Northeast
About Us
Founded during the 2006-2007 school year with significant support from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), the ACE Mentor Program of Northeast Florida, helps high school young people explore potential careers in architecture, construction and engineering.
Through the program, mentors from local industry professional firms meet with students for two hours once a week for 13 weeks. During these sessions, students work in teams to create practical solutions for “real-world” projects. It’s an effective way for students to experience the reality of what architects, contractors and engineers do during a typical working day.
Now in our third year of the program, we have teams from two schools – A. Philip Randolph Academies of Technology and Orange Park High School. The 2009 program started on January 8th. 28 students are actively participating at OPHS and 25 are actively participating at APR.
Our Team Projects
The 2009 program has been modified this year. Instead of spreading presentations throughout the course of the program, they have all been moved to the beginning. This will allow the students more time to develop and work on their group projects. Projects will be identified later in the year when a Request for Proposals (RFP) is issued. Each team will utilize the remaining sessions to complete work to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. This includes drawings, estimates, schedules, etc. A winning team will be determined after their final presentations.
We will hold two field trips in the upcoming year. The first was held on January 15th. We visited the Baptist Medical South Campus jobsite. At the visit, students heard from construction personnel, architects, and a civil engineer regarding the industry. Students also had the opportunity to visit the hospital expansion jobsite, in various stages of construction, and a new medical office building, currently in the structural phase.
The other field trip will be held on March 26th. Students will get the opportunity to visit the University of North Florida campus and to hear from administrators about admission requirements and scholarship opportunities. We will also visit the completed UNF student union. This was a project we previously visited during the 2008 program.
END OF YEAR CELEBRATION – SAVE THE DATE
Our end of the year celebration is scheduled to be held on May 15th at the University Center at UNF. Students will present their response to the RFP to a guest jury, their parents, teachers and mentors. Charles Van Zant, Florida House Representative, District 21 will be the guest speaker. More details for follow!
Participate in ACE!
If you’d like to experience ACE’s challenges, opportunities and rewards for yourself, just contact one of the ACE leaders listed in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
