The 34th annual Rotary Youth Leadership Award camp was another successful and meaningful event for 46 young people (ages 18 to 25) from Idaho, Washington and BC.
In addition to the young people, 16 staff were in attendance eight Rotarians and eight former campers) to facilitate the program. All staff donate their time and only submit expenses for materials purchased for the program.
As the name, Rotary Youth Leadership Award implies, the campers were introduced to 33 aspects of leadership; for example awareness of self and others, critical thinking, ethics, a variety of communication skills, leadership, goal setting, etc.
As ethics is a focus for Rotary International the topic was interwoven with most of the presentations and the youth were challenged to begin developing their 10 ethical commandments of leadership during the camp.
During the week 10 outstanding presenters visited the camp and made presentations on some of the topics in the program. All presenters traveled to the camp at their own expense and waived their speaking fees as they believe very strongly in the program and what it means to the youth in attendance This was the 16th consecutive visit made by one of the speakers.
During the week the youth learned about Rotary and the work Rotarians do locally and throughout the world. They were introduced to programs and scholarships provided by Rotary Clubs, our district and Rotary International.
We are fortunate to have many of the supplies necessary to operate the camp donated by supportive businesses located in our district.
Businesses who may be interested in supporting this program can contact Bob Griffith, chair of the district RYLA committee, at 250-352-5810.
Work is already underway in planning next year’s camp. Details will be distributed to Rotary Clubs in the early spring of 2012. The camp is open to youth between 18 and 24 who have leadership potential.
Applications need to be made through local Rotary clubs, who are responsible for granting the awards.