The ACES Legacy

When Chris D’Arcy established the Advanced Computer Engineering School (ACES) program in 2003, it was somewhat ahead of its time. The desire was to create a project-based electrical engineering curriculum, allowing students to work through the stages of product development from conceptualization and design, to prototyping and testing, to the creation of the final parts and devices. Along the way they’d need to work closely together, developing collaboration and communication skills, especially around sharing very technical information, a vital skill in today’s workforce.

 

While project-based learning is more common now, the ACES program distinguishes itself by having more than 20 years behind it, with generations of graduates and decades of institutional knowledge. “The best testament to Mr. D’Arcy’s impact,” and that of the program, says alumni parent Paul Elia, “is the number of graduated RSGC students who stop by to see him, whether they graduated recently or decades ago.”

 

For him, that’s significant. It signals an appreciation of what the program has meant in the lives of the students who have passed through it. One of them is Paul Elia’s son Mariano who graduated from RSGC in 2015. Today, Mariano runs his own machining company, something Elia credits directly to his experience at RSGC.

 

“They come by to catch up and share experiences,” says Elia of the visiting alumni, and to give something back to a program that has meant so much to them. This past April, the class welcomed Graham Davidge ‘24 and Liam McCartney ’24, both engineering students at McGill, who spoke with the Grade 12 students about what to expect going from ACES at RSGC to an engineering program at university. Graham and Liam were also joined by alumnus Jacob Czekalla ‘24, who has just finished his second year of computer engineering at Concordia University.

 

Graham shared some of the work he’s been doing, particularly as a member of the McGill Rocket Team. The team, started in 2015, is a student-run initiative that designs and builds rockets, giving students an opportunity to work on aerospace projects while also gaining hands-on experience in engineering and project management. And, they launch rockets. At one point, Graham passed around the circuit board that was used during a recent launch, one that sent a rocket nearly two miles into the air. He also shared some of the challenges the team had faced, and a video of the launch.

 

The Grade 12 students, in turn, shared what they had been working on. Nathan Andrew ’26 demonstrated a drone that he had built. After a test flight, Graham asked Nathan about how he had engineered the drone, offering suggestions on ways he could tweak the propellers to achieve a more stable flight path. The class gathered around the ideas and implementation involved, just as a team would in a professional setting.

 

True to D’Arcy’s initial vision for ACES, now housed in a dedicated Design Engineering Studio (DES), the program delivers a unique, bespoke curriculum comprising three courses that prepare students for the work they’ll do in the future. In the years since his son graduated, Elia feels that everything about the ACES classes—the methodology, the tools, the parts used to build projects—has continued to evolve, change, and grow. And while woodworking and metal workshop classes have slowly been removed from many schools, he is proud to tell people about this class where ‘making things’ remains a core priority.

 

It’s because of that appreciation of the program that Elia has chosen to support it through a financial gift. “When you have an idea and you use the skills developed in the DES,” says Elia, “you have the tools and the knowledge to take that idea from concept to reality, whether it be a product or an essay. It is a skill you learn for life.” The support of Paul and his wife, Rebecca, helps support the curriculum and has allowed for the purchase of state-of-the-art technology for student learning, which indirectly smooths the on-ramp to university.

 

In 2017, Chris D’Arcy was honoured with the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, specifically for his work in developing the ACES program. “Chris is a visionary educator who commits his professional practice to always take the road less traveled, to never do things the same way twice and to challenge himself every day to be a better teacher,” said Headmaster Stephen Beatty ‘86 at the time. “He empowers his students to come to understand something in themselves that they had not previously known.” D’Arcy commented that, “Although we’ve grown enormously in the decades since [our founding], opportunities still abound for individual faculty members to participate in [founding headmaster] Dr. Wright’s vision and add unique value to the educational experience of our young men.”

 

Graduates of the ACES program are now represented in the world of engineering throughout North America and beyond. Earlier this year, Xander Chin ’22 was asked to work with Jonathan Ross, the creator of Google’s TPU, on building AI models, particularly LLMs, at high speeds. Josh Dolgin ’20 works at Tesla in Mountain View, California, as a mechanical engineer. Andrew Mills ’14 is working as a turbine blade and drive train engineer in Scotland on generators that create power from the tides. Those looking closely at the televised landing may have noticed a Georgian, Cam Raymond ‘16, as part of the SpaceX team that brought a rocket back to the launch pad. And indeed, there are many others.

 

Project-based learning is more common today in university programs than perhaps it was even just a decade ago, though programs at the secondary level remain somewhat limited, particularly in the field of engineering, which can require very specialised equipment and implementation. Rarer still is the kind of leadership and community that the ACES program has grown over the years, one of students, alumni, parents and partners committed to knowing more, doing more, and providing a springboard for the future.