Hillcrest Students Victorious at Chicago ACE Mentor Competition

Since November, ten students from Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills have been participating in the Chicago ACE Mentor Program. This is the third year Hillcrest has been involved in this program. Last year, Hillcrest had three students accepted and two of those students were awarded scholarships for their outstanding work and involvement.

This year, Hillcrest High School ACE Mentor Program students and participants Da'Veonna Campbell, Viviana Horta, Jaden Houston, Byran Ingram, and Bobby Jones came in first place at the ACE Mentor Program Chicago competition and second place at the National competition for their Gastronomic Center. Additionally, Campbell received a $1,000 scholarship, Horta a $1,5000 scholarship, and Ingram achieved a prestigious internship with The Walsh Construction Group.

During the 15-week after school program, students broke into teams which included mentors from different architecture, construction, and engineering organizations and businesses throughout Chicago. This year, students met and worked in person in the early months of the program. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, students and mentors switched to a virtual format in March. The teams continued to work together to build their project which they would then typically be presented at ACE Chicago’s culminating event and competition held at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) every year in April. This year, winners were announced virtually.

The ACE Mentor Program started as a national program in 1995 as an innovative way of attracting students, particularly minorities, women, and low-income populations to career fields in architecture, construction, and engineering. In 2000, The ACE Mentor Affiliate of Chicago was established and began a 19-year partnership with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Since its founding, the program has touched the lives of more than 3,500 high school sophomores, juniors and seniors from 36 Chicago public schools and surrounding schools such as Hillcrest High School. Learn more at acementor.org.