ACE Mentor Program releases landmark research results

STAMFORD, CONN. — The ACE (Architecture, Construction, and Engineering) Mentor Program released findings from a groundbreaking research study, conducted to quantify its impact to date. The research indicates that ACE is not only accomplishing its mission of “engaging, exciting, and enlightening high school students to pursue careers in architecture, construction, and engineering”, it’s also achieving additional results, including increasing high school graduation rates, and diversification in the architecture, construction, and engineering industries.

Key highlights of the research, conducted via a survey in January 2010, include:
•ACE participants graduate high school at a higher rate than their non-ACE counterparts (97 percent versus the 73.4 percent national graduation rate for 2009).
•ACE participants attend college at a higher rate than their non-ACE counterparts (94 percent versus the 68 percent national college enrollment rate for 2009).
•Female ACE participants enter college engineering programs at double the national rate of their non-ACE counterparts (29 percent versus 15 percent, respectively).
•More minorities are enrolled in ACE than other after-school programs as a whole (61 percent versus the 40 percent national average)
•More low-income students are enrolled in ACE than other after-school programs as a whole (59 percent versus the 41 percent national average)
•Nearly 10 percent of all college freshmen who intended to enroll in architecture programs in 2009 were ACE alumni.
•Of freshmen majoring in Architecture, the minority mix (African-American, Hispanic, and Asian) of the ACE students was two to four times greater than the national average (which was 70 percent Caucasian).
•Nearly four times more Hispanic ACE alumni enter civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering programs than their non-ACE counterparts; nearly three times more African American ACE alumni enter those fields than their non-ACE counterparts.

“The results of the ACE Mentor Program’s landmark research reveal that the program has been achieving tremendous success on a number of fronts and has had significant impact in the lives of young people and important populations within our country,” commented Pamela R. Mullender, president and CEO of the ACE Mentor Program. “Given that the construction industry is the backbone of this country — the largest employer in the U.S. — and that ACE includes two of the fields that rank among the top 10 paying jobs for students out of college, and four of the fields that rank among the top eight paying jobs that do not require a degree, one can conclude that, as the program continues to grow, it will have an increasingly positive impact on vital American industries and life within the U.S.”

To download a full copy of the ACE Mentor Program survey, visit www.emcorgroup.com/ACE/ACEbrochureFinal.pdf.