ACE Mentor Program of Greater Philadelphia

The ACE Mentor Program of Eastern Pennsylvania is the local affiliate of a national non-profit organization. An acronym for Architecture, Construc¬tion, and Engineering, ACE engages, excites, and enlightens high school students to consider or pursue careers in the integrated construction in¬dustry through mentoring, scholarships, and grants. Students are recruited from public and private high schools in Philadelphia and the suburbs, with special effort made to reach traditionally underrepresented women and minorities. As the design and construction industry’s fastest-growing high school mentoring program, ACE reaches over 8,000 students annually. Nationally, over $12 million in scholarships have been awarded and countless young lives have been positively affected. ACE relies on a network of volunteer mentors ranging from architects and engineers to construction managers, contractors, and subcontractors. The program emphasizes all aspects of design and construction industry careers – from professional college career paths to those in the building trades. By informing and exposing students to the myriad construction career options, ACE is helping to build a talented construction workforce for the future. ACE follows a group-mentoring model. Eight to ten mentors representing different disciplines serve each team of 20-30 students. From November until May, teams meet biweekly after school to experience a comprehensive design and building process. Teams visit mentors’ offices, take field trips to construction sites, and gather in a year-end event to present their projects to assembled mentors, family, and friends, much as an actual design team presents to clients.