Last year ACE awarded more than $25,000 to 11 incredible student leaders, like Zena Sabath who founded and directed her school’s green club in Texas and Dan Knickelbein, a community organizer and active member of Oak Park’s Environment and Energy Commission in Illinois.

We are on the lookout for our next batch of scholarship winners as 2011 gets rolling. This year, we’re awarding 10 $2,500 scholarships to students across the country. Will you be one of them!? The deadline is February 17, 2011. Download our application here.

And, while you’re thinking about whether an ACE scholarship is for you, chew on this story from 2010 ACE Scholarship winner Julia Borden:a

From Julia Borden, ACE Scholarship winner in 2010

When I received the ACE scholarship, I felt incredibly elated and honored. It was so meaningful for me to win this scholarship because it honored all of my hard work on the one issue I felt strongest about.

After everything I cited on my application and in my essay, how I had traveled internationally doing climate advocacy, given presentations to adult and school groups, chaired my school Environmental Impact Committee, I knew upon winning the scholarship that all that was just the beginning. That this scholarship was an investment in my future, not a mere donation.

At school at Brown, where I am probably going to pursue a biology degree, thinking of how I have the ACE scholarship backing me helps me keep my focus and determination in an Ivy League institution filled with all the other top students in the nation. Thank you, ACE, for believing in me, and helping me to believe in myself and my future.