Rotary Youth Leadership Awards

A busy weekend has come and gone. This rendition of RYLA will probably stand as the best yet. But a perfect storm of wonderful delegates (students), professional staff and programming, and weather collided.

The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards recognize top students with leadership potential. The leadership convention is led by Rotary volunteers, namely Tony Engrassia, Heather Perdue, and Ed Cross. They trio hails from throughout the state, but convene hear annually for a great workshop. Nearly 75 kids were guided on leadership, responsibility, professionalism, and teambuilding.

To keep the convention "cool", a Movie Night, with popcorn and candy is offerred, as is a scavenger hunt in which teams of the applicants must compete, all while "bound" by "raccoon circles". It was tons of fun...

Sara, Our Marketing Director, led the Etiquette Dinner. Me and my program staff (which is totally awesome) and three of out servers served the food. Lee, along with the cooks, prepared a wonderful 5 courser. It all started with Bacon Tomato Bisque (made by Lee and I!), followed by a house salad, bread, herb chicken & rice pilaf w/ spring vegetables, and finally, a chocolate raspberry tart.

Several of the delegates will go home with ringing ears, as our very own program staffer Kali Beach did the damage. She serves as the local Mouth of the South. She'll never use a microphone. She doesn't need one.

Jonathan Casper helped delegates build the Service Project - a compilation of wood, screws, and bolts helped for some of the sturdiest picnic tables I have ever seen.

Kali, Mea, and AJ performed admirably on the Team Challenge Course. Delegates could be heard deliberating, strategizing, and even laughing throughout the day as the trio puzzled them on the elements...

A great weekend for sure...Becoming an Outdoor Woman (BOW) follows this weekend. Nearly 100 people will learn to enjoy the outdoors even more...

Enjoy the day...