Mentor Best Practices
The ACE Mentor Program is committed to the healthy development of impactful and supportive mentoring relationships. Such relationships are rooted in well trained mentors, volunteers, and students. ACE trainings rely on evidence based best practices in the field of mentoring and youth development to ensure maximum impact on the mentoring relationship and programming. ACE training materials can be used to onboard new mentors, provide match support to returning mentors, and assist board members and volunteers in creating more successful ACE programming. When ACE students engage with well-trained mentors and volunteers, they are more likely to have positive outcomes and continue in their pursuit of AEC careers!
Whether you are new to ACE or have been with us for years, join one of the trainings below to improve and sharpen your skills so you can better engage with ACE youth.
We encourage all new mentors to watch the New Mentor Training and choose one or two more of the supporting trainings. For returning mentors, choose one to support you as you continue to work with students! Below you find trainings on youth development, team building, communication skills, building strong relationships and much more!
Building Better ACE Teams
National Webinar
Open to all mentors, especially team leaders. This training explores group mentoring concepts, including how to build teams that work more effectively, avoiding common pitfalls, and how to ensure your sessions have the most impact on ACE students!
Building Better Communication Skills
National Webinar
Participants will learn communication skills and strategies to better connect with and support ACE students.
- Connecting through Conversation
Building Resilience in Youth
National Webinar
Mentors will learn about resilience and growth mindset, their importance in ACE Mentoring, and how to incorporate these concepts into ACE sessions to maximize student success.
Managing Expectations in ACE Mentoring
National Webinar
Mentors will learn about youth development, generational differences and educational inequities to help manage expectations and create meaningful and achievable goals with ACE participants and teams.
Building Strong ACE Teams
Learn more about how to best support ACE students and mentors throughout ACE programming. Participants will gain tools to create welcoming and supportive environments for students and maximize student participation. We will also address how to handle conflicts that may arise, team building strategies and mentoring best practices to ensure a successful ACE experience for students and mentors!
Neurodiversity in ACE Students
Join us to learn how to better mentor and support neurodivergent learners in ACE programming. Topics will include understanding the facets of neurodiversity, strength based approaches and strategies to support learning and tips on creating inclusive environments for ACE participants.
Tips from Teachers
Joint his training to hear from a panel of teachers as they give some tips from the trenches to put to use in ACE mentor sessions. Participants will learn about effective strategies to maximize student engagement, tips for managing various student behaviors, and how to develop meaningful partnerships with teachers to maximize ACE’s impact.
Goal Setting in ACE Mentoring
Participants will learn how to support ACE students and teams in setting and pursuing goals. We will review the importance of goal development, the positive impact it can have on the ACE experience, strategies for success and how to provide guidance if goals aren’t met.
Building Better ACE Relationships
National Webinar
Participants will learn effective strategies to build meaningful and quality relationships with ACE students. Topics will include impactful mentoring strategies to use when engaging with ACE students,
an overview of trauma-informed youth development, and building developmental relationships.
Building Strong Support for ACE Students
National Webinar
Learn how to support ACE students as they build social capital and an ACE network beyond ACE sessions!
Building Great ACE Sessions
National Webinar
During this training participants will hear from ACE National Outstanding Mentors about running successful team sessions, including suggested activities, tips to keep students engaged and how to make the biggest impact! Mentors will also take a deeper dive into ACE Mentor Tools to learn about the resources available to support their planning!