When TMG Construction Corp. President Tanya Matthews recently attended the Seventh Annual ACE Mentor Program Scholarship Breakfast, she thought she would help inspire students to pursue careers in architecture, construction and engineering. Instead, she was inspired by the outstanding young people who described their future career ambitions in the construction industry.
"The young woman who received the scholarship that TMG co-sponsored is from Ethiopia, where nothing goes to waste," recalls Matthews. "She wants to develop her engineering skills to help impoverished people." Samrawit Fikru-Belew, who is a senior with a 4.21 GPA at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, DC, will be attending Purdue University in the fall. "She really made me think about how our commercial construction company promotes materials conservation."
TMG Construction Corporation was one of five companies to sponsor a $10,000 scholarship for Samrawit Fikru-Belew. A total of 13 scholarships, ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, were awarded to public high school seniors in the greater Washington metropolitan area.
The National Association of Home Builders operates the ACE Mentor Program, which was founded in 1994 by a coalition of design firms. The program is comprised of regional chapters that organize student project teams - complete with an owner firm, architectural or designer firm, engineering firms and a construction manager or general contractor. Teams work with professionals from mentor companies, who meet with students monthly during the school year. Students attend field trips, industry seminars, project tours, raise funds for scholarships and often are hired by mentor firms for summer internships or full-time position upon college graduation.
"ACE opened my mind to large possibilities that exist beyond the classroom in the real world by introducing me to the different career paths that engineering has to offer," notes Samrawit Fikru-Belew. "ACE gave me an opportunity to find my new interest: cost estimating. It also gave me a chance to be a part of my high school’s history by contributing to an actual project." In last year’s ACE project, Fikru-Belew worked with several classmates to develop an alternate design for her school’s proposed athletic facilities.
"The project provided me an experience with working in a group, negotiating with clients, and presenting a proposal," says Fikru-Belew. Project team members presented their proposal to the school district’s facility manager, the school’s board of directors and a civil engineer involved in the actual project. "Our design has become the favored option of many of the individuals who will make the final decisions," she notes. "Through this project, ACE showed me the path to success in my future as an engineer and a leader."
National sponsors of the ACE Mentor program include Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., American Institute of Architects, Turner Construction, McGraw Hill Construction, EMCOR AGC of America, Bentley, ASLA and Team IMI. This year’s Washington, DC-area scholarship sponsors include TMG Construction Corp., BF Saul Company, Bovis Lend Lease, Shapiro & Duncan Inc., Clark Construction, Parsons Corp., The Sumitomo Corp., Facchina Construction, Grunley Walsh, DMJM Aviation, L.F. Jennings Construction, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Parsons Brinckerhoff Foundation, Syska Hennessy Group, Skanska USA, Lane Construction Corp., Marriott International, The Marshall Group, Centex Construction, Turner Construction, the Washington Chapter of AIA and the Washington Architectural Foundation.
For more information on the ACE Mentor program, visit
www.acementor.org
