ACE Mentor Program of America’s Post

Five years ago, I celebrated my first day as an Office Administrator/Intern at the ACE National Office! An incredible opportunity brought through a faculty connection at Thomas Jefferson University, the experience reconnected me with my roots as an ACE Alumni and forever changed the course of my career. Flash forward five years later, I came back to the Friends Center as not only a licensed architect, but as a speaker and representative for ACE Mentor Delaware! To think I could go from being just a college student to a leader in the program speaking in the same building in five years has baffled me, but it is a great example of the sheer power and opportunity The ACE Mentor Program of America brings to students across the country. While I was back at the National Office, ACE President Diana Thornton Eidenshink and I recognized this happy coincidence, and seized the opportunity to recreate the photo we took on day one of my internship. I am beyond grateful for my ACE family, and am forever inspired to educate and mentor the next generation of leaders in ACE careers 👷♀️ 🏗 📐 🏛 Happy ACE Anniversary! 🎊 #ACEThrowbackThursday #ACEMentor #30YearsofACE

Now that the fall semester is officially here, we wanted to share profiles of a few of the deserving scholarship recipients from our 25th Annual Scholarship Dinner! 🎓 So, let's get to know a little about Rishigaanesh Balajirajah aka Rishi, who was the recipient of our 25th Anniversary John Woodman Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $7,500! 👏 Rishi plans to pursue engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which was deeply influenced by his time with the ACE Mentor Program of New Jersey's Middlesex Team at John P. Stevens High School. Starting in 10th grade during the pandemic, Rishi immediately immersed himself in the program after discovering it through an extracurricular slideshow, building on his early interest in #engineering from middle school. 👷♂️ His favorite experiences included participating in the Lego Build Contest each year, simulating real-world #construction projects, but his most cherished memory was competing with his Hawkitects team in the Construction Industry Round Table (CIRT) National Student Competition in Washington, D.C. where they placed third. 🥉 Guided by mentors like DIGroupArchitecture Senior Project Manager & Middlesex Team Leader LoriAnne Jones and JP Stevens Technology Teacher Therese May, Rishi gained valuable insights into the engineering field and was inspired to pursue it as a career. Their mentorship, along with support from teammates like Arjun Dave, helped him excel in competitions and solidified his passion for the industry. Starting his freshman year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he is currently in Engineering Undeclared but is considering pursuing Electrical & Computer Engineering. 👨💻 Rishi remains committed to giving back as a future mentor, eager to share his experience and guide the next generation of ACE students however he can. 🤝 The culmination of his time with ACE was bringing home the 25th Anniversary John Woodman Memorial Scholarship. In fact, all three seniors on the Middlesex Team won scholarships at #ACENJ25, secured through stellar recommendation letters and essays about their experience. 💰 Rishi's advice to future ACE Mentor Students? Engage with your mentors, find a team with diverse interests that they enjoy working with, and most importantly, have fun. #mentorship #mentorshipmatters #acementorprogram #acementor #proudmentor #aecindustry #studentinvolvement #careerdevelopment #njarchitecture #njengineering #njconstruction #STEM #STEAM

📢 Event Announcement: I'm excited to host an upcoming discussion about Building Futures: The Impact of the ACE Mentor Program in partnership with Katie Chevalier Bawarski at ACE Mentor Program of America on Thursday, September 5th, at 9am PDT. 🎤 Our incredible lineup of speakers will include: Katie Chevalier Bawarski (ACE Mentor Program of America), Kene Okigbo, PLA, ASLA, (RDG Planning & Design), Zaire Hamil (Kent State University) and Daniel Mendoza (University of Texas at Arlington). You won't want to miss it! 💡 Some of the topics we'll cover are: - mentoring tomorrow's leaders - empowering the next generation - bridging education and industry - inspiring change ...and much more! 👇 Event Registration Page Below. #acementorprogram #futureleaders #ekc #contech #webinars Erin Khan Consulting #contechwebinar #ekcwebinar #linkedinlive