High School is a time for some students to decide what they want to do for a living. There are many options for students to take and it can be a bit overwhelming. Luckily, ACE mentoring strives to help students discover their passion.
“ACE mentoring stands for Architecture Construction and Engineering,” Club sponsor Dennis Blochlinger said. “Students meet with professional architects, engineers, and construction workers, and mentor under them.”
The goal of ACE mentoring is to help students find interest in architecture, construction or engineering fields. ACE mentoring allows students the opportunity to complete real world scenarios with the mentors.
“When I was a sophomore we did a competition against other Kansas City area schools,” senior Nick Coffey said, “We were tasked with having to make a building that would solve a problem. In our case we had to build a house for a handicapped family or at least design it on the computer.”
Students do various activities relate to architecture, construction, and engineering throughout the year. Students go on field trips every two weeks and meet Liberty Hour B on Tuesdays and after school Wednesdays.
“We meet after school and take the bus typically to a construction site or our mentors place of hire. While on a construction site we go on a tour and see what the mentor’s average day is like. [While at a] place of hire we talk and ask questions to the mentor,” senior Michael Coday said. “Then we might have a competition. For example, once we had to build a bridge out of gumdrops and toothpicks. We then stacked books on the bridge and the bridge that could hold the most weight won.”
“Students can meet with engineers and architects to learn more about the profession,” junior Riley Evans said. “We go on field trips and have sessions where we go through activities with the architects to design a building to see what its like.”
“We [also] go on field trips to local construction sites.” Coffey said.
Many students enjoy ACE mentoring and have learned from the experience, For instance they’ve been on construction site tours to observe and examine what an average day of work is like for employees. They have also built structures out of limited materials to see if their structure is up to the test. ACE mentoring will continue to grow along with the school and will continue to help students drive their passion.
“It really made me more interested in the whole thing,” Coffey said. “Everyone who is a part of the club is really nice. You learn to work as a team especially on developing these projects.”
ACE mentoring has been at LHS for about seven years and each year drives new students towards architecture, construction, and engineering. ACE mentoring is perfect for students interested in those fields or for students who are looking for a career choice.