ACE Mentor Program of Cleveland Blog: December 2010

In October ACE kicked-off the 2010-2011 school year with each team focusing on a creative and engaging icebreaker activity. Lead mentor firms, Herschman Architects, Regency Construction, and Gilbane Building Company organized these activities for the first day of each ACE team!

Herschman Architects

The much anticipated Icebreaker session at John Rhodes High School was held on October 20, 2010.

With 20 students attending (and 21 registered for the course), Richard Munch of Herschman Architects, opened the session with a review of the ACE Mentor Program. After student introductions, the class was asked to describe their favorite bridge. The responses were varied, from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, to Cleveland’s Veterans Memorial Bridge. One student even said she loved the new Fulton Street Bridge above the Cleveland Metropark Zoo.

CT Consultants Richard Iafelice, explained the process involved in design and construction. Mentors included John Rhodes teacher Paul Lockhart, Gilbane’s Brian McCreary, Jim Peters of CT Consultants, Herschman’s Craig Wright, Renee Shirey of Burt Hill, Glen Givens of Mentor, and Chris Westbrook of Arcadis who spoke about the preparation of the bridge program (RFP), that would be available at an upcoming session. In addition, the Cleveland Municipal School District's Maxine Jackson described the importance of attending the class and the availability of scholarship money for those who show aptitude and involvement in the project.

After a snack, Munch provided an informal slide presentation describing the program, including photographs of both early and more recent pedestrian bridges, as well as some architectural and engineering projects related to bridges. In the final hour, students (in groups of three) designed on paper, a shelter using minimal materials. It was a good first meeting and everyone (students and mentors alike) expect the 8-month program to be a great success!

Gilbane Building Company

The ACE juniors at John Hay participated in the Great ACE Race/Architectural Scavenger Hunt led by Gilbane Building Company. Originally created by fellow mentors at ThenDesign Architecture, this activity gets the students out of the school and touring the University Circle neighborhood. Students received a map of the neighborhood, assigned a mentor, and were provided with a packet of clues and information on the various locations they were to visit. The packet also include abstract photos of architectural hot spots throughout University Circle and clues about these locations.

At each destination students were assigned mini-group activities such as a pencil rubbing of Hessler Court (a wooden road), physically acting out (as mentors snapped pictures) the support structure of the Cleveland Botanical Garden canopy entrance, naming and sketching plant life surrounding the gardens, sketching the Cleveland Museum of Art new construction, and sketching University Hospitals New Cancer Center from across Euclid Avenue and finding names of contractors or business on the construction site.

Students earned points for each destination reached and each activity completed. After all five locations were visited, students hurried back to John Hay. The team back to John Hay first earned bonus points. The winning team was awarded McDonald's gift certificates!

Regency Construction Services, Inc.

The ACE Seniors at John Hay participated in a series of team building activities led by Regency Construction Services, Inc. The students were divided into 5 student teams and spent about 6 minutes at each of the nine game stations where there was a mentor “running” each game and recording the best score. The first 3 minutes in the round gave the students the opportunity to “practice” the game. An announcement was made when there were 3 minutes left in the round so that the students began to complete the game for a timed result.

Some of these games were taken from the TV show’s Minute to Win It website and adapted to fit our needs. These included the breakfast scramble (assembling cereal box puzzle pieces), candy elevator (lifting an elevator made from 2 pencils and string to lift 3 M&M’s into the mouth), caddy shack (stacking 2 golf balls 1 atop the other), go the distance (transporting ping-pong balls across an extended tape measure so they rest in a shot glass), hangnails (hang 6 nails concurrently on a taught string), stack attack (stack 8 metal nuts atop the other’s narrow side by only using a chopstick) and rapid fire (shoot rubber bands to knock down a triangle stack of 6 plastic cups).

The other 2 games were pipeline (move a golf ball through a cardboard drawing tube pipeline) and quick draw (circle numbers on a sheet of paper in sequential order revealing a pattern).

These games had everyone, including the mentors and Miss D. trying to best each other’s scores. The winning student team received Subway gift certificates.

The students learned about working together, communication skills, importance of balance (candy elevator), slopes (tape measure), pressures on the taught string (hangnails), how planning ahead can save time (quick draw) and that there are often several solutions to one problem.

Students show off their bridge designs at the
Thorson Baker structural engineering session.

On Tuesday, December 7 the juniors participated in a heated debate over what to name their company for the final design project. After much discussion and creative ideas, Pro-Struct was decided upon as the name of the John Hay junior's company. Work on the final design project will begin after the first of the year.

Students have the option to create a set of values and/or a mission statement for their company. Below are links to mentor websites for students to research and learn about the importance of company mission statements and values:

Regency Construction Services, Inc.

Gilbane Building Company

Herschman Architects

ThenDesign Architecture

Array HFS

CT Consultants

Michael Benza & Associates