ACE Youth Showcase 2026: Building Pathways, Confidence, and What's Possible

This past week, four young people sat in front of a room filled with community members and did something that, in many ways, captured exactly what King Street Center's Academic & Career Exploration (ACE) program is all about.

They told their stories.

Stuti, Alex, Esta, and Calvin have each been part of ACE since the program began in 2024. Over the past three years, they've visited colleges and workplaces, met professionals across dozens of industries, completed internships, built résumés, learned about financial literacy, navigated college applications, traveled beyond Vermont, and explored what life after high school could look like.

At our 2026 ACE Youth Showcase, they reflected on that journey in front of an audience of supporters, business partners, mentors, family members, and friends.

What emerged was about much more than career exploration.

It was a conversation about confidence. Relationships. Taking risks. Learning that it's okay to change direction. Having people to call when you don't know what to do next. And, perhaps most importantly, discovering that there are more possibilities for your future than you once imagined.

More Than They Expected

When ACE launched three years ago, none of the four panelists quite knew what to expect.

One expected something relatively small that would stay within Burlington. Another imagined sitting in a room taking notes, much like school. Esta thought the focus would simply be learning how to go to college.

Instead, the program took them into businesses, onto college campuses, through internships and college-level courses, and into conversations with professionals doing the work they were beginning to imagine for themselves.

As one panelist put it simply, ACE "exceeded my expectations."

That evolution has been intentional. ACE combines career and college exploration with academic support, financial literacy, professional skill building, paid experiences, and increasingly individualized opportunities as students move through high school.

For the youth panelists, those experiences have begun translating curiosity into real pathways.

Esta, a rising senior interested in interior design, talked about developing networking skills and, through ACE, having the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with an interior designer and ask the questions that matter when you're trying to turn an interest into a future: How did you get there? What could I do to get there?

She reflected that she wouldn’t have been able to make those connections on her own, and that they’ve helped her learn to ask herself bigger questions about her own future: Where am I going? How am I going to get there? What do I need?

For Stuti, who is headed to UVM to study neuroscience, ACE connected her directly with professionals working in neurology. Those conversations gave her something a website or career description never could. They offered a window into what the life of a doctor actually looks like with all the commitment, demands, and possibilities.

At one point, after talking with a neurosurgeon about his career, she remembered thinking, "Wait, I can do what you're doing."

That moment captures something fundamental about ACE.

Exposure matters because it's difficult to imagine yourself somewhere you've never had the opportunity to see.

From Exploring a Path to Pursuing One

For graduating senior Alex, ACE helped turn a strong interest in aviation and hands-on learning into tangible next steps.

Through ACE, Alex participated in the Community College of Vermont's Career Pathways Entry Program at Generator, earning a Certified Production Technician credential that aligns with his interests in maintenance and manufacturing.

This summer, that journey took him even farther to Berlin, Germany for an aviation engineering experience. Now, he's headed to Burlington Technical Center's post-secondary Aviation Maintenance Technology program.

When asked what role ACE played, Alex didn't point to just one trip or credential. He talked about confidence.

"My aspirations would not be as vivid as they are right now," he shared. ACE, he said, provided both experiences and "that voice in my ear telling me to keep going", encouraging him to explore opportunities, continue his education, and pursue jobs in his field.

That distinction matters. Opening a door is important. Helping a young person develop the confidence to walk through it can be transformative.

Having Someone in Your Corner

Again and again throughout the evening, the conversation returned to relationships.

For Stuti, that became particularly clear during the college application process.

She described feeling overwhelmed when she first opened the Common App and uncertain about her college essay. At King Street, she found people ready to sit beside her and work through it.

When she questioned whether her essay was good enough, she remembered being reminded: "This is about you. You want to make it your voice."

This fall, she'll begin her first year at UVM.

The rising seniors are now experiencing that same support. Esta spoke about completing her college essay and Common App work over the summer and entering senior year feeling more prepared and less overwhelmed. Calvin similarly reflected that having someone push him to begin the process early helped make something as daunting as applying to college feel manageable.

But perhaps one of the most meaningful reflections came later in the conversation.

