Franklin High School graduate Antonio Crosier thinks he underachieved during his first two years in high school. But once the ACE Mentor Program paired him with professionals and hands-on experience from local architecture firms SERA and ZGF, Crosier knew what he wanted to do with his life.
"When I was in ACE, I got motivated to take AP [Advanced Placement] classes," Crosier said.
He's now studying architecture at Portland State, thanks to hard work and a $6,000 boost from an ACE scholarship. (ACE stands for architecture, construction and engineering.)
ACE's Portland chapter is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and the group held its annual fundraising luncheon Wednesday at the Portland Art Museum. With Portland's real estate market booming, the program is a chance for the local design-and-build industry to seek and diversify its future talent.
The Portland ACE program launched in 2006 with 27 students from six high schools, and 28 mentors from 11 local firms. Four students received $12,000 in scholarships that first year.
This year, ACE served 146 students from 41 local high schools. Ninety-seven mentors from 40 companies participated. Sixteen students won $64,000 in scholarships in 2015, and the program will award $70,000 in 2016.
Charles Thornton, who founded ACE in New York City and has seen it expand to more than 100 American cities, was the keynote speaker at the event. A structural engineer, he was involved with the construction of two of the world's tallest buildings: the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
"Portland is a center of architectural innovation," Thornton said.
-- Luke Hammill
lhammill@oregonian.com
503-294-4029
@lucashammill