Los Angeles
About Us
This affiliate covers Los Angeles and Orange Counties of California.
We are a California Not-For-Profit Corporation, and our IRS tax identification number is 03-0505 898. The official name is "ACE Mentor Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, Inc."
Since 2002, ACE Los Angeles has enabled hundreds of high school students to discover the exciting potential of careers in Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE). Starting with 45 students and three teams, we have grown to about 300 students on 15 teams. Students in Spring 2010 came from 24 different high schools.
The scholarship program has expanded too. In the first year, scholarships were awarded to nine (9) graduating high school seniors. In May 2011, rights were granted to thirty-eight (38) graduating seniors.
Because we cover a wide geographic area, we build our teams around high schools, or small clusters of high schools. We recruit mentors from nearby architectural, engineering and construction firms.
A typical team matches half a dozen professional mentors with two dozen students in grades 10 through 12. They meet after school every other week, approximately sixteen (16) times during the academic year.
Over 100 of our "alumni" are currently in college. By spring 2011, two dozen had graduated. Two have finished Master’s Degree programs. Most of these graduates are working in the design and construction professions and three have returned to mentor at our ACE high schools.
Our Projects
Working closely with the mentors, each team undertakes a design project. This may involve a new or remodeled structure that can be sited on the team’s own high school campus.
In a recent year, the "ACE Regional Transit Authority" (ARTA) issued a Request For Proposal to each of our teams. A light rail system was proposed to join all ACE-Los Angeles high school campuses. Each team designed a transit station and related facilities to fit among the structures on its own high school site. Scale models were built and budgets prepared. All were displayed at the annual public spring student presentation event.
Our program includes other activities that expose young people to the challenges, opportunities and rewards of the design and construction professions. These activities include:
- Visits to professional office and construction sites.
- Competitions in the designing, building and load-testing of simple structures.
- "Trade Days" when students get hands-on instruction at apprentice training schools for the skilled construction trades.
Students graduating from high school and active in ACE’s Los Angeles program can compete for three different types of scholarships as noted below. To qualify for them, a student must study Architecture, Construction, Engineering or a related discipline, involved with the design and construction of buildings or civil infrastructure. Participation in an organized apprenticeship program in the building trades is also acceptable.
- Scholarships funded by the general resources of our Los Angeles affiliate, usually at $1,000 per year. Application forms are available to high school seniors through each mentor team leader in January. If ACE-Los Angeles resources permit and the student meets specific conditions, some scholarships are renewed in upper-class college years. Renewal forms are available in September. We have distributed locally over a half million dollars of scholarships.
- ACE National scholarships, several of which have gone to Los Angeles area students. These vary in size depending on the donor. Application forms are posted (usually in January) on the ACE national website. Award history for recent years is on the national website www.ACEmentor.org
- Scholarships sponsored by local clubs, societies or universities. These change each year. Check with your mentor team leader.
Participate in ACE
If you would like to experience ACE's challenges, opportunities and rewards for yourself, or just have a question, see the contact box in the upper right corner of this page.
2011 Awards Event
Photos from our May 21, 2011 Awards Event - Fifteen ACE Mentor Teams from Los Angeles and Orange Counties displayed their spring projects at the Robert F Kennedy Community School and 38 college scholarships were awarded to graduating seniors in the Historic Cocoanut Grove Theater.
Event Chairman: Ann Banning-Wright of Bright Operations LLC
All-Schools Competition at Southern California Institute of Architecture
