Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Club takes first in ACE championship

Courtesy of Architecture Club

The Architecture Club wins first place at ACE regional championship.

Karissa Cheng, staff writer
May 18, 2023

On April 19, Edina High School’s Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Club (ACE) won the ACE Mentorship Regional Championship, marking the first time they have won the competition since the club’s inception in 2016. This year, the competition took place at the University of Minnesota with EHS’s ACE Club competing against seven other local teams.

The ACE Club works with the ACE Mentorship Program, a national organization that aims to help high school teams develop their knowledge of engineering and design. The program allows students to work with architects, engineers, and construction managers to create design plans that fulfill an annual prompt. This year, participants had to design a net-zero school of the future. The program typically runs from October to early April, culminating in a competition where high school teams present their design solutions to a panel of judges. 

When developing their design, the ACE Club strived to include what they believed they lacked at EHS. “We really tried to put into the school what we couldn’t have here at Edina. Things like accessible flex spaces and bathrooms…we wanted to ensure that all of that was in the school,” senior Matthew Ye said.

The ACE Club’s final design was inspired by the shape of a turtle, as they believed that the animal conveyed the eco-friendly aspect of their project. “Part of the prompt was to be net-zero, so we created the idea of having a turtle-shaped school to go along with that,” senior Elodie Jones said. 

For some members of the ACE Club, the collaboration process was what made participating in the program memorable. “It was really cool for us all to take on different parts [of the project] and find where our strengths are,” Jones said.

The ACE Club is thankful that the ACE program and competition have allowed them to further their knowledge of engineering and design. “We all had to learn something new and work on something that we didn’t expect to do, but through that, we were able to gain a lot more experience and come together and win,” Ye said.