This is a guest post from Tara Chattoraj, a student at Wheaton Warrenville South High School and a co-president of Verterra.

Three things I love: our planet, my weekends, and having fun. Two peoples I love who share those loves: my Verterra team members and ACE Educators Sophie and Page. One way to combine all those things: Leadership Training!

I know, I know, it’s unbelievable that all these great things could come together in one place – and we haven’t even gotten to the free lunch and awesome teambuilding exercises! Like my personal favorite: making towers of tape, paper cups, and popsicle sticks to learn about pooling resources. Not your cup of tea? Try making a perfect square with everyone’s eyes closed and only a strand of string connecting you; create pretend people; act out scenarios; create works of arts… you’ll find your favorite activity in no time.

And then there’s lunch (which is delicious! The way to any teenager’s heart!). And breaks. And music. And basically everything you could ever ask for from a Leadership Training… you can be sure you’ll always be engaged. You get to talk to all sorts of high school students in your area, not to mention the ACE Educators (who are so fun to talk to!) with subjects ranging from upcoming projects and the next global summit to prom dresses and the best rappers. Meeting new people, eating a totally awesome free lunch, sharing project ideas, and visiting the butterfly room (in Chicago anyway)… it all creates this amazing, fun experience.

You walk into an environmental conference, but you walk out with great memories and a network of connections and resources.

Now, don’t tell me you’re too busy, because believe me I have a calendar full of karate, volunteering, tournaments, and extracurricular physics. And if you tell me it’s too hard to get to training, I’ll tell you I have to spend my Saturday morning catching the 6:30 train, taking at least 2 buses, and grabbing breakfast to get to Leadership Training – and it’s worth every second.

Even with all the name games and team-building exercises, my favorite part of Leadership Training is our wrap-up activity: tossing around a rubber band ball and sharing what we learned the most. It’s a little bittersweet, actually, leaving these people – people you’ve known for hardly a couple hours, and yet you feel this great connection with.

But you know you have so much to share with your club, and to put into practice in all aspects of your life. Hearing what each person enjoyed the most gives you some final insight into the minds of those around you, and consequently what you should take away from the experience. It’s beautiful, the way it brings the whole training and everyone in it together.

At the end of it all, it comes down to this: if you love the planet, you’re sure to love Leadership Training. Go ahead, try it out. I may sound like a salesman (well, woman…) but I’m serious. You will really appreciate all that you learn, all the new connections you make, and all the fun you’ll have. I’m telling you, you don’t want to miss out on the Leadership fun.

Saving our planet while having fun on the weekend (three) with your ACE team members and ACE educators (two) at one place… how could you possibly have more fun? =)

Register for an ACE Leadership Training.