RYLA Youth Leadership Camp for District 5650
Posted by Tom Cardwell
on May 12, 2015
The 2015 RYLA youth leadership event was held April 17-19, 2015 at Camp Kitaki again this year and went very well. The camp is geared towards high school juniors and focuses on leadership development and ethical principled behavior in life.This year we had 41 students and 4 student counselors (past participants that came back to help).
The staff included Tom and Jenny Cardwell, Jim Pink, Jason Smith (Kitaki Executive Director), Sue O’Connell, Emira Ibrahimpasic, Matt Horak, Ryker Jen Yung Lee, and Paul Ehernberger.
We were assisted by Former RYLA alumni who came back as counselors. They included Mia Azizah, Ray Ramone, Kristian Rocha, and Kristi Einspahr. The counselors were a great help assisting students and staff with projects and activities.
District Governor-elect Rod Bates visited and did an excellent job introducing Rotary and its importance in the world. He filled in for Brian Moon who was out of state. The weekend was packed with activities and speakers.
One prominent event involved a Skype conference between Tetyana Strelchenko (a Ukrainian friend of mine who was a graduate student at UNO in 2005 and who currently lives in Kiev) and a political Science professor from UNL, Dr. Courtney Hillibrecht. They frankly discussed world conflicts and how governments and citizens attempt to resolve them. Dr. Hillibrecht is a former RYLA participant herself. Students asked lots of questions about conflicts and how to peacefully resolve them. Students came to realize there were no simple answers. Actually that is a theme of the camp. Life is complicated and often requires good critical thinking skills tempered with compassion.
We also introduced two elected officials (State senator Kate Bolz and Lancaster County Engineer Pam Dingman) who came and discussed what it is like to run for elective office and the particular challenges of being female and or young when trying to establish one’s self. Another plenary session featured Rotarian Grant Standley (an accomplished young business person and former RLI grad) who spoke about personal initiative and entrepreneurship. Again there was great interaction with the audience. Rotarian Lance Odem from Duncan Aviation came and introduced some vignettes of people in the work place where ethical principles sometimes compete or collide. Again highlighting the importance of gathering information from multiple sources and perspective taking. Critical thinking was emphasized throughout the camp. There were several other speakers not accounted for in this article and all seemed to reach students and stimulate discussion.
For fun we featured a dance one night and a camp fire and s’mores the other night. Paul Ehrenberger hosted a jam session on Friday night where students could sing or play instruments together. In truth some excellent talent emerged. We also had workshops where students worked together to design structures together in teams and then competed with other teams to accomplish a goal such as who could build the highest Spaghetti and Marshmallow building. As it turns out a very engaging activity with no end to ideas proffered. :D
New outside activities included “high challenge course” elements. Students were able to use the climbing wall for example and some other elements that required harnesses.
The evaluations were quite positive over all. As a point of information for people who may not know the RYLA core curriculum tries to stress the following tenets:
RYLA's Core Curriculum
Every RYLA includes the following topics:
1) Fundamentals of leadership
2) Ethics of positive leadership
3) Importance of communication skills in effective leadership
4) Problem-solving and conflict management
5) Rotary's purpose and service to the community
6) Building self confidence and self-esteem
7) Elements of community and global citizenship
We try to stress these principles every year.