Tag: ACE Certified

FTSV Participant Tristan Hipolito Awarded ACE Certification Status!

(FTSV Participant Tristan Hipolito Awarded ACE Certification Status! – Published 10/03/25) First Tee – Silicon Valley is excited to share that Tristan Hipolito was recently awarded the distinguished honor of being Ace-Certified!

Ace is the highest level of certification at First Tee and less than 1% of First Tee participants from across the country achieve Ace certification. Tristan will receive local and national recognition from First Tee for completing his Ace classes and the post-class documents. More importantly, his work in our Ace classes helped him apply the First Tee Life Skills to college and career exploration, and to his give-back volunteer opportunities. The Ace classes also assisted in developing transferable skills that will aid him in his professional development.

Tristan is beginning his first year at UC Riverside where he is pursuing an Engineering degree. Tristan’s First Tee story began over 10 years ago with First Tee – East Bay. When that chapter unfortunately closed in 2017, he and his family made the long drive to join our chapter in San Jose. Ever since, he has been one of the most active and respected participants at FTSV taking at least 2 classes every season for all 4 seasons throughout his middle and high school years, and was a volunteer coach every season for the last 4 years.  Additionally, he was appointed to Committee Chair by his peers in our Junior Council and led his team in event coordination, fundraising, and video production. In 2024 he was selected to represent First Tee participants from around the country in the National Junior Advisory Council, and in 2025 he was selected for the Dennis Kettmann College Scholarship.

“Here, I made friends who I was able to hang out with outside classes,” said Tristan. “I met mentors who were not only able to help me with my golf game, but also give me advice for college and future career paths related to the major I want to pursue. I also gained and practiced skills, such as communication, delegation, being responsible for others, and teamwork.”

Tristan took all 4 of our Ace 8-week classes 2-3 times throughout high school.

“Ace classes taught me many beneficial skills, but I most appreciate the ones I learned during the career project. In class we learned how to prepare for an interview, conduct an informational interview, reach out and perform job shadows, and write resumes and cover letters. As I pursued Ace Certification, I was able to use those skills I learned in class. I performed three informational interviews where I learned about the responsibilities and career paths of people I saw as mentors. They even helped me format my resume so I could send it out to engineering related opportunities. I never would have learned these skills and the others I learned in Ace if I was not in Ace.”

Ace includes (4) 8-week sessions, each with post-class projects.

  • Education – financial planning for college (budgeting, saving, grants, scholarships), college application process, school identification and exploration strategies.
  • Career –  resume-building, interview skills, transferable, adaptive and content skill development, and professional correspondence.
  • Golf –  golf psychology, optimal practice habits.
  • Volunteer –  going above and beyond, learning transferable skills, networking, professionalism

To be an Ace-certified, participants must:

  • Be at least 14 years old
  • Be in our program for a minimum of 3 years; and attend a minimum of 2 seasons per year.
  • Attend our 4 Ace Classes (Career, Golf, Education, Give-Back)
  • Complete the 4 Ace-Future Planning post class documents
  • Submit a letter of recommendation
  • Be selected by a panel of First Tee National judges

“Congratulations, Tristan, for your outstanding work” says Program Director Chris Moreno-Hunt. “I remember coaching him when he was 7 years old in the East Bay Chapter. To see his development into a leader and a high character individual is what this is all about. It has been a real honor to coach him over the years, and I am very thankful to have gotten to know him and his wonderful family. He is a true representation of respect and hard work. It is no wonder his peers, fellow coaches, and our staff all respect and value him as a person. Best of luck in college, Tristan!

To find out more about our Ace classes and how to be Ace-Certified, please click here or email/call Chris at [email protected] or 408-508-4884.

ACE – Career Class for FTSV High School Participants

(ACE Career Class for FTSV High School Participants) This spring season, First Tee – Silicon Valley is delivering the Ace – Career Class to 21 FTSV high school participants. The Career class is one of (4) 8-week Ace classes offered throughout the year.

In this Ace class, participants are:

  • Building their elevator pitch and develop their personal brand
  • Identifying their work & lifestyle values, ideal career characteristics, and personal identity, then using them to identify matching career industries and functions  
  • Pursuing different methods for career exploration and identification
  • Practicing informational interviews and job shadowing techniques
  • Reviewing resume-building best practices and cover letter approaches
  • Exploring and building LinkedIn profiles
  • Practicing networking techniques
  • Learning and demonstrating job interviewing strategies

We are fortunate to also have a few guest speakers give their professional and work expertise during the classes. Each week the content is delivered through group work, games and activities, and peer to peer demonstrations.

This upcoming summer we will be delivering our Ace Golf classes that covers the following:

  • Golf psychology – “the mental game” approaches
  • Optimal practice habits
  • Golf goal setting and application
  • Advanced golf techniques

The goal of our Ace classes is to bridge the life skills that we learn throughout First Tee to the next steps of their upcoming adult life. Additionally, we aim to equip our high schoolers with specific tools to succeed post high school.

All 9th graders and above may take the upcoming Ace-Golf classes. All 10th grade and above participants can take the Ace – Education class in the fall and the Ace Career in the spring. To be Ace-certified, which is the highest First Tee participant honor, participants that have been in our program for more than 2 years may also complete the supplemental Ace course work and apply for Ace-certification. Ace certification is optional and is supplemental to taking the 4 in-person classes.

We are proud of these Ace classes and would love for more FTSV participants to experience them. To register, please click here.

For more information on our four Ace classes, please click here, email [email protected], or call 408-508-4884.

