LAKELAND, Fla. — Pace Center for Girls Polk County has expanded its facility in hopes of helping more girls stay on track in school.
- Pace Center for Girls Polk County expands in Lakeland
- The center moved into a new facility late last year
- It currently serves 58, but hopes to help more in the future
The alternative school currently serves 58 girls but hopes to serve more in the future. It moved into a new building in Lakeland in October, more than doubling its size.
The new facility offers students the chance to partake in guitar lessons and yoga. Soon, it will pilot a state-of-the-art collaborative makerspace.
The center has also doubled its counseling staff since moving to the new facility. That comes in handy considering the school serves girls who are striving to overcome risk factors such as failing grades, family instability, teen pregnancy, abuse, and sex trafficking.
"The big difference is the one on one that the girls have with their counselor and/or therapist," executive director Ellen Katzman said.
The center now has the capacity to serve around 80 girls at a time. It's hoping to reach the girls who need help the most.
"They come to us in what we refer to as a fairly broken state," Katzman said. "We work hard to build, rebuild their self-esteem, to get them on the right path educationally, and to be able to say that they're productive members of society."
The year-round public school enrolls middle and high school girls.
According to PACE, 21 percent of its students had a prior arrest. The school reports that 100 percent of its girls had no involvement with the juvenile justice system within a year of leaving.