Freese and Nichols Invests in San Antonio ACE Mentor Program Students

During the 2023-2024 school year, members of the Freese and Nichols’ San Antonio office took on increased involvement with the local ACE Mentor Program (ACE) affiliate, participating in fundraising events like the bowling tournament and scholarship banquet, and also serving as volunteers and mentors supporting high school students in a 7-month-long design project that began in September and culminated in a competition in April. Stormwater engineers Nate Blanton and Naveen Chillara, Water/Wastewater Master Planning engineer Bianca Garza, and Bridge Services engineer Brenda Mitchell each made the commitment to work with the high school teams, even as newcomers to the ACE program. Firm-wide, Freese and Nichols has been involved for several years with ACE, which is a no-cost after-school program that prioritizes workforce development for high school students by connecting them with experts from the design and construction industry.

Our volunteers were assigned to teams of students at Lee High School, the School of Science and Technology, and Reagan High School and met with them regularly to lead activities like building towers from paper and sketching their dream houses, and to give educational presentations about their professions. They also dedicated time to supporting the team’s development of a mock design project in response to a real-world challenge given at the program start. The rules and parameters mimicked those of projects that firms like Freese and Nichols take on each day, such as working with multiple stakeholders, project site challenges, budget restrictions, and meeting a delivery schedule.

About his involvement, Nate Blanton said, “Mentoring in the ACE program was a large time commitment, but it was worth every minute. It is so rewarding to teach the next generation.”