By Victoria Pan, ACE Field Correspondent and student at Ridgewood High School, NJ

It never occurred to me that the sources for inspiration have no limits.

Yet, that’s what you realize when you’re put into a room with 20 other people, each with a unique story to tell. On October 18th, I walked into the NYC Student Leadership Training somewhat unprepared for what would come my way.

I knew that I would be meeting other students from the city, and I knew that I would be receiving training from ACE coordinators, but I did not realize how much it would personally impact me.

The program was held at the Solar One Institute, the only completely solar-powered building in the city. When we first saw the building, we were taken aback. The building, though small, really impressed us with its sustainable features. As we settle into the comfy space, the five of us from Ridgewood High School were jittering with excitement. We couldn’t wait to share a new project of ours, called “Students Saving Energy.”

It’s an initiative I started to establish a network of schools across the nation with the same goals of achieving sustainability. I had intended to bring this project to the training to gain more connections with schools in the city. We also wanted to bring valuable ACE information back to our Students for Environmental Action club.

An even bigger surprise came to us as more people started coming in. During lunch, we found out that we were the only ones from New Jersey, which made me feel a little cut off from rest of the group.

We each came from completely different backgrounds, our schools drastically varied and we all had separate levels of experience. I have to admit—for a second, I doubted how much I would get out of it.

The training commenced with a few fun icebreakers and group activities. There was a sustainable design workshop about Solar One and a discussion about leadership techniques. Near the end of the discussion, we were able to share our individual stories. This part of the day stood out the most.

I’ll never forget the feeling I had while listening to those stories. Hearing about other students’ groundbreaking project efforts and ideas, I felt overwhelmed with excitement. All the students’ messages were so powerful!

There was one group, for example, that worked tirelessly to keep their school from literally closing. Another girl had a vision to build a school garden, and another hoped to start a recycling program. While listening to all these ideas, I couldn’t help but to appreciate how lucky I was to be sitting in that room at that moment.

I remember constantly thinking about the statement, “You learn through the experiences of others.” Now I finally understand its true meaning. The experiences others described proved to be even more valuable lessons that what I had originally set out for.

As the day came to an end, I began to realize the fault in my original preconception. I had thought that due to our disparities, collaboration would be difficult. But what I had failed to see from the start was the apparent similarity among us. We all shared a vision, and that vision was the desire for change. Each and every one of us knew it would be our responsibility to take that dream and turn it into reality.

That’s why we all joined ACE in the first place. And that’s why we’re all in it together—for our environment, for our earth and for a better future.

Victoria is a student at Ridgewood High School and the co-president of the Students for Environmental Action club at her school.  Passionate about energy conservation, she has created the Student Saving Energy initiative to help her school and other schools become more sustainable!