Academics

Caption: Freshman students face final exams for the first time in their high school career as the first semester comes to an end. [by Valentina Porto] By Valentina Porto The pressure is on for high school students at the Pan American Christian Academy (PACA), submit all their assignments and projects for the second quarter grades,…

Caption: Mrs. Dorcas begins reading instructions to the next class assignment and her students respond with excitement and anticipation. [Paula-Chloe Asare-Duah] by Paula-Chloe Asare-Duah Although this is Dorcas Asara-Duah’s second year at PACA, it is her first year in the role of the third grade teacher; which has proved challenging on many levels due to…

Caption: Hult Business School has university campuses around the world in which students can enroll. [Photo provided by Ivy-International.org] by Felipe Wilcken On Wednesday, November 5th, PACA highschoolers had the chance to welcome Hult University representatives to our campus during their normally scheduled seventh period class. The representatives from the school were able to share…

Caption: Junior Luke Meier, 7th grader Seth Spinola, and Junior Ethan Spinola look through a SCAD brochure together. [by Dr. Cristina Meier] By Grace Meier The 2025 SCAD College visit that happened on October 30 at PACA’s auditorium brought students and teachers together to take part in the SCAD workshop. Different from most of the…

Caption: Portuguese teachers, Dani Lima, Renata Portella and Fernanda Cirino, lead the students in an expressive underwater lullaby to grab the attention of the elementary children during the Reading Contest. [by Enzo Viccari] by Paula Asare-Duah & Grace Meier [in collaboration with Annabelle Harper] PACA’s 2025-2026 Reading Contest for elementary’s theme is “Under The Sea”…

Caption: The 6B students enter their new classroom excitedly and wonder what it would be like now having a smaller class. [by Nathanael Agcaoili] by Nathanael Agcaoili For the 2025-2026 school year, the leadership at PACA had decided to split the sixth grade into two classes officially at the beginning of the second quarter to…

Caption: Mr. Zuercher checks in on a student’s independent work in one of the ninth grade physical science classes. [by Rafaela Miglio] by Rafaela Miglio At Pan American Christian Academy, science teacher Brian Zuercher started his 25th year of teaching with two sections of 9th grade science, two AP science classes and an AP math…

Caption: New Bible and Portuguese teacher, Davi Manço, Ph.D., gets ready to take attendance and start his Special Portuguese class. [by Samuel Volkart] by Samuel Volkart São Paulo – David Miguel Manço is not just a secondary teacher who is finishing his first quarter of teaching at PACA. His background brings a unique quality to…

Caption: Ms.Twilley talking to her students after their World History test on Wednesday. [by Felipe Wilcken] by Felipe Wilcken Ms. Sarah Twilley, who is more commonly known as “Ms.T”, is a new secondary teacher at PACA, who arrived at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year and filled more than just a spot as a…

Caption1: Arthur Lobato presenting a speech on “How To Make Pancakes” to the 2nd grade class. [Grace E. Meier] By Grace Meier The high school Speech Class visited first through fourth grade from Wednesday through Friday, September 24-26, to present their Demonstration speeches to elementary grades giving them experience in presenting their speeches to a…

Caption: Cintia Kuhn submits midterm grades in her office for all the teachers to review. [by Valentina Porto] By Valentina Porto The first quarter midterm grades for all PACA students were made available to families on Monday, September 8, providing an opportunity for students to reflect on their current academic efforts and to assess the…

Caption: Jared Meier supervising reading time with the 5th grade reading groups. [by Grace E. Meier] by Grace Meier 2025 graduate and PACA alumni, Jared Meier, has returned to PACA as a fifth grade teacher’s aide (TA) during the 2025-2026 school year. All the while, he is being an online student at Liberty University. If…

Caption: Students from the performing arts class do a warm up exercise during one of the rehearsals during the 8th period elective class. [by Ana Luisa Helfer] by Ana Luisa Helfer One of the current traditions in the PACA Performing Arts Department is for the drama committee to come together to choose the annual play…

Caption: Senior Ligia Penteado finds the preK playground is a fun spot to meet with her Kinder Buddy, Chiara Brant. [by Michelle Chang] by Nathanael Agcaoili September 3 brought the PACA Senior Buddies and Kinder Buddies together, for the first time in the 2025-2026 school year, to start their program with a strong relationship building…

Caption: Ms. Sarah Twilley and freshman Grace Meier discuss her topic for the social studies honors project. [by Annabelle Harper] By Annabelle Harper This year’s high school students at PACA are taking on the challenge of the Honors program in the hopes of bumping up their GPA (Grade Point Average) for their future college applications…

Caption: Chromebooks have become the symbol of academic success as its use is integrated into more classes at PACA. [by Felipe Wilcken with the assistance of Benjamin Portella] by Felipe Wilcken Since the 2023-2024 school year began, the use of technology by students and teachers at PACA has skyrocketed. This was the time when secondary…

High school students compete against each other in the practice rounds of Knowledge Bowl practice which takes place in the art room on Mondays and Fridays during first practice. [by Dr. Cristina Meier] Byline: Benjamin Oliveira PACA’s high school Knowledge Bowl team, starting practices after the first week of school, started with one goal in…

A Media Arts student asks a question to the teacher, Gui Moises, during class discussions. [by Enzo Vicarri] By: Rafael Oliveira At PACA, students are discovering creativity in new ways through the Media Arts elective, a class that was introduced to the high school curriculum in the first week of classes of the 2025–2026 school…

Secondary students were met with the high school locker area and the senior lockers decorated by the senior moms this year. [by Dr. Meier] By: Grace E Meier The 2025-26 PACA school year started on Thursday, July 31, with a new schedule where PACA students experienced two assemblies, a 45 minute homeroom period, and still…

Caption: Students from 6th grade began their school day with MAP testing in the PACA Library. [by Dr. Cristina Meier] by Melissa Fernandes Fourth quarter brought more than final projects and assignments of the school year to the middle schooler and elementary students of PACA. MAP tests began during the week of April 22-25. Each…