CANstruction Event at Discovery Place Benefiting Second Harvest Food Bank

ACE Mentoring and CANstruction Event

ACE Mentoring is a National mentoring program intended to increase awareness of high school students to career opportunities in architecture, construction, or engineering through mentoring. While it might not seem like it in today’s economy, there is a need because demand for skilled individuals far exceeds the demand. Construction is listed as one of the 6 industries for growth (Dept. of Labor) with more than 1.3 million job openings by 2018.

Since its beginning in 1991, ACE has grown to over 111 cities, 11,000 students, and 2,500 mentors. In Charlotte, there are 85 students, 35 mentors and 6 participating schools (Hopewell High School, Myers Park High School, West Charlotte High School, South Mecklenburg High School, Phillip O. Berry High School, and East Mecklenburg High School). Throughout the school year, the students work on real world design and construction issues and compete to be the winning school for the ACE Cup.

This Saturday, students will hold their annual CANstruction competition, the first of many competitions to compete for the ACE Cup. This event combines the competitive spirit of a design/build competition with a unique way to help feed hungry people. ACE raises money for the students to buy cans and build amazing structures, all in the hopes of winning the prize for best “can” structure! At the close of the exhibitions all of the food used in the structures is donated to Second Harvest Food Bank for distribution to local food pantries, crisis centers, and shelters around Thanksgiving. This year marks the fifth year of ACE Charlotte’s CANstruction competition! Last year, we had a record number of students participate. In total, the group contributed a total of 4,972 pounds of food to provide 3,314 individual meals.