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October 24, 2016

DDC Builds Talent Pipeline Through ACE Mentor Program

The ACE Mentor Program of America, Inc. (ACE) inspires high school students to pursue careers in design and construction. The mission of the ACE Mentor Program is to engage, excite and enlighten high school students to pursue careers in architecture, engineering, and construction through mentoring and to support their continued advancement in the industry. ACE not only engages sponsors and volunteer mentors to expose students to real-world opportunities, it supports student's continued success by providing program participants with scholarship and grant opportunities.

On October 24th DDC’s ACE TEAM 8 met for the first time to discuss the 2016/2017 ACE program and Construction Industry Round Table competition. Mentors from DDC, SCA, Structure Tone, Loring Engineers, and Thornton Tomasetti Weidlinger introduced themselves and gave student team members a little bit of background about themselves and how they came to their respective careers within the fields of architecture, engineering, and construction management.

After introductions the team was divided into three separate groups. ACE Team 8 Co-Leader Starlene Scott facilitated a challenge to build a bridge using only newspaper and tape that would span between two tables set one foot apart. An additional constraint was that the bridge had to withstand the weight of a brick for 30 seconds without experiencing structural failures. All three groups successfully completed the challenge. Students were also able to understand how important brainstorming and planning are to the engineering design process. After testing their bridges students analyzed how the various different approaches and perspectives led to success.