“I love to see people come full circle, from mentoring to college to a career,” said Dexter Hendricks, Vice President of Community and Citizenship and a Mechanical Engineer for Turner Construction. Hendricks is a board member of The ACE Mentor Program of NJ. 

The ACE Mentor program of NJ is a volunteer organization whose stated mission is “to engage, excite, and enlighten high school students to pursue careers in architecture, engineering, and construction through mentoring and continued support for their advancement into the industry.” The group is nationwide and has a small and growing international presence. The New Jersey chapter recently hosted its annual reception and fundraiser at Rutgers’ 33 Knightsbridge Road location. This is the first time Rutgers’ IP&O Division has hosted an ACE event.

The group’s fundraising efforts fund scholarship initiatives. The ACE Mentor Program’s primary goal, aligned with their mission, is to inspire and prepare high school students for college and careers in the integrated construction industry by providing hands-on experiences, simulated real world problem solving, and career growth opportunities, including offering scholarships to students intending to pursue degrees in architecture, construction, or engineering. The group also assists in tuition for trade school. Members strive to build a diverse, well-prepared workforce by attracting students from underrepresented communities and encouraging them to learn, grow, and build their careers in New Jersey.

 
For Hendricks, who has been on the board for ten years, his involvement started when he was filling in at events for one of his Turner co-workers. “I fell in love with the program,” he said. Representatives from many of New Jersey’s top Engineering and Construction firms who, like Hendricks, are ACE mentors, attended the event. In addition to networking, the evening’s program included a 30-minute panel discussion that explored trends in construction on college campuses. 

Panelists included Andrew Christ, Senior Vice President for Real Estate Development and Capital Operations at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT); John Hannum, Executive Director of Engineering and Campus Energy in Facilities Operations, Princeton; and Laura Berman, IP&O’s Assistant Vice President, Architecture and Design and Assistant University Architect. 

Dave Schulz, IP&O’s Vice President and University Architect, opened the panel discussion by giving an overview of Rutgers. 

“Rutgers today is not what you think,” Schulz said as he enumerated some key statistics highlighting the university’s scale and impact.  “If we were a city in New Jersey, we would be its eighth largest. We have over 6,000 acres, 940 buildings, a 
presence in every county, and 2.5 million patient visits annually.” 

Marlene Borruso, Associate with USA Architects, has been an Ace Mentor since 2002 and ACE Board Member since 2012. She led the panel discussion. “I have seen the value this program brings to students in New Jersey,” she said. “The skills they learn are transferrable to everything in life.” 

Cristina Martinez, ACE NJ President and Director of Business Development for Bala Engineers, remarked on the importance of encouraging young people to look seriously at these careers. “When we started this program, we were not 
seeing students going into these fields. We rely on our mentors to get young people looking at this industry,” she said.  

Henrique Lopes was an ACE mentee and a student at Science High School in Newark who always had an interest in construction careers. Today, he is a mentor, a Civil Engineer, and an outside sales consultant for Gamka Building Answers in Edison, NJ. Lopes appreciates the value of the program and the opportunity to help others. Daniel Fowler, an ACE Board member and Vice President of Corporate Services and Special Projects for J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, started as a mentor ten years ago. He became a board member three years ago. “I enjoy encouraging people to pursue careers that are interesting and satisfying,” said Fowler, a Rutgers graduate. 

Rutgers AVP for Project Services Nick Fabbroni was at the event as well, speaking to the importance of student interest in the trades. “Rutgers relies on tradespeople – from maintenance mechanics for our infrastructure to construction workers for our new buildings – we need to expose high school youth to the opportunities that the construction field presents. Speaking from a lifetime of experience, it is one of the most challenging and rewarding careers for which there is an abundance of opportunity.”

The higher education panel discussed student needs and how that impacts design, especially post-COVID. The months and years after the pandemic shifted the student experience, noted Christ, adding that students want private spaces but also need communal spaces. The panelists agreed that outdoor space is as important, if not more so, than the buildings themselves. Outdoor space makes a campus memorable, the panelists agreed. 

They also took time to reflect on their own career paths. Christ commented on the impact his work has on both students and alumni; Hannum spoke about his involvement in Princeton’s Master plan and environmental sustainability on the campus.

Berman commented that she thought her own career path would be slightly different, but acknowledged that you have to have an open mind because life can lead you elsewhere. “Sometimes you end up better than you imagined,” she said. “At Rutgers, I am drawn to the wide variety of projects that include everything from a horse barn to a world-class cancer center. There’s tremendous opportunity here.”

This article can be found in the IP&O Insights Newsletter May Issue.