Dorchester Banner/Paul Clipper
ACES teachers and business participants gather on the stairs at the Dorchester County Career & Technology Center. Pictured are (from left, front to back): Chamber of Commerce Director Bill Christopher, Jennifer Layton of Layton’s Chance Winery, Adrian Newton, Mark Preziosi, Scott Feldman, Jason Ewing, Terri Wright, J.J. Trumbull, Donnell Pinder, Jesse Morris, Melanie Coleman, Anna Howie, Ali Messick, Crystal Owens, Leonard Mueller, George Ames, Mary Handley of Delmarva Community Services, DCTC Principal Kermit Hines, Bobbie Callis and Jordan Coleman.[/caption] CAMBRIDGE — The Dorchester Chamber of Commerce’s 26th Annual Americans for Competitive Enterprise System (ACES) program dinner meeting was held March 3 at the Dorchester Career & Technology Center. Participating businesses included Delmarva Community Services, UM Shore Regional Health, Eastern Shore AHEC, Provident State Bank, Cambridge International, Layton’s Chance Winery, Protenergy and the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay. The Chamber thanked the teachers and staff who participated in this year’s program. The meeting was followed by a meal catered by DCTC. ACES stands for Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System. It is “A Partnership between Business and Education,” sponsored by the Dorchester Chamber of Commerce. ACES provides Dorchester County educators an opportunity to interact on site with Dorchester business people in an informal setting where they gain first-hand knowledge of the business, its products and services. During the visit, business people discuss their marketing system in terms of philosophy, the business operation, the financial structure and capital requirements, governmental controls affecting the business, and workplace skills required for employment. From these visits teachers are able to gather information from which to guide students in their career choices. An added benefit for the teachers is the opportunity to earn continuing education credits. The ACES program this year includes ten session and eight site visits, with the opening and closing sessions hosted by the Dorchester Career and Technology Center. The participants are educators (teachers, counselors, special service providers and school administrators) and business people. Each business hosts a seminar for the educators, at which they make an informal presentation and provide a dinner for the participants. Over the course of the program, educators develop a sense of what businesses expect in an employee. Ideas, networking and contacts are made on both sides, and the program helps the community as a whole since today’s students are tomorrow’s business force.