By Hannah Krieger, Senior at Andover High School, MA

A.C.E. Leadership Training – Museum of Science – February 2011

The A.C.E. leadership training at the Museum of Science this past February was my second time attending an A.C.E. leadership training. I pleased that is was slightly varied from my last training, although I’m sure if it was exactly the same I still would have learned a lot.

I went with one other person from my high school who leads our environmental club with me. The training is a great opportunity for anyone who has any sort of interest in the environment or environmental activism. It was a great plA.C.E. to hear other students who shared the same frustrations with me about my high school.

From the use of styrofoam trays, to schools not being serious about recycling, to students struggling to get a garden started at their school, we all had things we could relate about. By sharing similar struggles I was able to really relate to the other kids, and it was really great to collaborate with them, as well as offer advice and receive advice.

The ACE leadership trainings allows for this collaboration because they enabled us to get to know each other and do some cool team building activities that aren’t typically done in a classroom or other learning environments.

If you’ve ever played “wah” or played with a large blow up Earth, than you already know a little bit about the A.C.E. leadership training experience. The whole experience was a really positive; I felt like I could easily participate and then get constructive criticism on my ideas.

My friend and I who attended, have started to implement different techniques we learned at the A.C.E. training to our environmental club. We are planning for an “Earth Week” that includes a variety of activities to hype up enthusiasm about using sustainable practices and encouraging our peers to think “greener.”

No matter what your experiences are surrounding the environment, not only will you be able to learn something from an ACE training, but also you will undoubtedly have something to contribute.