The Future of Career Training
ACE Centers at Hermitage and Highland Springs
ACE Centers at Hermitage and Highland Springs
The modernized Advanced Career Education (ACE) Centers at Hermitage and Highland Springs expand future-forward career training opportunities for high school students in Henrico County.
Conceived as part of a holistic realignment of county-wide Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs, the revitalized ACE Centers continue to provide training in multiple career paths while expanding programs that correspond to the needs of nearby businesses—including health care, hospitality, culinary arts, and construction trades.
Our design for each Center enlarged its facilities to support its particular programs with a balance of specialized labs, flexible classrooms, and collaboration spaces.
Our school board and superintendent and county manager and board of supervisors have made [the ACE Centers] possible, but Quinn Evans is the one who put pen to paper to take this to the next level and make this real for our students.
Follow the Jobs
Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) strategically distributed CTE programs between the ACE Centers at Hermitage and Highland Springs High Schools based on geographic concentrations of relevant employers. Our designs support each Center’s unique mix of programs and teaching approaches.
Learning on Display
Both ACE Centers feature generous interior glazing, allowing students to see what their peers are working on—potentially piquing their interest in other programs and career paths or showing opportunities for collaboration.
Real-World Experiences at Hermitage ACE
Because the Hermitage ACE building houses several programs focused on service industries, we clustered culinary, hospitality, and marketing education spaces around a central forum where students execute real events like this workforce summit with the Virginia governor.
A Pipeline for Skilled Labor at Highland Springs ACE
The new construction trades lab at Highland Springs ACE simulates the collaboration among trades that students will experience in the workforce. Carpentry, electricity, HVAC, and masonry students work in a shared space and take part in interdisciplinary building projects like they would on a job site.
A New Look for CTE
One of HCPS’s goals for the ACE Center renovations was to raise the programs’ profile among non-CTE students. We modernized the ACE Centers’ exteriors and added prominent entrances to signal HCPS’s investment and pride in CTE.
