ACE Awards

A.C.E. Award

Accepting the Challenge of Excellence

Nomination Form

2023

The submission deadline for the CA-NV District A.C.E. Award is April 15, 2023

Distributed on “www.calnevexchange.org” - November 7, 2022

 

ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE OF EXCELLENCE (A.C.E.) AWARD

WHAT IS IT?

The A.C.E. Award recognizes high school students who have made a dramatic change in their attitude and performance sometime during their high school years, and now will graduate from high school. These “at risk” students have often overcome great physical, emotional or social obstacles, yet few receive recognition.

WHY YOUR CLUB SHOULD PARTICIPATE

This 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 serves as a powerful example to all students that hard work and perseverance really
does pay.

HOW TO DO IT?

Select a Club Chairperson. The Chairperson and/or a member of the committee will make contact with the high schools or continuation schools in your area, and request that each school nominate a boy and girl candidate who have made a turnaround in his/her life during their
high school years.

The committee should learn about the youths so that a narrative, not to exceed 500 words, can be written and submitted. The narrative will describe in detail the problem the candidate overcame, how the problem was overcome, and the candidate’s outlook for the future. The judges
will rely on these details when they evaluate each candidate. This narrative must be typewritten and really needs to emphasize the candidates overcoming of their problem and outlook for the future. The judges really rely on these items in grading each of the candidates. The narrative can be
prepared by either the Club Chairperson or by a School Official. It cannot be emphasized how important this narrative is to the overall judging.

Each candidate is required to write two narratives, not to exceed 250 words each. The first narrative will describe the event or events, in his/her life that the candidate is most proud of.

The second narrative will describe how the candidate will work to make the future a better place to live. These narratives MUST be typewritten for submission. If the candidate does not have access to a computer or typewriter, the Chairperson or School Official can transcribe the narratives.

Obviously, the better the narratives look and read, the better the final evaluation will be. 

Finally the candidates must be certified that he/she will graduate from high school this year.  A two-year track record of turnaround is expected.

Submit your nominations to:
District Chairperson – Janell Darby
Address – 9255 N Magnolia Ave Spc 70
Santee CA 92071-3140
Cell-619-301-8518,
FAX-619-334-1931
e-mail – jdarbygo@gmail.com

DISTRICT COMPETITION

The submission deadline for the CA-NV District A.C.E. Award is April 15, 2023. Each Club can submit one girl and one boy candidate from each school in their community. The District winners (see item 7 below) will be presented the A.C.E. Award plaque and a check for a $2,500 scholarship. Both students will be honored by attending the annual convention of the California-Nevada District Exchange Clubs. The award presentation will take place at a time to be determined at a live convention. If live, transportation expenses to the convention and return at $.20 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 above financial consideration must be explained clearly by the club chairperson and participants must agree their understanding of these finances.

SUMMARY OF INSTRUCTIONS TO ENTER COMPETITION

  1. Contact your local high school for potential candidates (a girl and boy from each school) for the award. A partial list of difficulties to overcome could include physical, child abuse, delinquency, or substance abuse.
  2. Ensure that the candidates will be eligible to graduate from high school this year.
  3. Obtain school official and parent/guardian signatures.
  4. Recognize the selected individuals at an appropriate club meeting.
  5. If you plan to enter your candidates in the District Competition, your club’s A.C.E. Award Chairperson or a School Official must prepare the description narrative (500 words max.) and have each candidate write their two brief (250 words max.) narratives.
  6. The District will select one male and one female candidate as the District A.C.E. award winners, and submit them to the National Exchange Club A.C.E. Award Competition where the one winner will receive $15,000.
  7. The winning candidates will be honored and recognized at the District Convention. It is Mandatory that the winners attend the District Convention. If a student is selected and cannot attend the Convention the first runner-up will become the winner. (All Convention arrangements for the winners and their chaperones will be the responsibility of the District A.C.E. Award Chairperson and the District Convention Coordinator.)
  8. If your candidate is selected as the CA-NV District A.C.E. Award winner, please submit a 5” X 7” high quality photo (preferred format is JPG submitted electronically) to be used for publicity purposes.

JUDGING BY DISTRICT

The narratives will be judged by 5 judges at the District Level.

The judges will give up to 250 points on the Club Chairperson’s or School Official narrative.

The candidate’s narratives will each score up to 50 points each. The candidates community service & organization points will be used only if the scoring between top candidates is a 2% difference or less or to break a tie.

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