Employees from McCarthy Building Companies recently gave students of Century High School in Santa Ana a first look at CHOC Children’s new 425,524-sf patient tower, which is nearing construction completion.
The tour was held in conjunction with the ACE (Architecture, Construction and Engineering) Mentor Program of America, a partnership with building industry professionals and school educators who work together to teach high school age students about the various career opportunities available within the architectural design, engineering and construction fields.
In the ACE Mentor Program, industry professionals, such as those at McCarthy, volunteer to become mentors to high school students in order to introduce them to the professions and encourage them to pursue studies and careers in these fields. In return, the construction industry, which is anticipating a shortage of skilled workers as the baby boomer generation continues to retire, gets a much-needed boost of new talent.
McCarthy has participated in the ACE Mentor program for 10 years, and each year the firm teams with an architect or engineer to give students a comprehensive view of what it’s like to work in the building industry.
This year, McCarthy is teaming with Tom Nusbickel, AIA, the lead ACE Mentor for Century High School, to mentor approximately 25 students from Century High School in Santa Ana. Rebecca Holliman is the teacher in charge of the group at Century High School. BD+C
Related Stories
| Apr 5, 2011
Top 10 Buildings: Women in Architecture
Making selections of top buildings this week led to a surprising discovery about the representation of women in architecture, writes Tom Mallory, COO and co-founder, OpenBuildings.com. He discovered that finding female-created architecture, when excluding husband/wife teams, is extremely difficult and often the only work he came across was akin to interior design.
| Apr 5, 2011
What do Chengdu, Lagos, and Chicago have in common?
They’re all “world middleweight cities” that are likely to become regional megacities (10 million people) by 2025—along with Dongguan, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Wuhan (China); Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Jakarta (Indonesia); Lahore (Pakistan); and Chennai (India), according to a new report from McKinsey Global Institute: “Urban World: Mapping the economic power of cities”.
| Mar 30, 2011
China's low-carbon future city
In 2005, the Chinese government announced its target to reduce energy consumption per GDP unit by 20% by the year 2010. After a multi-billion investment, that target has been reached. The Chinese Climate Protection Program’s goal to increase energy efficiency, develop renewable energies, and promote energy savings while reducing pollutant emissions and strengthening environmental protection is reflected in the “Future City” by SBA Design.
| Mar 30, 2011
Is the AEC industry at risk of losing its next generation leaders without better mentoring?
After two or three horrifying years for the AEC industry, we are finally seeing the makings of a turnaround. However, data developed by Kermit Baker as part of the AIA Work-on-the-Boards survey program indicates that between 17% and 22% of design firms are eliminating positions for interns and staff with less than six years of experience. This data suggests the industry is at risk of losing a large segment of its next generation of leaders if something isn't done to improve mentoring across the profession.
