Teacher Finds His Perfect Job

Story and photos by Master Sgt. Salli Sablan

California National Guard Public Affairs 

Jan. 11, 2024 

Sacramento, Calif. – The Teacher Feature series celebrates the role of teachers and instructors around the California Military Department and the value and impact they have on others. It creates an opportunity to share experiences and to learn about their importance on society.

Becoming a Department of Defense teacher was the merging of two distinct and incredibly important parts of Andrew Pace’s life as a Sacramento STARBASE Academy instructor.  

“Living through the moment, at the time, it seemed like a blind stumble forward," said Pace. "But looking back, it seems remarkable how every piece of my life, fit perfectly together.”

Pace is a teacher at STARBASE, a DoD youth academy with a programming focus primarily on 5^th graders from inner cities, rural regions, and socio-economically, disadvantaged neighborhoods. There is no cost to participating school districts. The program’s goal is to support students with challenging hands-on, minds-on activities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM.)

The program comes from humble beginnings as a 1991 pilot program in Detroit, Michigan. Today, schools are spread across the U.S. and its territories. Pace also comes from a humble start as a middle child with roots from a rural town.

As a child, he found dismantling and reassembling anything with many parts both entertaining and satisfying. In high school, he graduated with honors from the school’s engineering academy; and in college, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. His favorite non-work activity is ‘tinkering.’

His first full-time employment as a young adult was a job in retail, but with a commute. Knowing Pace's dissatisfaction, a close friend recommended a new job - this time near home. Pace grabbed the opportunity, without even knowing the details of this new opportunity. It turned out he would land his first job teaching younger children with disabilities.

During his initial training, he reviewed the capabilities of his new students. After spending focused time working basic skills, he reviewed their pre- and post-test scores. He was surprised to see a 30% increase in their knowledge from those initial assessments. This realization had a great impact on him.

 The academy takes place on active-duty, National Guard, and reserve military bases and installations with military personnel and civilians on staff. The academy’s success relies on the collaboration between sponsoring military organizations like the Cal Guard, local school districts, and local communities.

The diversity of the student population at STABASE is one Pace's favorite aspects of the job.

“We receive a wide range of students, many of whom have come from other countries and live unique lives," he said. "The best way to be inclusive to those students is by including that wide variety in our programs. In our comics, instructions, and the videos we show we try to portray a diverse cast of people so that students can see people they relate to in STEM topics.”  

Diversity benefits everyone, said Pace. A non-diverse student population would remove the challenge to change thinking.

“Diversity is amazing because it always brings perspective," said Pace. "Using that perspective we can adapt, overcome, and come together as a class.”

Pace radiates joy as he teaches with a smile.

“When something the kids didn’t expect occurs during an experiment, or when they’re grappling with a puzzle and they finally figure out how it works, it’s the “aha!” moments I see in so many students as fulfilling," he said. "Helping them to the moment where the pieces finally click brings me an unalienable sense of pride.”

Pace is often surprised by his students. He explained how fun and capable the students are and how the common adage of “give them an inch and they’ll take a mile” usually takes a positive spin in the classrooms. So many times, he and other teachers have given students a small thread to some scientific study, and students take that information and expand upon it, building it up to new heights.

“They make logical conclusions that may have taken you or I years to come to,” said Pace.

“I doubt I’d be able to find a single aspect of what I teach that hasn’t been altered based on the sage advice I get from fifth graders sharing their own perspective on things," said Pace. "Every opportunity is a learning opportunity. If you listen to your students, they will tell you exactly what they need to learn.”