The first time Cheyanne visited the Pace Center, it was on a dare. “Me and my friend had a little pact going,” she explained. “We didn't want to fall into winter depression, so we decided to try every event on campus that sounded interesting to us. When I heard about Weeknight Cooking at the Pace Center, I was like, ‘Hey, we get to cook and eat? Let’s go!’” Weeknight Cooking is a program where students cook and share a meal together. Soon she was telling all her friends to come. One evening,...

When Ian first came to the Pace Center during their senior year at VCU, they didn’t expect to find a community that would nurture both their friendships and their faith. “I would meet people who were cooking and we’d share food. Having a place to go and see familiar faces every day helped me to form some deep and important friendships and work on my social anxiety.” As those connections deepened, Ian also began attending communion. “Communion was a place where I could consistently meet with...

When Sydney arrived at VCU as a freshman, she was nervous about finding her place. Coming from a small town where “everybody and their mama knows each other,” the size of VCU’s campus felt overwhelming. But on the very first Sunday after move-in, Sydney joined Pace’s Church Crawl. “Back home, going to church was part of my weekly schedule,” she explained. “I thought this would be a good way to meet new people and feel a sense of familiarity.” Over the past three years, Pace has become a place...