January is National Mentoring Month, and for the eleventh consecutive year, staff members of BBS Architects | Engineers are volunteering their time and talents to serve the ACE Mentor Program of Central Iowa. Matt Cole, AIA is past-president of the board and currently serving as a Director on the ACE Central Iowa Board. Tim Bungert, AIA, and Kaela Shoemaker, Assoc. AIA are serving as architecture team mentors. David Carlson is serving as an electrical engineering team mentor.
"The ACE Mentorship program has been a great opportunity for our firm to give back with our time and talents in a way that directly reaches young students that have an interest in our chosen profession. In addition, ACE has provided our firm with a funnel for future interns and professionals that move from ACE into their post-secondary education and then begin their career search". -Matt Cole, AIA
The ACE Mentor Program of America, Inc. (ACE) helps mentor high school students and inspires them to pursue careers in design and construction. The mission of ACE 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. More than 9,000 students from 1,000 high schools nationwide annually participate in ACE. Locally, this program involves over 120 students from metro-area high schools.
ACE not only engages sponsors and volunteer mentors to expose students to real-world opportunities, it financially supports each student's continued success through scholarships and grants. Since inception, ACE has awarded over $15 million in scholarships to promising participants. Through generous donations by local architecture, construction, and engineering firms, the ACE Mentor Program of Central Iowa has awarded 50+ students a total of over $120,000 in scholarships to further their ACE related education.
Please visit the ACE Mentor Program website for more information and see how to get involved.