Mentor Program Provides STEM Options

I greatly enjoyed this article, which details the ACE (architecture, construciton and engineering) Mentor Program and how it gives high school students an opportunity for career exposure, mentoring and scholarships to enter one of their fields.  I've spoken before on this blog about my feelings regarding preparation for the work force, and to provide this type of on site knowledge is invaluable to students who may never have considered these careers prior to the program.  The majority of this service takes place as an extra-curricular activity after school, which does take initiative from the student and parents to utilize, but even if the child decides these careers are not for them, they at least are making a more informed decision.  I know my high school didn't have much in the way of work mentoring programs, unless it involved shop class, but it would have been extremely eye-opening for me to have had a peek into the "real world" as a workforce.  I may still have chosen music as my undergraduate degree, but many students enter college simply because that is part of the American Way, not because they have any idea as to what they are going for, or what they will be doing afterwards to pay off all the loans they've accrued.  While my idea of what the purpose of education is and should be is evolving as I myself become further educated, there is still the unavoidable fact that one must work in order to live, no matter how well they can theorize on Plato's cave allegory or recite the dates of each battle in the Civil War.  Unfortunately Taco Bell pays by the hour, not test score.