Faith Meckley, RLYA 2012

   Our club’s RYLA representative, Faith Meckley, was the guest speaker at our August 22 meeting.  Faith is about to begin her senior year at Palmyra-Macedon High School, where she has been an active leader in the Interact program.  After graduation, she intends to go on to college and then into journalism.

   This June the district’s annual RYLA session was held at RIT, and Faith attended under our club’s sponsorship.  RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, give thousands of young adults around the world the chance to attend seminars, camps, and workshops where leadership skills are discussed and learned through practice.

   Faith shared some of her experiences with us, and told us how the participants arrived as a bunch of “lost strangers” who became fast friends by week’s end.  The primary teacher in this course was Ted Baumhauer, who Faith tells us was very inspiring.  He liked to say that the course was more than training, and not just entertainment, but “EnterTrainment.”  Faith was impressed with the way the teachers lifted the students up, congratulating them for their strengths, but also brought them back down for their weaknesses.  This forced them to look at themselves in new ways.

   Listening to Faith’s talk, it was obvious she gained a lot from her RYLA session, and that she was grateful for the opportunity.  Her experiences at RYLA should help her on her way to success as a student, as a leader, and as a member of her community.



       Faith Meckley, with Club RYLA Chair Nancy Schrader.

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