This post is part of ACE’s Teacher of the Year blog series. 

Laura Lopez immediately left an impression on me. We met in 2012, when she’d arranged a set of ACE presentations at her school, North-Grand High. I was first struck by her kindness and warmth, and quickly recognized her exceptional dedication to teaching. We had an amazing Action Team meeting afterwards that still remains one of my favorite ACE memories.

Laura Lopez (right) with co-teacher.

By the time I left, I knew she was an absolute rock star: the kind of person that you can’t help but want to support.

In the two years that I’ve known her, I’ve learned there are dozens of reasons that Laura is awesome. She is, without a doubt, my Teacher of the Year! But for the sake of this nomination, I’ll share just my top 3 reasons.

1) She wins. Literally. Remember Biggest Loser: Energy? The 2012 ACE competition for school energy conservation? Well guess who won in Chicago? Yep – Laura’s team! In 15 school days, she led the North-Grand Environmental and Gardening Club to reduce C02 emissions from North-Grand by over 4,600 pounds!

And it wasn’t easy. She put in hours of work to support her students and help make this happen: Making sure students were trained, helping recruit and communicate with participating teachers, pulling together all of the data. On top of that, the team also added a community education campaign and created an interactive banner for students, staff, and parents to learn more about common household energy vampires. Her constant devotion to celebrating her students’ efforts and engaging with the larger community not only helped them win, but made it a transformative experience for everyone.

#winner

2) She fights for students’ right to know. She believes that everyone should be informed about global warming and incorporates

North Grand Action Team

environmental education into all of her classes. Additionally, she arranges annual ACE assemblies to make sure every student at North-Grand has seen our presentation at least once.

Why? She understands the dangers that climate changes poses to young people and their futures. But not only does she know about these risks, she works tirelessly to provide young people with the opportunities to understand the problem and be empowered take action against it.

Students often ask her why invests so much time and effort in environmental projects. Her answer, “I do it for you, and your children.”

 #fighter

Laura’s Students at Project Greenway

3) She’s a fantastic youth ally. Whether you want to work on energy conservation or raising public awareness or design eco-fashion collections, Laura will support you. And not only will she share her knowledge and ideas, she’ll also help you recruit more people, plan a timeline, find resources and support, store all of your supplies in her classroom, drive you to trainings and events, work around your schedule and hold meetings 3 nights a week to make sure you can attend at least one, overcome obstacles alongside you, and all the while keep you well fed on pizza and snacks.

Above all else, I want to say how much I admire Laura. It is rare to find people with such contagious warm energy, humble leadership, and such a fierce commitment to young people. I am thrilled to nominate her for ACE’s Teacher of the Year.

#ally