At ACE, It’s Not Just About the Work

While we all recognize the importance of working our hardest to get our customers the right solution on time and on budget, we also understand it is critical to take time to step away from our desks for a little bit. Our leadership team supports this by emphasizing that balance is critical and recognizing that all our employees have various activities and causes they are passionate about outside of work. Therefore, encouraging and supporting our employees to participate in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-related activities is engrained in our core values and we provide programs that offer more time and resources to support these causes.

As a result, many ACE engineers donate their talent, time, and funds to provide ongoing support for a variety of STEM-focused organizations that include robotics competitions, science fairs, and youth outreach programs. As an engineering company this is our way of giving back and fostering those programs. While the students we work with do not need to go on to become engineers, through the skills we are teaching them, they have new tools and opportunities that can increase their curiosity and allow them to have more options. 

Since 2015, our employees have donated more than 4,000 volunteer hours in the communities surrounding our eight office locations. As a company, we also support a number of annual events such as International Day of Women and Girls in Science and the US Science and Engineering Festival in Washington DC. 

Check out the employee profiles below to learn more about some of the organizations ACE employees support through the donation of their time and talents.  

Kati McLaughlin, Project Engineer and Team Leader

Since January 2022, I have volunteered with the UrbanPromise StreetLeader tutoring program in Wilmington, DE. The organization offers a variety of after school programs for inner city kids that are focused on helping them learn responsibility and accountability while also providing resources so they can excel academically. As part of the tutoring program, each week during the school year we work on whatever the student needs help with, or we find an academic learning opportunity if the student does not have any homework or tests to study for.

I was drawn to this organization for a few reasons. First, my parents were already tutoring with UrbanPromise. Second, I tutored as a part-time job during college and really enjoyed helping students, so I knew that after college I wanted to continue as a volunteer tutor. And third, growing up in the inner city myself, not many of the kids on my school bus saw themselves going to college and often dropped out of school as soon as they turned 16. I love serving as an example for what the kids can achieve if they stick with it and I know how important consistency is in their lives as they are often facing difficult scenarios at home.

It’s really exciting to see students grow and succeed through the tutoring program and to hear them share their passions and aspirations. At the end of each tutoring session, everyone is invited to share “put ups,” or encouraging feedback from their session. It’s always an honor when the student I worked with shares how much I helped them or how much they enjoyed working with me.

Also, the impact ACE is having with this program is rapidly growing. At the beginning of this past school year, UrbanPromise was looking for several additional tutors, so I sent an email to our office which resulted in four more ACE volunteers having the opportunity to come in and work with the students!

Jayesh Jariwala, Senior Project Engineer 

For more than a decade I’ve been involved with the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics organization. I initially mentored a few teams and volunteered running FIRST FRC events in the Baltimore area, and for the past roughly six years, I’ve served as the lead mentor for the Baltimore Bolts. This is a community-based team and is the only FIRST Robotics Competition team serving all of Baltimore City. Our mission is to give our team members the inspiration and skills needed to pursue careers in STEM through competitive robotics.

In addition to serving as the team’s lead mentor, I also head up the non-profit that funds the team. Between the cost of parts, our space, and transportation to get the students to events, it can cost around $40,000 per year to run the program, and we do not charge students anything. Organizations like ACE provide the financial support we need to get this done. Plus, ACE is also incredibly supportive of the time I need to commit, especially during build season, which can be as much as 20 hours per week, with some of those hours needing to fall during work hours.

It's been so rewarding to watch the organization grow over the years and see the impact we’ve had. In 2022 we won a competition and several awards at a regional competition, and we also won several awards this past season. We’ve graduated around 20 students from the program who have gone on to participate in higher education and I’ve even attended past student’s college graduations. Not being a teacher, it’s really exciting to take some of our knowledge and give that back and see these students progress.

Dirk Sweigart, MES Solutions Manager 

For the past five years I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer as one of the group judges for the annual high school science fair at the Charter School of Wilmington in Delaware. Seeing all the projects is a really fun experience for me because not only do I remember doing something similar when I was a kid, but two of my own kids attended this same school and I remember helping them with their projects as well.

Our judging groups have the opportunity to see 10 – 15 projects each year and I really enjoy seeing the range of ideas the students come up with and discussing their projects with them. Every year I am excited to return as a judge because I see really interesting projects, meet other professionals, and I feel like I am helping the students learn. Plus, ACE is incredibly supportive in providing me with the time I need to be a judge, it’s never been a question.

Learn more about our core values and how we support our employees’ passions outside of work.