For almost three years, the CUDC’s Kristen Zeiber has participated in the local Cleveland chapter of the ACE Mentor Program, representing Kent State University as a Board Member and member of the Scholarship Committee.ACE stands for Architecture, Construction, and Engineering. High school students at eight Cleveland-area schools (7 in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District plus one in Warrensville Heights School District) participate in this after-school program every two weeks with industry professionals, learning about the design and construction of the built environment around them. These industry mentors introduce students to the many career paths in the ACE industries and take them through a design project of their own to demystify the process.ACE chapters exist all over the country, but Cleveland’s chapter is one of the largest and is notable for its close relationship with CMSD and for providing significant scholarships for ACE students to go on to higher education. High school seniors in ACE apply for scholarships through a series of essays and letters of recommendations, and local companies and institutions (including Kent State, plus the Cleveland AIA chapter) support their continuing education through donations.At the end of each school year, ACE holds a banquet to award scholarships and allow each team to present the year’s projects. On April 26, 2017, nine ACE teams presented their responses to the RFP, which called for new ideas for making healthy places. Each team had to come up with a design, figure out some preliminary materials and construction techniques, and even sketch out an overall budget, and then present to a panel of local practitioners.This year, ACE distributed a four-year total of over $118,000 in scholarships to 21 graduating seniors. Most excitingly for Kent State, though, was that the College of Architecture and Environmental Design had FOUR applicants from this year’s ACE class. We’ve had two CAED students from ACE for each of the past two years, but four is our highest number so far. This year’s recipients are:

Anais Harris – Architectural Studies
Michael Mascella – Architecture
Cesar Sandate – Construction Management
Isidro Villa – Architecture

Kent State has an agreement with ACE to match any scholarships for up to four incoming Architecture, Interior Design, and Construction Management students up to $1,500 / year each. In addition, Michael Mascella and Isidro Villa split the prestigious Cleveland Foundation Ward Scholarship, for students from the Cleveland area intending to study architecture. We’re looking forward to adding these energetic young students to our college and hopefully continuing to grow our involvement with ACE further in the future.Congratulations to our four CAED ACE students, and all the ACE scholarship recipients!For more information on the ACE Mentor Program, check out the national website or the Cleveland chapter Facebook page.