Warrensville Heights secures back-to-back first place as ACE Cleveland's Spring Celebration crowns its 2026 winners.
Through mentoring by industry professionals, The ACE Mentor Program of Cleveland’s mission is to engage and enlighten high school students on opportunities with the architecture, construction and engineering (ACE) industries as well as support their continued advancement.
Since its inception in 2008, the Cleveland affiliate of the ACE Mentor Program has provided more than $2.1 million in scholarships to over 220 students and guided nearly 3,300 students through the program. ACE works in partnership with Cleveland/CMSD, Warrensville Heights and Shaker Heights High Schools with approximately 120 volunteers from more than 70 local firms participating in the program.
One way ACE Cleveland works to fulfill its mission is through hands-on experiential programs. Each year, the ACE Cleveland teams are given a request for proposal (RFP) then present their project ideas during a culminating event. This year’s ACE Mentor Program of Cleveland’s Spring Celebration was held on May 12 at Window’s on the River.
After two rigorous presentation days in April, Garrett Morgan, Warrensville Heights, and Shaker Heights emerged as the top three finalists among the overall twelve teams. All three have been finalists before, two have held the top place including the 2025 winner Warrensville Heights.
Approximately 375 guests, including nearly 20 ACE Cleveland alumni — both employed full-time and college students — attended. All wanted to know. Who has the first place presentation?
Quenton Davis, principal at Garrett Morgan School, sat patiently though with excitement, knowing his students have presented at ACE Cleveland’s Spring Celebration three or four times since joining the program.
“I think the opportunity to have them exposed to — considering we are an engineering-based school — to see how what they learn in class can be implemented is invaluable,” said Davis.
To be given a problem and the opportunity to practice presentation skills, he believes the sky is the limit for all of the teams, not just Garrett Morgan, and that all of the students should be proud of what they’ve accomplished.
“I don’t think there’s anything, as a school, we could have done to give them this level of exposure.”
As the program began, Kaitlyn Boniecki, AODK Architecture, provided the project overview.
This year’s ACE Cleveland RFP, dubbed the “Local Business Design Assistance Program,” called for teams to identify a business, non-profit or organization within a 1.5 mile radius of their school, identify an area of their space or business that could benefit from design intervention, and provide a meaningful, thoughtful solution that must include at least one build out.
Boniecki explained that the teams needed to talk to the owner and gather community feedback as well as provide that data and cost analysis. The presentations were judged on the team's ability to think critically and thoughtfully, reason and collaborate on the design challenge.
ACE Cleveland Alumni Chase Thompson, mechanical engineering student at Ohio University, introduced the evening’s judging panel: Katie Borders, president of University Circle Incorporated; Tim Tramble, President/CEO at St. Luke’s Foundation; and Alex Pesta, City Architecture.
Given eight minutes to present their proposals, each team discussed their selection process, provided historical context, project timeline and shared some form of 3D models/rendering or handouts with judges. Garrett Morgan chose Mason’s Creamery. Shaker Heights selected the Shaker Historical Society. And Warrensville Heights went with E.F. Boyd & Son’s Funeral Home.
By the end of the presentations, everyone in the room understood it to be a very tough decision to select the winner and were glad to not be one of the judges. Seemingly, the same sentiment fills the room each year.
While waiting for the results, the program continued with awards, recognitions and scholarship presentations. ACE Cleveland Alumni Bakari Ballard, Project Engineer at Gilbane, took the opportunity to encourage employers seeking talent to consider ACE Cleveland alumni.
Janelle Henkle, Regency Construction, presented awards to two educators. Angela Jones, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and the 2025 Courtney Behm Exemplary Volunteer/Mentor of the Year, introduced this year’s recipient of that award — Samantha Meyer, AODK Architects. Additionally, $125k in scholarships were presented during this event.
When the judges took the stage to announce the winner, Tramble, who acknowledged each team for an outstanding performance, said, “Deliberations were not easy.”
“We are watching the future leaders of the city of Cleveland and our region,” he continued. “The future is bright.”
Borders described the selection process as “splitting hairs.”
“All three were absolutely incredible,” she said. “I would take them beyond the city and the world.”
After announcing Garrett Morgan as the honorable mentions, the anticipation subsided as judges declared Warrensville Heights the first ACE Cleveland team to secure first place for two consecutive years. The Warrensville Heights team is co-sponsored by The AKA Team and Whiting-Turner construction companies with Audrey Davis and Matt Kusanke, respectably, serving as lead mentors.
“ACE enables early exposure to students at a critical stage for career paths, that many of these students may not have otherwise considered the opportunities that exist within the industry,” said Kusanke, project superintendent at Whiting-Turner.
Kusanke has been involved with ACE for five years. “ACE benefits the industry by attracting talented and intelligent people in the young professional age group into the field.”
One of the 283 students participating in ACE Cleveland programming this year, Serenity Kindle, a graduating senior at Warrensville, plans to study civil engineering at Western Carolina University. And, for her, it felt “great” to be on the winning team.
“We were confident in what we presented,” she said. She also explained how some people thought the choice to work on a funeral home was “too delicate” but she believes their solution brought a comforting mood to the space. “I felt like it took a lot of heart.”
Glen Shumate, ACE Cleveland Executive Director, said, “The record number of annual sponsors, students, and scholarships this year are demonstrations of ACE Cleveland growth and development.
The mission of the ACE Mentor Program of Cleveland is to engage, excite, and enlighten high school students to pursue careers in architecture, construction, and engineering through mentoring and continued support for their advancement into the industry. To learn more about ACE Cleveland visit acecleveland.org or contact Executive Director, Glen Shumate at ace@acecleveland.org.
ACE Cleveland Establishes Hilton O. Smith Scholarship
Former Senior Vice President for Corporate and Community Affairs of Turner Construction, The Late Rev. Hilton O. Smith — over the course of his career — became a legend within Cleveland’s construction industry and beyond. He led the Turner School of Construction Management, resulting in billions in contracts awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses.
In addition to Smith’s tenure at Turner, he dedicated 41 years of service to the National Association of Minority Contractors, served as president of the Cleveland NAACP, board chair at Cuyahoga Community College, and board president of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District among several other social and civic commitments. Smith, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and political science from St. Augustine's University in 1968, was also a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc and an associate minister at Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Cleveland. Smith’s wide-ranging impact on civil rights, economic growth, education and community development will be felt for generations to come.
With his recent passing on March 5, 2026, an ACE Mentor Program of Cleveland scholarship has been created in his honor. Ahnaf Hianf, a Garrett Morgan senior planning to attend Cleveland State University to study engineering, is the first recipient of this $3500 annual renewable award during ACE Cleveland’s Spring Celebration. Turner’s Orlando Taylor presented the scholarship to Hianf.
Taylor recalled a time when, at Turner, Smith told him, “We build relationships with people.”
Taylor concluded by saying, “We honor his legacy by uplifting his belief in uplifting people.”
