An ARCS membership is a long-lasting reward throughout the generations. Atlanta Chapter Members, Patricia Leake and Pace Parsons, demonstrate their ARCS loyalty as mother and daughter.

Who Is Pace Parsons?

Pace Parsons was named as ARCS’s National first “ARCS Spark” in March 2024. ARCS Spark is a new initiative to recognize a current member for their small, everyday acts of kindness or displays of leadership or commitment to ARCS Foundation within a Chapter or at the National level.

Parsons joined the Atlanta Chapter in 2022 and serves as the Chair of Internal Communications. The role is a huge job, according to Atlanta’s Chapter President Caroline Cooper, “because we send communications weekly.” Cooper, who nominated Parsons for the honor, said she “deals with multiple system problems like a pro, even though she is working and raising a family. She never complains about extra work.”

Pace echoes the endorsement of her work ethic. “I am one of the younger folks in our chapter, but I have been happy to feel so included,” she said. “Everyone has been so supportive and appreciative and does what they say they will do, which I have found not to be the case in many volunteer organizations.”

Parsons has always been interested in science. She majored in Biology (with a focus on Botany) in college and did a stint in botanical and ecological research in Washington State for the U.S. Geological Survey and Environmental Protection Agency. Later, Parsons got her master’s in science education and taught biology and physical science in a Seattle high school. Now, she works as a periodontal dental hygienist, mainly working with patients with complicated issues beyond routine dental care.

Who Is Patricia Leake?

Pace’s mother, Patricia Leake, is also an Atlanta Chapter member who has demonstrated leadership and a strong work ethic. Patricia joined the Atlanta Chapter only after a year of its creation in 1993. When it comes to ARCS, she shares the same sentiment as her daughter, “From the beginning, I loved working with the people in our ARCS Chapter. Not only were they interesting people, but everyone who said they would do a job did it and did it well.”

“When I joined ARCS, I was no longer working in science,” Leake said. “I’d been working with the proteins of animal cancer viruses, and at that stage, we didn’t know much about them.”

“I accepted the role of Assistant Treasurer in my second year and never looked back,” she said. Leake served as the Atlanta Chapter President from 1997 to 1998 and was named the Atlanta ARCS Light Honoree in 2007. She continues her membership with her daughter.

Echoing her mother’s example of volunteering, Parsons helps with various events at her daughter’s school and recently won the Chili Cook-Off fundraiser for the athletics program. She also volunteered for several years with an annual fundraising event for the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

“ARCS has been a great addition to my life - we are helping to advance science and having fun doing it,” she says. She especially enjoys the Atlanta Chapter tours and lectures from university partners.

Since 1992, the ARCS Atlanta Chapter has awarded over $7 million for more than 1,127 individual Scholar Awards to Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, and University of Georgia students. There are 133 current Chapter Members.