Local Hero: Rebecca Werner Makes Life Better In West Palm Beach

WEST PALM BEACH, FL — When times are tough, heroes emerge. We all know someone who's making a difference right now as we live through unprecedented and changing times.

Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize these heroes making a difference in their communities. We’re working to let all your neighbors know about these outstanding people and their stories.

This submission comes from Jamie Levin who nominated Rebecca Werner of West Palm Beach. Werner serves as chief operating officer of Student ACES in Palm Beach County.

Local hero’s full name

Rebecca Werner

Local hero’s home state

Florida

Local hero’s Patch

West Palm Beach

How do you know the local hero?

Board member

What does the local hero do?

Chief operating officer, Student ACES

Why do you believe the local hero should be recognized or honored?

Rebecca Werner is the chief operating officer for Student ACES (ACE), a non-profit based out of Palm Beach Gardens, which focuses on developing leadership skills and building character in high school student-athletes with a mission of developing students into young men and women of honor, character, and integrity. Rebecca has been with ACE since she was a student in the program during high school. Her favorite aspect of working with ACE is creating an environment where students can learn and develop to be the best versions of themselves.

Rebecca has spent the good part of the past year working with her team developing a new program that launched in The Student ACES Center (The SAC) in Belle Glade this school year. And this program has been one of the biggest “Aha Moments” of her young career.

A little back story — in 2019, Student ACES opened an afterschool learning center in Belle Glade, FL — one of the poorest communities in the nation and the poorest in Florida with 41 (percent) of residents with an income below poverty level according to a recent study. Shortly after opening the Center, COVID struck, and the world was turned upside down. Student ACES’ leadership and program staff made the decision to keep the Center open when everything else was shut down. During this time, Rebecca and her co-workers and had the unusual opportunity to get to know the students on a different level. On any given day, she went from Student ACES’ director of operations (at that time) to economics or geometry teacher. At one point she was working with one of the ACE students who was being recruited to play Division 1 football in college. While walking through his eligibility with him, Becca and the team realized that, according to NCAA eligibility requirements, he was ineligible to play D1 sports, because he was one math class short going into his senior year. Becca and the team had to break it to him that even if Nick Saban literally landed his helicopter at his house and offered him a full scholarship, he still would not be eligible to play football. Not because of his GPA or his test scores, but because he was not placed in the right classes a year earlier. This was the moment it really set in for her — we have to fill the gaps; we can never let another kid fall through the cracks like that again.

We say it often at Student ACES and we mean it — everyone needs a Becca!

What's one thing you want everyone to know about the local hero?

She is so incredibly passionate about making a difference that no one will ever be able to stand in her way.

Thank you for all you do, Rebecca Werner!

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Know someone making a difference in town?

Nominate them here.