New York, NY Each year since 2011, the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC New York) has provided a high school student participating in the ACE Mentor Program of Greater New York with a $3,000 legacy scholarship to be used towards pursuing a degree in engineering. This initiative is part of an ongoing focus on supporting the built environment by encouraging and fostering the next generation of engineers.
This year, the scholarship was awarded to Christopher Triana, a senior at Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, who is attending The Grove School of Engineering at The City College of New York and majoring in civil engineering. “I am very grateful for my ACE mentors,” said Triana in his application essay, “who take the time from their busy schedules to help students like myself, interested in architecture, construction and engineering fields, by providing us with guidance as we make this life-changing decision of choosing the right career.”
ACE Mentor is a not-for-profit organization that helps prepare high school students for careers in design and construction through mentoring by industry professionals. Since its inception, the program has served over 10,000 students in New York Metro area.
Many ACEC New York member firms participate in the program, including three of the firms represented on the scholarship winner’s Team 24: WSP USA; Stantec; and Jaros, Baum & Bolles. “This year we proposed a multi-use building that contained a recreation center and gym on the lower 6 floors (containing a rooftop pool on the 6th floor), as well as office space on levels 7-16,” said Team 24 member Chris Varughese, senior engineer at Jaros, Baum & Bolles. “Chris was part of the engineering team and helped design the pool system, which included selecting various filtration techniques and sizing the pumps for the pool.”
Many past ACE Mentor student participants who are pursuing a college degree in engineering apply to the ACEC New York scholarship program. In 2017, LisaMarie Nilaj, a previous participant in the program and current student at Manhattan College, received an ACEC New York scholarship, underwritten by STV Group. “ACE was my first exposure to the concept of being an engineer,” said Nilaj. “Through meeting with informative mentors and participating in relevant projects at our weekly sessions, I found that civil engineering was the right path for me. I found my passion, my college major, and my future career through the ACE Mentor Program.”
For more information on the ACE Mentor Program of Greater New York, including how to volunteer as a mentor or participate as a student, visit www.acementor.org.
ACEC New York is a proactive coalition of 270 firms representing every discipline of engineering related to the built environment—civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, geotechnical—and affiliated companies. Our shared goals are to further the business interests of our membership, enhance the quality and safety of the environment we live and work in, and help ensure the vitality of our communities.
ACEC New York Mentor Firms Metro New York area:
AECOM
AKF Group
AKRF, Inc.
Arup
Cerami & Associates
Cosentini Assoc.
DeSimone Consulting
Engineers
Entech Engineering
GC Eng & Associates
Gannett Fleming
Gilsanz Murray Steficek
Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.
H2M architects + engineers
Hazen and Sawyer
HAKS
HDR
HNTB New York Engineering
Jacob, Feinberg, Katz
& Michaeli
Jacobs
Jaros, Baum & Bolles
Langan Engineering
LiRo Engineers, Inc.
Lilker Associates
Loring Consulting Engineers
M-E Engineers
Mueser Rutledge
Naik Consulting Group
OLA Consulting Engineers
Parsons Corporation
Sam Schwartz
Engineering
Severud Associates
Silman
Stantec
STV Group
Syska Hennessy Group
Thornton Tomasetti
WSP USA
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