Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is a fun, intensive leadership experience where you will develop leadership, teambuilding, and problem-solving skills. This unique experience promotes individual growth and leadership capabilities of high school juniors and sophomores through physical, mental, emotional and intellectual challenges. You will be interacting with members of your team and volunteer counselors as you work through these challenges together.
Dates, Times and Places: Camp begins Friday, April 19, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at Camp St. Croix near Hudson, Wisconsin, and ends at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at the St. Paul Intercontinental Hotel. From Friday evening to early Tuesday morning, the program takes place at Camp St. Croix. On Tuesday, a bus will take students to the St. Paul Intercontinental Hotel for the Awards Luncheon in conjunction with the St. Paul Rotary Club meeting.
Transportation: Your Rotary Club is responsible for your students’ transportation from their home to Camp St. Croix on April 19th and from St. Paul to their home on April 23rd. We do not allowed students to drive their own cars to Camp!
Participation: Rotary Clubs from Districts 5960 and 5950 may sponsor students to attend Camp RYLA. We are planning for 84-100 students this year. Our programming targets juniors in high school, but we will accept sophomores and seniors. We can accept up to six students from any particular school and prefer an even match of genders.
Cost: Clubs pay $500 per student sponsored. There is no cost to the participating students.
Involvement Needed from Your Club:
Make a commitment to participate!
Enter your club contact and number of students you plan to sponsor on the Camp RYLA website.
- Contact staff of youth-serving organizations, such as high school principal(s)/counselor(s), and provide RYLA Information. We will provide more specific individual information as we obtain information from Minnesota and Wisconsin schools.
- Review applications and make student selections and any alternates.
- Follow-up with applications from students immediately prior to camp.
Resources
- Camp RYLA website: www.campryla.org
- Rotary International RYLA Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEbaQzCoobk
- Brochure Template is attached.
If you have questions, please reach out to District 5960 RYLA Chair Pete Grayson at: graysonlaw.mac.com or via phone at 612-598-5907.
About RYLA: This event has been run by the St. Paul Club since the 1950s which makes it one of the longest running programs in Rotary worldwide.
Officially adopted by Rotary International in 1971, RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is one of the most significant and fastest growing programs of Rotary service. Each year thousands of young people take part in the program worldwide. The impact spreads further as the program influences other young people.
RYLA programs often lead to the formation or strengthening of Rotaract and Interact clubs. RYLA aims to:
- Provide high school students with challenges and experiences that promote an interest in leadership, team building and problem solving; to provide them with tools and experiences for them to use in practicing and developing these traits; and to instill within them a desire to purse leadership opportunities in the future..
- Create a safe and welcoming event within the framework of Rotary’s 4-Way Test: Is it the Truth? / Is it Fair for All Concerned? / Will it Build Good Will and Better Friendships, and / Will it Be Beneficial to All Concerned?
- Build individual student’s confidence in their ability to engage, challenge, listen, be heard and make decisions as part of a group or team.
- Have FUN and form lasting friendships.
