Youth Projects

America's young people are its most precious resource. This is why, for many years, Exchange has sponsored an impressive selection of activities designed to benefit and encourage our nation's youth. These richly rewarding projects are among the most popular and well-supported of all Exchange Club endeavors. This is only a partial list of the projects.

Youth of the Month/Year Award

One of the most popular Exchange youth projects, the Youth of the Month/Year Award recognizes hard-working high school students who attain high levels of scholastic achievement, community involvement and leadership. This proven program not only rewards outstanding young people, but also provides an incentive for other youngsters to strive for equally high levels of achievement. Selection of the Youth of the Year is simply made from the club's Youth of the Month recipients for that school year. The club's Youth of the Year advances to district competition, and ultimately, an opportunity to vie for the prestigious National Youth of the Year Award.

Young Citizenship Award

Exchange's Young Citizenship Award honors pre-high school students who daily demonstrate good citizenship both at school and at home. It does not necessarily seek to salute star scholastic or athletic performers. Instead, the program is designed to recognize and encourage youngsters who are honest, hard-working, helpful and fair. In practice, the Young Citizenship Award provides classroom teachers with an effective tool to further motivate promising students. It also provides Exchangites with an enjoyable opportunity to supply the encouragement that can be so vitally important in shaping the characters of youngsters at an impressionable time in their lives.

A.C.E. Award

A.C.E. stands for Accepting the Challenge of Excellence. This program recognizes high school students who have made a dramatic change in their attitude and performance during their high school years. These changes have enabled the students to overcome adversities and prepare for graduation. Clubs may also submit their top A.C.E. Award winner to the district competition. Winners at the district level then have an opportunity to compete for the National A.C.E. Award. Click here for samples of youth essays.

EXCEL Clubs

EXCEL Clubs are groups of high school students dedicated to improving their schools, communities and country through volunteerism. Each EXCEL Club is sponsored and mentored by a local Exchange Club. Members of EXCEL Clubs serve their communities so they also develop valuable leadership and networking skills. EXCEL Club members learn by doing. The students, with the help of a school advisor, lead the club, decide on how to serve their school and community and then get actively involved in doing just that.