Published: 04-03-2025

FTSV Participant Awarded Ace Certification Status!

First Tee – Silicon Valley is excited to share that Eliane Juang was awarded the distinguished honor of being Ace-Certified!

What does ACE Certified mean?

Ace is the highest level of certification at First Tee and less than 1% of First Tee participants from across the country achieve Ace certification. Eliane will receive local and national recognition from First Tee for completing her Ace classes and the post-class documents. More importantly, her work in our Ace classes helped her apply the First Tee Life Skills to college and career exploration, and to her give-back volunteer opportunities. The Ace classes also assisted in developing transferable skills that will aid her in her professional development.

About Eliane

Eliane is a junior at Lynbrook High School. She began our program as a participant in 2016 and volunteered as a coach since 2022. She excelled in our classes due to her attention to detail, initiative, and ability to receive feedback and turn it into tangible goals. For her Ace Career Project, she created a detailed spreadsheet with a list of internships, their requirements, and their corresponding due dates. As a result of her thorough planning, she was accepted for a research position in the field of Machine-Learning Drug-Discovery at the Aspiring Scholars Directed Research Program.

“FTSV has helped me gain a lot of valuable life skills,” says Eliane. “These skills include building goal ladders, forming a go-to team, preparing for interviews, and writing self-reflection journals that help me identify what aspects of my goal I need to focus on. I am able to set goals with a positive mindset and be more motivated to step out of my comfort zone to try new things. From my Ace classes, I have learned the importance of taking initiative and going above and beyond.”

There are (4) 8-week Ace sessions, each with post-class projects.

  • Education – financial planning for college (budgeting, saving, grants, scholarships), college application process, school identification and exploration strategies.
  • Career –  resume-building, interview skills, transferable, adaptive and content skill development, and professional correspondence.
  • Golf –  golf psychology, optimal practice habits.
  • Volunteer –  going above and beyond, learning transferable skills, networking, professionalism

To be an Ace-certified, participants must be:

  • at least 14 years old
  • be in our program for a minimum of 3 years; and attend a minimum of 2 seasons per year.
  • Attend our 4 Ace-Future Planning Classes (Career, Golf, Education, Give-Back)
  • Complete the 4 Ace-Future Planning post class documents
  • Submit a letter of recommendation
  • Be selected by a panel of First Tee National judges

“Congratulations Eliane for your outstanding work” says Program Director Chris Moreno-Hunt. “We are proud of your character and your desire to go above and beyond. You are humble, hardworking, and you make our classes/program a better place. I have no doubt you will be continue to be successful and utilize the tools learned in Ace to achieve your goals.”

To find out more about our Ace-Future Planning classes and how to be Ace-Certified, please reach out to [email protected] or 408-508-4884.

eliane juang ace certified

PUBLISHED: 03-13-2024

FTSV Participants Awarded Ace Certification Status!

First Tee – Silicon Valley is excited to share that two of our participants, Katelyn Chan and Shivam Maji were awarded the distinguished honor of being Ace Certified!

Ace is the highest level of certification at First Tee and less than 1% of First Tee participants from across the country achieve Ace-certification. As a result of their hard work, Katelyn and Shivam will receive local and national recognition from First Tee for completing their Ace classes and the post-class documents. More importantly, their work in our Ace classes helped them apply the First Tee Life Skills to college and career exploration, and to their give-back volunteer opportunities. The Ace classes also assisted in developing transferable skills that will aid them in their professional development.

Meet Katelyn Chan

She was in our program from 2012 to 2023 and was a volunteer coach since 2021. Throughout her time with us, she participated in several seasons each year, attended our Leadership Series, and was selected for the National Leadership Academy in Montana. Recently she was awarded the Make Your Mark Scholarship for her application of First Tee Life Skills to a community project. In her time with FTSV, she was a positive influence on her peers and coaches and led by example by putting her goals into action and demonstrating care for others. She is now a freshman at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo studying statistics.

“The Fall Ace-Education class was the most helpful to me because it included doing research on how to pay for college,” said Katelyn. “Many students limit the number of private schools they apply to because they fear the financial costs, however, we learned how accessible scholarships and grants are. Not only did we do research on the variety of scholarships that are on the internet, but we were also taught about budgeting and identifying the different types of financial options available to us when pursuing college.”

Meet Shivam Maji

He is a senior at Lynbrook high school. Shivam has been in our program since 2017 and began volunteering with us in 2023. Shivam excelled in our classes each year, took initiative by applying the skills, and always sought out ways to improve himself and his surroundings. “I found the career project to be especially valuable for me,” said Shivam. “The introspective lessons really helped me to think about and explore my interests and skills, learn about different jobs, and create a career action plan. The class motivated me to dive into networking, seek internships, and make connections that really made applying to college so much easier. I’d really like to thank First Tee – Silicon Valley, and Coach Chris and Coach George for jumpstarting my professional development.”

To be an Ace-certified, participants must be:

  • at least 14 years old
  • be in our program for a minimum of 3 years; and attend a minimum of 2 seasons per year.
  • Attend our 4 Ace-Future Planning Classes (Career, Golf, Education, Give-Back)
  • Complete the 4 Ace-Future Planning post class documents
  • Submit a letter of recommendation
  • Be selected by a panel of First Tee National judges

Congratulations Katelyn and Shivam for your outstanding work and contributions to our chapter and to your community! Our chapter is better because both of you. We are excited for your future and the impact you will continue to make on others.

To find out more about our Ace-Future Planning classes and how to be Ace-certified, please reach out to [email protected] or 408-508-4884.