LANSING, Mich. — For the last several weeks, a group of high school students from Waverly, Holt and Okemos have been spending time after school alongside experts in architecture, construction and engineering. It’s called the ACE program.
At the weekly meetings, the professionals become mentors to the students.
They work with the students on hypothetical construction projects, give them tours of local construction sites and visit architectural, engineering and construction offices.
Holt High School senior Carson Knap says he feels fortunate to have this opportunity.
“I didn't know about environmental engineering until I came here. And now, this is like my focus, and what I want to do,” Knap said.
Holt senior Mikey Thomas says the information he is learning from the ACE program is invaluable for his future profession.
“I really want to be a firefighter, but construction is helpful with firefighting because as a firefighter you need to know building codes, and you need to know what you can do if you need to take down a wall in a building, or if you need to keep a wall up in a building,” Thomas said.
This is the second year for the Capital Region ACE program, which is part of the national ACE program.
“We have 24 mentors from all over the Greater Lansing area," says ACE volunteer Traci Brower, who is a senior estimator with Clark Construction. "Some are professors at Michigan State University, some are architects."
Adam Al-Ansari is with Rockford Construction and is also an ACE mentor.
“It's not just paving the way for architecture engineering structure, which would be great, but also helping students who wouldn't get that exposure to develop soft skills and to come out of their shell really to blossom, and we've seen it we've, we're already seeing it," Al-Ansari said.
This is Holt sophomore Faith Domingo’s second year in the program.
Thank you to the ACE volunteers who are passing their knowledge and skills forward to help teach a new generation. You are this week’s Good Neighbors.
If you would like more information on the ACE program, visit their website.
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