ACE Mentoring Indiana is in pursuit of Light Rail

In September, Indiana’s ACE Mentoring program started the year by introducing mentors and students at selected high schools. The program began with students introducing themselves and talking about their interests. Then the mentors reviewed the program’s goals and student expectations regarding advanced learning, networking, scholarships, and internship opportunities.

To create early interaction between the students and mentors, the first session consisted of designing and constructing name tags. The ACE mentor leader played the role of project owner and students were placed into designer and contractor groups alongside mentors. Once project “name tag” began, the owner began watching the time and reviewing team efforts.

This exercise incorporated project name tags as an introduction to the light rail project the students will undertake for this years mentoring project. The student’s thought process begins to develop as they work in teams and communicating ideas. Their project “name tag”, communicated the design intent on paper for contractors to bid. Some used text and others used drawings to detail size, color, shape, etc. They learned that a clearly defined design parameter helped the contractors accurately bid the work. This bidding process was based on time and effort to complete the name tags.

Look OUT! Did someone say, “Change order?” Of course there were change orders, and the owner made last minute request to keep everyone scrambling. The session concluded by evaluating the project time in addition to product quality to determine which team provided the best product solution. To conclude project “name tag”, the mentors initiated discussion on lessons learned and how the exercise reflects actual construction and design parameters.

Students will begin their next session with an on-site visit focusing on architecture and landscape architecture professions. To learn more or sign-up as a landscape architect mentor, go the acementor.org, select the mentor tab on the top left of the page and select online application. Please note background checks are completed in about five minutes at the City County Building, so do not fill out the on-line background check. You may also contact Daryn Fair at 317-578-4462 or daryn.fair@gmail.com.