Construction academy aims to address industry needs

The Academy for Construction Education (ACE) charter high school has increased its enrollment from 114 in 2003 its first year to 185 students this year.

ACE provides accredited education for grades 10-12 as well as hands-on training in construction, diesel mechanics, and computer-aided drafting and design.

Last year ACE expanded to a new $1.5 million training facility at 2800 Vassar St. in Reno. The school was built exclusively from funds donated by the construction industry, says school administrator Leigh Berdrow.

"That is their commitment to helping us grow," she says.

John Madole, executive director of the Associated General Contractors, says charter schools such as ACE have returned an emphasis on vocational education for students who don't want to go to college.

"We see a number of people from ACE who go into apprenticeship programs and say they would not have gone into that line of work if they had been exposed to it at ACE," he says.

And the hands-on experience is important to many career paths, Madole says.

"One of the great things about the education they are getting is that some will go on to college and be engineers, architects and contractors, but at least they get some exposure to what is out there," he says.

Some 64 percent of ACE graduates in the past five years are employed in the construction industry, and 19 percent advanced to college.

Programs such as CAD and diesel mechanics, added the last two years, are partly responsible for increased graduation and enrollment rates.

"That is our board's mission: Continue to address the needs of the industry and add programs as we see fit," Berdrow says.

Retaining even fledgling diesel trainees has already proved challenging.

"We want them to finish, but there are people who hire them before we can get them finished," Berdrow says. "We are helping making a difference - our kids are being employed, but the demand is huge. This school has the potential to get big, but that is not our goal."

ACE has room to expand physically but will not do so until 2008, Berdrow says. Two possible programs to be added to are cabinetmaking and sheet metal.

ACE students build a house each school year, and the school has sold four student-built homes for prices that totaled $1,036,000.