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"ACE" student at Burke receives $20,000 scholarship
Burke High School senior Kaiasia Williams has pursued an engineering career for several years. This spring, her pursuit of that goal became a little easier thanks to a $20,000 CMiC-Allen Berg Memorial Scholarship from the ACE (Architecture, Construction, and Engineering) Mentor Program of America. Williams is one of 37 students nationwide to receive this particular scholarship.
The CMiC—Allen Berg Memorial awards are worth between $4,000 and $20,000 (and a total of $400,000 this year). They are named in honor of the late founder of the construction management software company CMiC. The scholarships are intended to assist talented and deserving students planning to study architecture, engineering, or construction in college.
Williams, who received one of the two $20,000 scholarships this year, will study Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University in the fall. She participated in Clemson's Architecture Career Camp (in Charleston) during the summer before her junior year.
The scholarship competition is competitive. From among 10,000 students nationwide, each of ACE's 77 national affiliates could nominate one student. Nominees went through a two-stage review process assessing their merit and financial need.
ACE is a free high school program created by the integrated construction industry to attract students into pursuing industry-related careers. Kaiasia has participated for three years in the program run by ACE's Greater Charleston affiliate.
"I am so excited for Kaiasia and her gaining scholarship support from the ACE Mentoring Program," said Burke's Career and Technology Education Chair, Roy Joe Kemp. "It's a golden opportunity for young people and is a reminder that not only are these professionals building our infrastructure through commercial and residential projects, but they are also building our future - and the futures of their industry - through investment in outstanding students like Kaiasia. It makes me so proud to be a small part of the process and see this life-changing program in action!"
Founded in 2011, the ACE Mentor Program of Greater Charleston works with the following Charleston County School District high schools: Burke, R.B. Stall High, and Wando High).
The national program as a whole engages around 10,000 high school students and 5,000 mentors. Volunteer industry professionals mentor students and lead them through a hands-on simulation of designing and constructing a project.
Since its start in 1994, the ACE Mentor Program nationwide has awarded $23 million in scholarships to help its students with post-secondary education and skilled crafts training. ACE is supported at the national and local levels by major companies in the integrated construction industry. For more information, visit www.acementor.org.
For more information about Kaiasia Williams, contact Roy Joe Kemp at roy_kemp@charleston.k12.sc.us. For more information about the ACE Mentor Program of Greater Charleston, contact the organizations' Co-Chairman of the Board, Rob Turner, at rob@charlestonengineering.com.
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