The Academic Community of Excellence equips underrepresented students with the strategies, tools, and resources to apply to master’s and doctoral programs. Students learn to strategically maximize their college years and establish mentorship connections in ways that can strengthen their preparation, application, and enrollment in graduate and professional school.
ACE encourages scholars to be conscious, critical thinkers and to consider their part in advancing the progress of underserved communities. Also, ACE promotes mentorship and service by facilitating opportunities for scholars to support high school students. ACE scholars may also receive support from experienced alumni and their peers.
The tenets of ACE are:
- Academic and co-curricular excellence: striving for excellence in all facets of one’s educational and co-curricular endeavors in recognition of the sacrifices of others and the position that one has been afforded.
- Educational consciousness: recognizing the benefits of obtaining a postgraduate degree, the factors that promote and impede graduate access and inclusion, and the importance of expanding the higher education pipeline and diversifying professional sectors.
- Service and civic engagement: a commitment to investing in and supporting the progress of one another as well as other underserved communities at the pre-collegiate, collegiate, local, and national levels.