GREAT NEWS FROM RYLA

Last weekend, RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) was in full effect. The 3-day event which began on Friday, November 14th and ended on Sunday, November 16th, was coordinated "to identify and give potential youth insight to leadership; to introduce them to Rotary, Interact, and Rotaract programs;  to get them involved in community service; to give them exposure to issues and exchange ideas with other leadership youth; to meet community leaders and mentors within our community."

This year's theme was Future Leaders/Future Rotarians and the weekend surely proved to put these kids in the right direction. VP Eric Baynes is the RYLA Chairperson for our Club. He and a group of  RYLA committee members of Rotarians that include Heflyn Royer, Terry Robinson, Elisabeth Anderson, Nathan Clark, Joan Birmingham, and Sylvia Felder, had a very memorable weekend. They organized several speakers to address the student participants which included Mike Burke, an Antilles School phys. ed. teacher who physically motivated the kids while teaching them vital leadership qualities. Nathan Clarke, a professional Boy Scout discussed the importance of working together as a team. Gloria Lindquist educated the kids about the consequences of  having sex, i.e. unwanted pregnancy, STDs, etc. She was accompanied by computerized babies and the kids were able to interact with them to have an idea of being responsible for the care of such a tiny, needy person.  VP Eric discussed money management with the kids. He got them to think about how to plan for the future by being financially responsible, i.e. budgeting and saving their dollars. Laurel Brannick of the National Park Service took the students on a shoreline walk to teach them about sea life, protecting your island and what actions are against the law.