CMiC and the family of the company’s late founder Allen Berg, will continue in 2024 to underwrite the scholarship program honoring Mr. Berg’s legacy of support for education, mentoring, career counselling, and the design and construction industry.  The CMiC – Allen Berg Memorial Scholarships are multi-year awards aimed at talented, deserving ACE high school seniors intending to pursue post-secondary education and training leading to careers in architecture, engineering, construction, or the skilled crafts.  

 

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2024 Program Overview and Eligibility

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The administration of the CMIC scholarship program is done by the ACE National office including the distribution of scholarship funds. Selection of the scholarship recipients and amount of the awards is overseen by the Executive Committee of the ACE National Board.
 

The 2024 scholarship program has two separate tracks: one for students going into the skilled crafts and the other for students intending to earn an undergraduate degree. Affiliates have the option of nominating a student for either or both tracks, but they may nominate only one student per track.

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Each track has its own application form and separate initial review committees which will rank applications based on separate scoring rubrics. Each review committee member (composed of ACE National Board members) will recommend its top candidates to ACE’s Executive Committee which will select the scholarship recipients and determine the amounts of scholarships awarded.
 

The initial round of application reviews focuses primarily on applicants’ merit but does have consideration of financial need. The final round, conducted by the ACE Executive Committee, takes a closer look at the financial need of the students.
 

Depending on the quality of nominations, the Executive Committee has sole discretion to award all or none of the scholarships available each year.
 

Applicants must have participated in ACE for one full year by the time of applying and must be high school seniors planning to enter either a skilled trades training program or a two- or four-year college or university in the fall following graduation.

 

Applicants must intend to major in one of the approved fields, described in the list found at the end of this document.  Please do not nominate a student choosing a major outside of the construction industry.

 

Students should have a good academic record and be active participants with good attendance in ACE. The student should also have a mentor willing to write a strong recommendation. The Mentor Letter of recommendation is required for any nominated students to be considered

 

For students on the college track, preference will be given to those who have applied to or been admitted to NAAB-accredited architecture programs, ABET-accredited engineering schools, and construction management programs accredited by either the American Council on Construction Education or the Construction Management Association of America.

 

For students interested in a skilled crafts program, preference will be given to those who have applied to or been admitted to a Registered Apprenticeship program, or a training program approved by National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER).

 

Each year a scholarship recipient attends college in an approved major, he or she will receive one-quarter of the total scholarship amount.

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Each year a scholarship recipient participates in a skilled crafts training program, he or she will receive a share of the total scholarship amount inversely proportional to his/her progressive wage scale. Such an amount will be determined in the final evaluation of financial need and will be consistent with an objective comparative scale.

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If a scholarship recipient drops out of college or skilled crafts program, switches to a major not approved, or fails to reapply for a continuation of the scholarship, the balance of that student’s scholarship will be forfeited as defined in the terms of the scholarship.

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ACE DC Nomination Schedule

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January 5, 2024          Team Leader Nomination Due 

Week of Jan 9, 2024  ACE DC Scholarship Committee will review interested students and notify selected nominee, ACE National will open application portal

February 7, 2024       Deadline for students to submit applications for review to ACE DC

February 15, 2024     Deadline to submit application to ACE National

 

 

ACE DC Nomination Process

 

 

Team Leaders can work with mentor team and/or School Champion to identify an eligible student. In the past, mentors have also passed out an interest form to seniors to see who is eligible based on above criteria, and them mentors determine who to nominate based on team input. (ACE DC Will follow up nominess about financial need).  Each Team can NOMINATE ONE ELIGIBLE STUDENT FOR EACH TRACK 

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Once the student nominee is chosen, ACE DC will nominate them to ACE National. At that point, the nominee will have will have access in the ACE database to start the application.  Only students marked “active” and with a signed parent consent form in the database can be nominated as an applicant.  Applicants must also have a permanent email address in their student profile (e.g., Gmail, yahoo, etc.), not a high school email address.

 

After the student has been entered as eligible for the scholarship, he/she will receive an email with instructions to check his/her profile in the database and look under the scholarship tab to find the CMiC—Berg scholarship application.

 

 If your student is selected, please begin working on the mentor letter of recommendation immediately. They will need a letter from an ACE Mentor, and sometimes they get confused on this and end up asking late in the process! You should also be prepared to check the progress of their nominee(s) application and to make certain that the nominee submits the application in a timely fashion. The scholarship committee will also work with the student, including ensuring the student has a complete and accurate application including compelling essays. Similarly, the scholarship committee will also review the letter of recommendation to be sure it is completed and makes a strong case for the student to be considered for the scholarship.

 

  

 Helpful Information for students:

The application asks students to provide information somewhat similar to what might be found on a college application: 1) basic personal information; 2) educational background, including SAT/ACT scores 3) a list of colleges or skilled crafts training programs to which they have applied or been admitted; 4) a brief description of future plans; and 5) financial information to help assess the student’s need.

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Applicants will also be asked to answer three questions (minimum 100, maximum 400 words per question) about ACE’s impact on them and their short- and long-term career plans.  The student should use this opportunity to give the review committee details on why the student deserves a scholarship. Affiliate should help the student, prepared a draft before it is loaded into the application.

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Students must upload two documents: 1) a high school transcript; and 2) a letter of recommendation from their mentor, team leader, or affiliate leader. (A letter from a school teacher who has not mentored in the student in ACE is not acceptable.)  Applicants are instructed that their affiliate will send them the recommendation letter for uploading into the application.

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Affiliate Letter of Recommendation: A mentor, team leader, or affiliate leader with direct knowledge of the applicant must write a recommendation (maximum 1,000 words). NO other documents such as examples of an applicant’s work or photographs are allowed. Reviewers pay close attention to recommendations and use them to help make the determination of winners.

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This recommendation should be signed and on company or affiliate letterhead. Among other points, the recommendation should cover the following:

1. An explanation of the writer’s relationship with the applicant (e.g., how long known; how well known).

2. A description and assessment of the applicant’s involvement in ACE, indicating where possible: 1) how the applicant has grown and/or changed because of ACE; 2) how the applicant stands out from his/her peers; 3) why he/she was selected as a scholarship nominee, as opposed to other potential nominees.

3. A description of the applicant’s activities, if any, outside ACE or in school, particularly those pertinent to a career in the design and construction industry (e.g., internships, summer camps, high school course work).

4. An evaluation of the applicant’s commitment to pursue an industry-related career and an overview of his/her post-secondary plans. Is the applicant well prepared to succeed in his/her post-secondary training?

 

 To be compelling, a letter of recommendation should reference examples substantiating general points made about an applicant. Because the scholarship review committee will pay close attention to the recommendation, the author should take time and care to write an effective letter. Here is your opportunity to tell the committee why to pick your students and do not repeat student’s essay. Elaborate on students' participation, attendance, and leadership.

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Acceptable Majors for Awards

This scholarship program provides financial assistance to students who intend to pursue a career in the design and construction industry and who enter college or a skilled trades training program. For students enrolling in post-secondary institutions, the following majors are acceptable for purposes of being awarded a scholarship and for receiving an annual scholarship renewal.

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Architecture

Interior Design

Landscape Architecture

Urban Design/Regional Planning

Civil Engineering

Electrical Engineering*

Mechanical Engineering*

Architectural Engineering

Environmental Engineering C

onstruction Management

Skilled Crafts Training (NCCER-approved program or registered apprenticeship program)

 

*Note: Electrical and mechanical engineering majors are acceptable only as they specifically relate to a career in the design and building industry. Thus, for example, a student studying mechanical engineering with the intent of going into aerospace would not be eligible.

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