The hard work of members of the Cimarron-Memorial High School Earth Club to encourage recycling at their school and throughout the school district was recently rewarded when the club received a $2,000 donation through “Keys to Innovation,” a program supported by Lexus and Grammy award-winning singer Alicia Keys that honors schools for their environmental programs.

The school is now up against nine others for a $10,000 national award. In addition to the donation, the students received tickets to Keys’ concert May 9 at the MGM Grand Garden arena. Club members and their adviser, Jennifer Newman-Cornell, attended the sound check, visited the VIP lounge and had a meet-and-greet with Keys before she performed.

“The concert was amazing,” says senior Ria Daniels, the club’s vice president. “Alicia was so nice and told us to keep up the good work.”