Posted on Jun 28, 2019
(Content "cabbaged" with permission from Rich Linden & Valerie Popper's FB Pages)
 
You may not have realized what a BIG DEAL our little MORYLA is in Rotary, on a global scale. This is Missouri Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, and each year, 100 high school juniors from all over the state are selected to attend. Most of the kids don't even know what they are going to, but their parents and teachers encourage them to go, so yep, they have to. They arrive on a Sunday afternoon, usually not knowing a soul, and by Wednesday night, they have life-long friends, they have extraordinary, newfound confidence in themselves, they know that one person can make a big impact, and they have participated on a team that puts together a realistic, workable service project. MORYLA has grown so much that there are now TWO sessions each Summer, one in June, one in July, hosting 100 high school juniors at each session. Both sessions were FULL this year.
Our own Rich Linden is the Curriculum Director, he brings the ideas and the ENERGY to this fabulous program. Supporting him is Valerie Popper of the North Kansas City Club, Administrative Director, and Kathleen Linden, Administrative Assistant-- both titles should just be "Organizer Extraordinaire" because they keep the wheels on the bus for admissions, venue, getting 20 Rotarian Counselors and 20 Professional School Counselors to commit to assisting and guiding kids, etc.
 
And this year, Rich and his MORYLA team presented at the Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, Germany.
 
The Missouri RYLA Academy executive directors and our entourage are on our way to take the Rotary International Convention by storm! Hamburg, Germany won't even know what hit it! #worlddominationtour. #lindersonforever
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stop #30 of #worlddominationtour

Hamburg, Germany!!!!!


The presentation went great! After we were finished, 34 different Rotarians visited with us and gave us their business cards. I think we might start a world RYLA event... want in?

  
 
 

PS. I was really nervous. Fortunately, Rich and Nick were there to do the heavy lifting. Whew.attending a conference with Nick Rackers and Rich Linden at 2019 Rotary International Convention HOC.
 
 
 
Many of our own Plazans attend as Rotarian Counselors. This year included Karen Eppler, Club President Erik Dickinson, and Terry Berkbuegler.
 
 
As Terry Berkbuegler, Rotarian counselor for 6 years, says on his Facebook page,
"If you’ve ever wondered what this “RYLA thing” is that Shannan and I talk about, here is a link to the final service project presentations. Take a look. Keep in mind that the presentations and projects you see were conceptualized from nothing and prepared in 6 hours. These kids just met each other on Sunday. Think about how long it would take for you and your adult colleagues to identify needs, come to consensus on a direction and then develop the framework of a well thought out project. Oh, and then prepared a slide show and presentation. Oh yeah, they also had no idea they’d be on stage and live streamed until the evening before. Are there kinks to work out? Sure. But every project has a basic road map and is really doable. 🤯"
 
This is an example of the first session projects and presentations of 2019.
 
Amazing work.