GPS juniors Mia Bertani, Mycah Boykin, and Annemarie Bonadio were part of an award-winning team at the ACE program’s annual banquet
GPS juniors Mia Bertani, Mycah Boykin, and Annemarie Bonadio were part of an award-winning team at the ACE program’s annual banquet. For Ms. Bertani and Ms. Boykin, it was their second year to be part of the team that won the overall competition. It was an auspicious beginning for first-time participant Ms. Bonadio.
The team on which the girls collaborated, Riverstreet Architecture, has met weekly since August. At their first meeting, they were given a prompt, to come up with a proposal for a tiny house community on Chattanooga’s Southside. Working with students from other schools, they formulated a plan for the design and what would be needed for the project.
“I had no idea about all of the regulations and the amount of work that go into designing a house, much less a community,” said Ms. Bertani. The last meeting was Saturday’s banquet, at which they presented their ideas to a panel of judges and were awarded the top honor.
“In the two years I’ve participated in ACE, the experiences I’ve had really helped me build a connection to the real world of architecture,” said Ms. Bertani. “The program has provided me with many life lessons about how to communicate and collaborate with others, all while being able to express my own thoughts and ideas. I will definitely participate next year as well.”
A national program, ACE stands for Architecture, Construction, and Engineering. The local mentorship program serves high school students from North Georgia and Chattanooga who are interested in those three areas of study and/or as professions. The program’s purpose is to provide “a practical hands-on view of how abstract concepts get transformed into the buildings that make up our everyday reality.”
Ms. Bertani, Ms. Boykin, and Ms. Bonadio are honing those important 21st-century skills of communication and collaboration and would encourage other students to join ACE, even if they're not interested in engineering or architecture. “It's a great learning experience since you get advice from real life professionals,” says Ms. Bertani.