ACE Celebrates with Scholarships & Honorees

Congratulations to the 2012 ACE Mentor Program of New Jersey scholarship award-winners and honorees!

KSS Architects joined fellow ACE Mentor Program of New Jersey supporters for the 13th Annual New Jersey Scholarship Breakfast at the Newark Club on June 7. At the event, ACE awarded 12 scholarships to high school students about to pursue higher education in the fields of architecture, construction management or engineering. The organization also honored Donald Henderson, a teacher at East Orange Campus High School, Marlene Borruso, project architect at NK Architects, and TEAM Newark Collegiate Academy, a newly completed charter high school in Newark, NJ’s central ward designed by KSS Architects.

Through the ACE Mentor Program of New Jersey, mentors from architectural, construction management and engineering firms meet with teams of 20 to 25 students 15 times after school between October and March. Students learn what these professional do and take on a “real world” design/construction project. Through mentor presentations, hands-on activities and field trips to construction sites and ACE partner facilities, the teams work toward creation of a final project. At the end of the ACE season, all teams are brought together for final project presentations. The program culminates with the Scholarship Breakfast.

The ACE Mentor Program of New Jersey’s scholarship program began in June 2000 and has awarded $331,500 in scholarships to 230 deserving graduates of the program.

The 2012 Scholarship Award recipients include:

$2,500 Scholarship Awards: Sherylee Harley, of Newark (sponsored by Skanska USA Buidling, Inc.); Russell Archer, of East Orange (sponsored by Turner Construction Company); and Jeffrey Thomas, of Cumberland (sponsored by New Jersey Institute of Technology and MMPF).

$2,000 Scholarship Awards: Maryann Wallace, of Cumberland (sponsored by Gilbane Building Company); Dane Irving, of Newark (sponsored by DFI); Ogohogho Ighinweka, of Teaneck (sponsored by MCA and NK Architects); Jorge Lopez, of Morristown (sponsored by NJIT); and Adebayo Eisape, of Newark (sponsored by ENR NY and DIGroup Architecture).

$1,000 Scholarship Awards: Aniyah McNeal, of Newark (sponsored by Thornton Tomasetti); and Naji Darling, of East Orange (sponsored by Hollister Construction).

$500 Honorable Mention Awards: Alain Johnson, of East Orange (sponsored by Stanker & Galetto, Inc. and O’Donnel Naccarato); and Erich Romain, of Newark (sponsored by Louis Berger Group and Ogren Construction).