For Stuti, a first-generation student navigating systems her parents haven't experienced themselves, having trusted adults outside her family to turn to is making an enormous difference. Esta described the relief of not having to rely entirely on older siblings for answers and having other people available to help navigate unfamiliar territory.

That's part of what sustained investment in young people looks like: not simply providing an experience and walking away, but being there for the questions, uncertainty, pivots, setbacks, and next steps.

Learning That the Path Doesn't Have to Be Straight

ACE is designed to help young people build pathways for themselves, not prescribe one for them.

That came through beautifully when the panelists talked about changing direction.

Stuti described being afraid to choose the wrong thing and viewing a change of plans as failure. ACE helped shift that thinking, "A pivot is not like me failing, it's me doing something different."

Calvin echoed the sentiment. Exploring one path and later discovering something that fits better, he reflected, isn't the end of the world. What a student chooses to study in college doesn't have to determine the rest of their life.

That ability to explore without fear of getting it "wrong" is precisely why ACE exposes younger students to such a broad range of careers and experiences.

In fact, when an audience member asked what they would change about the program, the panelists didn't entirely agree.

Alex advocated for giving younger students more opportunities to dive deeply into individual career interests. Stuti offered another perspective that broad exploration is valuable precisely because young people don't always know what options exist yet.

"When you're younger, you need to explore in order to find out what you're really interested in," she explained. Even though she had long been focused on medicine, visiting different workplaces exposed her to possibilities she hadn't previously considered.

It was exactly the kind of conversation we hoped the ACE Showcase would create for young people not simply participating in a program, but helping us think critically about how it should evolve.

Growing Alongside King Street Center Youth

ACE itself is still young.

Building a new program means listening, learning, adjusting, and, in Executive Director Shabnam’s words, sometimes "flying that plane as you're building it."

But the response from young people has been extraordinary.

Before ACE, fewer than five high school students were regularly engaged with King Street Center each week. Three years later, 39 high school students are participating in ACE, and demand is beginning to exceed the space and resources currently available.

With that growth comes responsibility.

ACE provides increasingly individualized academic and career support as youth progress through high school. Students can receive stipends totaling up to $8,000 over four years, an investment we believe matters deeply to the program's accessibility and success. And as enrollment grows, so does the need for staff, business partners, internship opportunities, mentors, financial literacy resources, and sustained financial support.

Our goal isn't simply to make ACE bigger.

It's to grow it sustainably while preserving the relationships, individualized attention, and depth of opportunity that make it work.

"These Are the People Who Are Looking Out for Me"

Near the end of the panel, the youth were asked one final question:

What do you want the adults in this room to understand about young people, ACE, and why this work matters?

Their answers may have been the most powerful part of the evening.

Alex described ACE as a source of support that pushes young people forward and helps them believe it's possible to build something for themselves.

Stuti spoke directly to the people sitting in the audience. Yes, financial investment matters, she acknowledged. But so does showing up. Returning year after year. Listening to young people. Seeing who they are and believing in where they're going.

Reflecting on an earlier ACE Showcase and seeing a room full of community members there to support them, she remembered realizing: "These are the people who are looking out for me."

That is the community we want every young person to experience. One where they have people in their corner. One where their aspirations are taken seriously.

One where an interest can become an introduction, an introduction can become an internship, an internship can become a career pathway, and a young person has the confidence to believe they belong there.

Be Part of What Comes Next

ACE is one powerful piece of King Street Center's larger commitment to children and families.

Programs like ACE don't exist in isolation. They are possible because of a strong and sustainable King Street Center—a community where young people can build relationships, discover their strengths, find support through different stages of childhood and adolescence, and continue growing into adulthood.

Our vision is every child and family thriving in an equitable community.

Realizing that vision requires all of us.

Invest financially. Your support helps us sustain and grow ACE while ensuring more young people can access these opportunities.

Partner with us. Host a workplace visit, offer an internship or job-shadowing experience, share your expertise, or introduce us to a business interested in investing in Vermont's next generation.

Spread the word. Tell others about what ACE makes possible and help us grow the community surrounding our young people.

Because perhaps the clearest message from the Showcase came directly from the youth themselves that the support and consistency they receive helps them stick with their goals and keep moving forward.

When we invest our time, energy, resources, and belief in young people, they do more than prepare for the future. They begin building it for themselves.