25 High School Seniors Win $400,000 in ACE Mentor Program Scholarship Competition

Twenty-five students from 19 states have won college scholarships worth between $10,000 and $40,000 in a new national competition organized by the ACE Mentor Program, a free afterschool program created by the integrated construction industry to attract students into pursuing industry-related careers.

The CMiC-Allen Berg Memorial scholarships are named in honor of the late founder of the construction management software company, CMiC. With the support of Mr. Berg’s family, this program will award $400,000 in new scholarships annually for the next six years.

“The scholarships are a real career-booster for some of the most talented and promising of our thousands of students,” said ACE’s president Diana Eidenshink.  “Many of them come from families with limited means. Some scholarship winners are the first in their family to attend college. We expect them to be industry standouts during their careers.”

ACE, which stands for Architecture, Construction and Engineering, annually engages 10,000 high school students in a free afterschool program lasting 15 sessions.  Volunteer industry professionals mentor students and lead them through a hands-on simulation of designing and constructing buildings. ACE’s 74 affiliates operate in 37 states. Two-thirds of high school seniors in ACE (3,200) pursue college majors in architecture, construction, and engineering. Their gender and racial/ethnic diversity is considerably higher than that of their national peers.

Since its establishment in 1994, ACE has awarded $19 million in scholarships to help its students with post-secondary education and skilled crafts training. Selected on the basis of merit and financial need, scholarship winners this fall will enter accredited college programs in architecture, interior design and several engineering fields, including civil, mechanical, electrical, and architectural.Half of scholarship recipients are minority and more than two-thirds are female. A list of scholarship winners can be viewed here.

Scholarship recipients will be spotlighted during ACE’s 25th Anniversary dinner on May 14. This event takes place at the Gaylord National Resort, in National Harbor, MD, just outside Washington, DC. Presidents and CEOs of multi-billion-dollar design and construction industry firms will gather to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of the ACE Mentor Program of America. These leaders created the ACE program in 1994 to excite high school students about careers in the integrated construction industry.

In addition to the scholarship presentations, five outstanding ACE mentors for 2019 will receive awards from Engineering News-Record. They have been selected from ACE’s 3,800 mentors, all practicing industry professionals.

On May 15-16, also at the Gaylord National Resort, ACE will convene a national conference for its leaders and mentors from its 74 affiliates in 37 states. For details visit www.acementor.org/25th-anniversary.