Upstate New York

About Us

Founded in 2001, the ACE Mentor Program of Upstate New York helps high school students from Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse better understand the significant benefits and positive rewards available through careers in architecture, construction and engineering.

Every other week from November through May, experienced professionals from local building industry firms mentor student teams as they pursue projects similar to those the mentors themselves work on every day.

Students also visit professional offices, tour construction sites, and take other informative and exciting field trips. In addition, program participants who decide to pursue a career in the building industry are eligible for both national and local scholarships.

Over the past six years, we’ve awarded over $30,000 in scholarships to students attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Vassar, Carnegie-Mellon, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Hudson Valley Community College and other post-high school academic programs.

Our Projects

Both our Albany and Buffalo teams re-conceived real construction projects that are currently under way, including a shopping mall expansion and a technology high school renovation.

Using actual project objectives and plans, subgroups of each team created their own design solutions by adding features, revising spatial arrangements and developing other innovations. In addition, students visited the projects’ jobsites at different times to observe construction progress, toured professional offices and attended a construction careers day. Sponsored by the local building industry, this event gave students an opportunity to find out more about building trades, such as carpentry and bricklaying, as well as the operation of heavy construction equipment.

While working on their projects, students learned to read building plans and blueprints. They also became familiar with both standard and three-dimensional computer-aided design technology. And they created estimates by using mentor-provided cost lists and their own measurements, as well as by integrating computer-aided design applications with estimating software.

The program year concluded with each team’s subgroups presenting their work before an audience of parents, peers and mentors. In addition, we awarded local and national scholarships ranging in value from $250 to $1,500.

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.