Our ACE students have been worked hard with their mentors to prepare a design of a residential home. The students designed within a real site plan, real zoning constraints, a budget, green building requirements, and more to simulate the process of designing and building in real life.

The students met weekly online with their mentors. This year, instead of one big Student Showcase, we offered five virtual Student Showcases, one for each team.

Click here to RSVP

 

Online learning adaptions


Due to COVID and public health guidance, ACE of Greater Boston is running our signature after-school program online this year, with students attending one hour per week:

Monday 5:00-6:00 (NU) – started Oct 19
Tuesday 4:00-5:00 (WIT) – started Oct 20
Tuesday 5:00-6:00 (RCC) – started Oct 20
Wednesday 4:00-5:00 (BSA) – started Oct 21
Wednesday 5:00-6:00 (SMMA) – started Oct 21

We are also sponsoring a series of optional career panels on some Thursdays in collaboration with the National Organization of Minority Architects.

ACE spent the summer adapting our hands-on, project-based learning model for online delivery. A great deal of care and planning went into how to sustain our strong mentoring relationships in a virtual setting. We have put hours of work into creating and mailing activity kits to students to ensure that every student has what they need to participate. We are excited to see students digging in and participating actively in our shared project of designing a home.

“Here, one of our students displays the structure she designed during an early session, when the focus was on how to build from a plan.”

Photo of graduating senior Abdi with his scholarship check

On March 11, ACE Mentor Greater Boston held a small celebration for our 31 high school seniors at Wentworth Institute of Technology, awarding $152,000 in college scholarships help them pursue careers in the field. The event was a stripped-down version of our normal final Student Showcase, due to precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Most of our mentors were asked to stay home, and we missed the chance to give our best wishes in person, with a hearty handshake. Instead, elbows were bumped, and a few mentors representing the discipline and site leads gave congratulations on behalf of all of us. Students did not get to deliver their final presentations, but they did get the chance to say a few words, if desired, to describe their experience in the program. Students, you will go off to college with our best wishes. Please keep in touch with ACE and follow our Linked In company page to learn about upcoming alumni events.
31 high school students pose with their mentors and giant scholarship checks


 

Final Presentations

Click here to view the 2020 Final Presentation files.