LESLIE: ($2) Awesome visioning experience. Happy for Eric Sun and his wife who just purchased a home in Sterling.

 

DIANA (speaker):($1) Happy to be here (even though the room is half empty) and

In 2010 New Generations (renamed Youth Service in 2013) was added as the Fifth avenue of service of Rotary, joining the other Four avenues as the foundation of the Rotary clubs activity. 

Youth Service recognizes the positive change implemented by youth and young adults through leadership development activities as Interact, Rotaract, RYLA, and creating international understanding with Rotary Youth Exchange.

This partnership is mutually beneficial. Great way to energize your club is getting young people involved. It is a very powerful PR tool - a big platform for making your club visible in the community. Including youth activities as part of service projects has many benefits: community involvement; engaging youth and show them what Rotary is; building their leadership skills; increasing membership in our Clubs – potential members are their teachers, parents and coaches. Young people are the future of Rotary. For the young generation, Service is in their blood. They are team-oriented. Attracting and engaging them is an easy task – invite them to a meeting, work together at your club’s function or project, start an Interact club in your middle or high school, go to their events or meetings, sponsor students to go to RYLA, sponsor an exchange student. 

Our District participates in 4 Youth Programs:

Interact – International action

 

Interact clubs bring together young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self. First Interact club has been chartered in 1962 in Florida. Today there are 20,372 Interact clubs with 468,556 Interactors in 159 countries. We have 27 Interact clubs in our District. Interact clubs organize at least two projects every year, one that helps their school or community and one that promotes international understanding. Rotary club sponsors mentor and guide Interactors as they carry out projects and develop leadership skills. The most important thing is for the Rotary Clubs to stay close to the Interact members to keep them vibrant and connected with the Rotary activities: exchange meeting visits and invite quarterly presentations by the Interact teens and their parents.

 

RYLA - Rotary Youth Leadership Awards

 

RYLA is Rotary Leadership training and personal development program for high school sophomores. RYLA is designed for students with potential or proven leadership ability and a commitment to community service. RYLA gives students a chance to LEAD and to Challenge themselves. Almost all clubs in our District send participants to the conference. Our District participants meet at the end of June for a 3-day conference that includes presentations, activities and workshops on: Leadership Fundamentals, Ethics, Communication skills, Problem solving, Conflict management, Community and Global Citizenship

 

Rotaract brings together young people ages 18-30 in colleges, universities and communities worldwide to organize service activities, develop their leadership and professional skills. Rotary clubs sponsor them, but Rotaract club members manage and fund their clubs independently. First Rotaract club has been chartered in 1968 in North Carolina. Today there are 10,447 Clubs in 185 countries with 241,000 members worldwide. We have 3 school based Rotaract clubs and 1 community based club in our District.

 

ESSEX – Eastern States Student Exchange Program

 

Each year about 8,000 students from around the world participate in Rotary Youth Exchange programs, travelling to another country for one school year or short-term summer exchange. The most powerful force in the promotion of international understanding and peace is exposure to different cultures. Youth Exchange gives the opportunity to meet people from other lands and to experience their cultures. This plants the seeds for a lifetime of international understanding. By crossing borders, the exchange program, changes lives. This year in our District we have 5 outbound students from the Rotary Clubs of: Needham, Bedford, Acton-Boxborough, Ayer and Framingham and 5 inbound students respectively from France, Japan, Argentina, Denmark and Australia. Give your Club the gift of hosting a student. Open your arms, embrace a student – you will change someone’s life and they will change yours forever.