ACE Is the Place for High School Students

More than 200 pupils in Southern California are introduced to the world of architecture, construction and engineering, and receive awards at an industry association ceremony in Los Angeles.

By Paul Napolitano

Last year, the word "elevation" might have conjured up thoughts of Mount Everest for Omar Jiminez.

Gabby Rivas of Jefferson High School in Los Angeles explains her school's project (photo by Mark Day).

But on May 17, that four-syllable word took on a whole new meaning when the Theodore Roosevelt High School junior accepted his certificate at the ACE Los Angeles 3rd Annual Awards and Scholarship Dinner in downtown Los Angeles.

"Before I joined the ACE (Architects, Contractors and Engineers) program, I had not idea what architecture was about," Jiminez told an audience of about 430 in the conference center of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Jiminez's Theodore Roosevelt High School is in Los Angeles. ACE is a national mentoring association in the construction industry.

This year, a handful of mentor architects, contractors and engineers in Los Angeles and Orange counties "adopted" between 10 and 20 students each. The students are enrolled in about 20 area high schools, all but one in Los Angeles County.

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For nine months, the mentors coached the students as they created a design and a tabletop model for a particular project. This year, the students-from Santa Monica to Pasadena to Santa Ana, and points in between-were assigned the task of creating a light-rail station on their school's property.

"The model making was very fun, but it was time consuming," said Jefferson High School's Gabby Rivas, one of about 100 students who spoke while presenting their projects to diners munching on London broil, steamed vegetables, twice-baked potatoes and a green salad.

"Our role is one of mentorship and development," ACE Los Angeles chairman and secretary C. Terry Dooley said in between the students' presentations. "We don't dictate anything."

Dooley, who was the evening's master of ceremonies, is a 45-year veteran of the construction industry and was senior vice president of Santa Monica-based Morley Builders before retiring three years ago.

Terry Dooley, chairman of the board of the ACE mentor program for the Los Angeles metro area, addresses the audience at the 3rd annual ACE Los Angeles awards program in downtown Los Angeles (photo by Mark Day

In addition to the certificates, 27 students received a voucher for $1,000, which would convert to cash upon graduation and when they could confirm their commitment made to study architecture, engineering or construction in college.

The dough--voluntarily offered by companies in the architecture, contracting and engineering industries in Southern California-being doled out this year was a dramatic increase over the first award ceremony, when just nine students received a check for $1,000. Last year, 23 students received money.

"I liked the parking aspect of my project," said Maribel Estrada, a junior at John Marshall High School in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. Estrada, attending the event with her mother and one of her older brothers, is considering enrolling at Cal Poly San Luis Obispso. "Engineering seems fun," she added.

Ismaelly Pena, leader of the landscape team at John Marshall High School said the hard work paid off.

"We saw the results of our work," she said. "Teamwork is what it's all about."

And Dooley added: "It's words like that that make this all worthwhile."

For more information on ACE Los Angeles and a complete list of participating high schools and mentor companies in this year's program, go to www.acela.org