Each year we raise funds and arrange transport for two local students to attend our local Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) course at Castleton in Derbyshire. This year we were delighted to have the opportunity to send three candidates, James, Emie and Freya who all attend Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Alford.
It is always appreciated for the students to attend one of our meetings afterwards and give a presentation on their experiences. The preparation and delivery of the presentation is a valuable experience in its own right as James mentioned himself.
Despite addressing a room of (mostly) strangers, all three candidates appeared relaxed and confident and spoke very articulately about their experiences. The course is designed to foster confidence and leadership skills and all three felt it had helped them in those areas. Interestingly they also talked about the benefit of having to work in teams with strangers outside of their usual friend groups as would be the case within the school environment.
It was clear that all had enjoyed the experience and gained a lot from it. It was particularly gratifying to hear that one of our candidates intends to return to Castleton as a volunteer.
RYLA is a project that gives Rotarians an opportunity to positively impact the lives of young people and we are grateful to Rotarian Chris Lilley who manages our club’s involvement and drove the candidates to the centre. Rotarian Len Taylor was also involved in securing the centre’s future in Rotary’s hands and collected James, Emie and Freya.