ACE won an award! Each year Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education (CAEE) recognizes and honors individuals and organizations from the around the state of Colorado for their hard work and dedication in the field of environmental education. This year, I am proud to announce that ACE received the 2012 Award of Excellence in Environmental Education for Secondary Education.

This is ACE-Colorado’s first award and great validation that we’re on the right track. Since ACE opened up Colorado in January 2010, Educators have been hard at work.

Here are just a few accomplishments from the ACE-Colorado team:

– Over 98,000 students have been educated in more than 150 schools on the science of climate change
– Over 17,500 students pledged to Do One Thing (DOT) to help the environment
– More than 150 students have been trained to be leaders in their schools and communities
– More than 35 action teams have been given resources to complete sustainable projects in their schools and communities
– Greeley Central High School won the national Biggest Loser Energy Competition
– Students from different high schools have collaborated on a huge community project – getting the City of Denver to ban single-use plastic bags (April 13th 2013 – Day of Action)

I have to admit that receiving this award is a bittersweet moment for me. I have served as the Colorado Educator since July 2011, and on Monday, I started my new position with ACE as the Marketing Manager. I will no longer be in schools educating students on climate change, going to club meetings, listening to creative student ideas, or assisting teachers.  I am going to miss connecting with students and teachers on a daily basis, but receiving this award is the perfect end to my time as the Colorado Educator.