2015 RYLA PARTICIPANTS

Image: Rachael Ryan, Jessie Sheppard and Matthew Reynolds

Rotarian Terry O'Neill introduced Rachael Ryan and Matthew Reynolds who are our RYLA participants for this year. He also introduced Jessie Sheppard who was a RYLA participant last year and is now a Rotoractor.

He went on to describe The Rotary Youth Leadership Award, better known as RYLA, as a Rotary Youth Leadership training program for young people aged 18 to 25 and takes place over 6 days at Kangaroobie, Princetown. The program is run by a team of provessionals and is described as exciting, innovative and inspiring. It begins next Monday, 6 April and runs through to Saturday 11 April.

The program demonstrates Rotary's respect and concern for youth, covering leadership skills and issues, public speaking and communication skills, goal setting and motivation, development of self-confidence and self-esteem and also provides career guidance. It is a great opportunity for young adults to take part in what many past participants describe as a life changing experience.

At Tuesday's meeting we had as guests two nominees for RYLA this year, Rachael Ryan who is employed and sponsored by South West Credit Union. David Brown and his team at South West Credit have been great supporters of the RYLA program with a number of their staff taking part in past year, including one of ouor Club guests tonight in Jessie Sheppard. Our other nominee is Matthew Reynolds. Matthew is also being sponsored by his employer, the Department of Environment and Primary Industries, where he works with a great advocate for the RYLA program in Rotarian Michael Boyd.

Unfortunately, our third nominee, Samuel Rauert who is being sponsored by his grandfather, Rotarian Ron Rauert, was unable to attend the meeting on Tuesday as he had to return to university study that morning.

Both Rachael and Matthew then introduced themselves to Club members. Matthew is originally from Queensland. He started with the Department of Primary Industries and is a Dairy Extension Officer in genetics. His father is a Rotarian who has also been involved in RYLA. He thanked Michael Boyd for the nomination and support. Rachael is a Customer Service Officer at South West Credit. She is looking forward to enhancing her leadership skills through the RYLA program. Rachael plays netball for the Eagles and enjoys drawing. She is a local girl and is looking forward to the week at Kangaroobie. She thanked David Brown for his support.

We all look forward to meeting with Matthew, Rachael and Samuel on 28 April to find out how they found the RYLA program. Jessie Sheppard will be our guest speaker on that night and will be telling us of her experiences as a RYLA participant "One Year On".