Pictured are members from Team CDM: Mark Stachowicz, Silverdale Baptist Academy; Conner Heisig, Chattanooga Christian School; Andrew Perry, Homelife Academy; Vivian Perry, Homelife Academy; Jocelyn Rocha, Ooltewah High School; and Silvia Rist, Hamilton County Collegiate High School. Not Pictured are CDM Mentors: Barbara Stahl, P&C Construction; Eun Kim, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Joshua Rudisin, Surface Architecture + Design; Jeremy Murphy, March Adams Associates; Cody Stubblefield, Hoar Construction; and Jeremy Siler, Hoar Construction.
The Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) Mentor Program of Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia held its annual awards banquet on Feb. 16, giving student participants a chance to present the work they have done over the fall semester program.
ACE is an after school mentoring program that gives high school students the opportunity to meet with architects, engineers, tradesmen and builders to learn about careers in the design and construction industry. Students gain experience in working on a real-world project and compete for scholarships to pursue an ACE career beyond high school.
This year’s student project focused on the construction of a Chattanooga PIE (Partnership in Industry & Education) Center comparable to the Bradley County model. Students were to develop a program, budget, floor plans, exterior elevations and other drawings/models to clearly define their proposal for the 12-acre site adjacent to the AGC Construction Career Center on Roanoke Avenue.
Three local high schools - Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences, Red Bank High School and Lafayette High School and two open teams, one meeting at EMJ Corporation and the other at Creative Discovery Museum, included students from various local schools - embraced the project and sent teams to work on the assignment.
The winning team consisted of students from six different area high schools, private, public and home, along with their talented mentors, coming together as one team; Team Creative Discovery Museum.
Four scholarships funded by local industry sponsors totaling $30,000 were awarded at the conclusion of the student project presentations. Scholarship winners were Alexander Williams (Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts), Elijiah Lauzon (Chattanooga School of Arts and Sciences), Conner Heisig (Chattanooga Christian School) Jonathan Whitmill (Homelife Academy).
ACE is actively recruiting partners in related fields for the 2023-2024 program with mentor events in North Georgia this coming June and Chattanooga in July. Contact Breanne Kintz at chattanoogatn@acementor.org for more information.