-create an inclusive school community. This year’s affinity group theme is The Power of Storytelling, so Ms. Nguyễn teaches storytelling techniques and activities to the students. “It’s a place for bonding and fun and celebration, and it’s also a time to hold space for experiences and ideas,” she says. Ms. Nguyễn also launched the DEI Leadership Council (DEILC). She helps students partner with adults on campus on issues ranging from accessibility to diversity in admissions and hiring. 

Ongoing DEI Leadership Committee Impact This Semester

The student leaders of DEILC have been as busy as ever this semester. First, they took on a leadership role at ComeAsYouAre, facilitating conversations in breakout groups for the over 100 attendees following a workshop by Dr. Lori A. Watson. The students planned and led conversations on topics that included Setting Intentions with a Growth Mindset, Real Change: A Reality or a Fantasy, Dominant Norms & Narratives, and Facing Criticism and Openness to Change. These student-led explorations provided the space for our community to examine the concepts that Dr. Watson had introduced on a more personal level. 

And coming soon,  members of the DEILC, who work closely with the Neurodivergent Affinity Group, will help facilitate the faculty development day on March 29. “This is something that students have been advocating for,” says Ms. Nguyễn, who helped launch a Disabled & Neurodivergent Student Affinity Group on campus last year. “They did a great job building a brave space where students can come together.”

At the upcoming faculty meeting, after a Learning Difference Simulation facilitated by an outside group, the students will lead a question and answer session with faculty and staff. “The Q&A will remind us that what we will have learned and experienced in the simulation is directly connected to our students,” explains Christina Gwin, Dean of Faculty and Middle School English teacher. 

“This is a proud moment for the ACE Center because it underscores our commitment to designing student programming that aligns with the school's mission and empowers students,” adds Ms. Yonzon. “At ACE, our primary goal is to create impactful experiences that go beyond the classroom, fostering awareness, compassion, and engagement.” For the members of the DEILC who will be part of the Q&A, this leadership experience moves beyond the classroom and circles back to it again in a valuable way as teachers apply what they have learned from the students.

Students in the DEILC are leading a workshop at Castilleja's ComeAsYouAre event in January 2024