Speaker Lucy Coutts - RYLA Attendee sponsored by the Milton Rotary Club
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, RYLA 2021 was held at the Christian Youth Camp in Queenstown from 29 January to 3 February. Lucy Coutts comes form Invercargill where she works for a marketing and consulting company, Marketing South. She shared with us some of the projects she has worked on. One of those is Hawthorndale Care Village, a dementia care facility in Invercargill. The concept replicates everyday life in a suburban neighbourhood within a safe, secure setting. The design of the village, the philosophy and way its residents are cared for is centred around evidence that suggests familiarity, comfort and stimulation has the greatest Impact on overall health and well-being. So far, $26m has been raised towards the development of this facility.The focus at the RYLA camp was on career progression, collaboration, public speaking and teamwork. There were two to three guest speakers each day. These include people such as Laura Douglas, founder of Real Country, a tourism farm expo. Another speaker was a Sir Edmund Hilliary Fellow, who left the Gaza Strip with three children and a husband to come to New Zealand.
Team challenges were held, eg putting up a shelter box ten and a community service project was completed. This project involved creating an orienteering course for all ages and abilities. First the gully had to be cleared. Lucy’s team then set about writing riddles as clues to each away point.
A Community Contribution saw the participants putting baskets together for Happiness House, a Queenstown Community Support Centre.
As well as working fulltime, Lucy is also studying towards an MBA degree online through the University of Otago. This involves 20 hours a week study – on top of her fulltime position. She is a very committed and dedicated young woman who has a great future ahead of her.
We wish her all the very best.