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While much has changed in the seven years since the 2016 start of our NSF S-STEM Program, the WVU Academy of Engineering Success (AcES), the goal to increase the number of graduating engineers and contribute to the diversification of the engineering workforce has remained constant [1], [2]. AcES has endeavored to attract, support, and retain through graduation talented, but underprepared (non-calculus-ready) first-time, full-time engineering and computing undergraduate students from underrepresented populations by implementing established, research-based student success and retention strategies. During the seven (7) years of NSF funding, this program has served 71 students and supported 28 students with renewable S-STEM scholarships. Past research used surveys and individual and focus group interviews to measure AcES scholars' feelings of institutional inclusion, engineering self-efficacy and identity, and assessment of their own development of academic and professional success skills [1], [2]. Results supported the Kruger-Dunning Effect, "a cognitive bias in which unskilled people do not recognize their incompetence in specific areas and often overestimate their abilities" [3], [4], [5]. Specifically, students who did not retain to the second year tended to enter college with unrealistic expectations regarding: (1) the time and effort required to succeed in a challenging major and (2) their ability to succeed with little effort. Students tended to underestimate the challenges and overestimate their ability to meet the challenges. [2], [3], [5]. Instead of focusing on those who left the program, this work focuses on AcES scholars who have completed or nearly completed an engineering or computing degree even through the additional complications and challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. From these successful graduates, we hope to learn what elements of the AcES program were the most impactful to and supportive of their journey. The lessons learned are shared to inform other, future engineering education programs. 

This paper describes the evolution of the NSF S-STEM "The Academy of Engineering Success (AcES)" program, which started in 2012 at West Virginia University (WVU), a large, mid-Atlantic, R1 institution, and received NSF S-STEM funding beginning in 2016 and corporate sponsorship beginning in 2021. The program was designed around research-based strategies to support and retain talented, but underprepared (non-calculus-ready) and underrepresented first-time, full-time engineering undergraduate students with the intention of contributing to the diversification of the engineering workforce by increasing the number of graduating engineers [1], [2]. This program has served over 100 students and provided financial support to 28 students through renewable NSF S-STEM scholarships. Based on the results of surveys, individual and focus group interviews, and student feedback, past research has focused on AcES participants' feelings of institutional inclusion, engineering self-efficacy and identity, and their assessment of their own development of academic and professional success skills [1], [2]. Past studies have reported support for the Kruger-Dunning Effect, "a cognitive bias in which unskilled people do not recognize their incompetence in specific areas and often overestimate their abilities" [3], [4], [5]. Specifically, the students who ultimately left engineering before their second year tended to enter college with unrealistic expectations of the difficulty of the major, an underestimate of the time and effort demands needed to be successful, and an overestimate of their ability to succeed with little effort [2], [3], [5]. This paper focuses on the evolution of the program throughout several time periods, the lessons learned, and the insight gained regarding the most positively impactful and supportive programmatic elements. These insights come from feedback from students who have completed or nearly completed their engineering degree and have persisted through the challenges of an engineering education, even with the additional complications and challenges of COVID. Additional observations are made by the program leaders. These insights are shared with the engineering educational community to inform other, future programs. 

The Academy of Engineering Success (AcES), a summer bridge program for incoming first-time freshmen (FTF) engineering students at West Virginia University (WVU), faced challenges in recruiting underserved students for years. To address this issue, research was conducted via a collaboration among faculty in engineering and business, with support from an undergraduate researcher and faculty in the Center for Excellence in STEM Education. A mixed methods study using surveys and interviews was designed to assess recruitment communication channels and student awareness of AcES and another university-level trip-based summer program to explore any misalignment and propose suggestions to improve future recruitment of diverse students. Results from 91 survey responses and 2 interviews are discussed. This paper also describes how cross-disciplinary non-tenure track faculty collaborated on engineering education research.