Nine Carthage High School juniors recently returned from the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) retreat and joined Carthage Rotary Club on Thursday night to share their experiences. As the Rotarians saw retreat pictures and the students took turns explaining the best parts of their RYLA adventure, words like amazing, life-changing, eye-opening, heart-opening were expressed over and over. They shared what they learned about themselves, the new friends they made (many with views very different from their own), how they were challenged in new ways (including a high ropes course and trust falls), how they learned to listen to and rely on people they just met, the new skills they hoped to put into action, and why they were so thankful for the experience.
The 26th annual RYLA camp for Rotary District 6110 was held on October 18-21 at the Salvation Army Heart of the Hills facility located in Welling, Oklahoma. Representing Carthage were Adara Smith, Hannah Reid, Grace Lewis, Arden Reid, Abraham Figueroa, Lydia Carlson, Gracie Wood, Ainsley Frieling and Lilly Towe. Past attendee Eli Paden also returned to RYLA as a Chief (youth leader). RYLA is a Rotary sponsored youth leadership training program, designed to enhance our community’s youth leaders’ communication and leadership skills, while breaking them out of their comfort zones and encouraging service above self. RYLA gives students the confidence to spread their ideas of impact to their community and world, while becoming life changers in the lives of others. Carthage Rotary Club Board Member and RYLA Coordinator Heather Goff Collier visited CHS earlier this fall to hold an RYLA informational meeting for interested juniors. Carthage Rotary looks to send students who have good grades and hearts, and are looking for new ways to learn and grow in the areas of leadership, communication, diversity, vision, mission, teamwork, service, selflessness, and Rotary. Following completion of an application and essay, 9 students were selected for sponsorship to the retreat. All retreat expenses and transportation were covered by Carthage Rotary.
After returning from RYLA, some of the students jumped into action with the CHS Interact Club, a high school-level Rotary service Club sponsored by Carthage Rotary and advised by Mrs. Jessica Benipal, while others are eager to put their new skills to good use in various ways to make their school and community a better one. One student is inspired to learn more about Rotary Youth Exchange to study abroad. All say they are forever changed and ready to apply to go back again next year as CITs (Chiefs in Training).
A key mission of Carthage Rotary Club is building the next generation of service-minded leaders, and the Club fosters this mission annually through local service projects such as Dictionaries for Third Graders, RYLA Sponsorships for CHS Juniors, CHS Interact Club Sponsorship, 4-Way Speech Contest at CHS and College Scholarships for Graduating CHS Seniors. To learn more about the work of Carthage Rotary, visit Facebook/CarthageMissouriRotaryClub or carthagerotary.org.
