The Accepting the Challenge of Excellence Award {A.C.E.) recognizes high school students who have dramatically changed their attitude and performance sometime during their high school years and now will graduate from high school. These students have often overcome significant physical, emotional, or social obstacles, yet few receive recognition. A partial list of difficulties to overcome could include physical, language, child abuse, delinquency, and/or substance abuse. There are three levels of competition – Club, District, and National.
Why Should Your Club Participate? The A.C.E. Award is a positive program with two essential objectives. First, it helps encourage students to overcome their hardships and get back on track toward a high school diploma. Second, the award recognizes those students who are often overlooked for their accomplishments. This special recognition is a powerful example to all students that hard work and perseverance pay off.
CLUB LEVEL COMPETITION
Participating in the A.C.E. Award program is voluntary. Each Club’s Board must determine its interest, the number of available scholarships it can offer, and the financial means to support the program. Refer to Club guidelines for more details.
DISTRICT LEVEL COMPETITION
Each Club can submit one female and one male Student from each school in their community. If your Students are selected as the CA/NV District A.C.E. Award winners, the students must provide a 5″ x 7″ high-quality photo in JPEG format for publicity purposes. The CA/NV District A.C.E. Award submission deadline is Monday, April 4, 2025.
The District winners will receive the A.C.E. Award plaque and a $2,500 scholarship. Students will be honored by attending the annual Convention of the California-Nevada District Exchange Clubs, held in June 7, 2025 in Irvine, California. The winners will be notified of the time and place before June 1, 2025. The winners must attend the District Convention. If a student is selected and cannot participate in the Convention, the first runner-up will become the winner.
Transportation expenses to the Convention and return at $.25 per mile (round-trip), one night (one room) hotel accommodations (room & tax cost only), three (3) tickets for the Friday evening district-sponsored dinner, and three tickets for the A.C.E. Award presentations will be the financial responsibility of the District at no expense to the local sponsoring club. The club chairperson must clearly explain the above financial considerations, and participants must agree with their understanding of these finances.
NATIONAL LEVEL COMPETITION
The CA/NV District A.C.E. Award winners are entered into the National Exchange Club competition. One winner will receive a $15,000 scholarship and plaque. The submission deadline for our district is June 1, 2025.