RYLA 2025 Preparation Begins
By Phil Giordano, District Youth Services Chair, Kennebunkport RC
On Sunday August 25th, approximately thirty members of the RYLA staff gathered under the leadership of Co-Directors Tim Moyer (Kennebunkport RC) and Jacey Chavez (Portland RC). The goal of the summer gathering, and facilitator training is to bring the team together to build community, as well as, to take some time for self-development.
The day began with a RYLA Leadership team meeting with a focus on setting the stage in terms of communication and expectations for the coming year.
RYLA senior staff consists of members with more than five years of service in the program and have stepped forward for increasing levels of responsibility. As the Leadership Team they act as a think tank to ensure programs are adapted to meet the needs of the current campers, help plan the logistics for camp, marketing, promoting, and ultimately, they learn the workings of what it takes to run a successful Youth Leadership Camp. Staff members as far away as California and Scotland joined the meeting via zoom. The next step that Tim and Jacey are working on is forming the various committees that RYLA Staff will run and participate in during what is known as the off season, but those of us in Rotary and RYLA know there is never truly time off.
Fun is a big part of the RYLA experience. When the whole staff gathered Tim and staff member Katie Callahan kicked off the celebration with a musical performance of a saxophone – clarinet duet. RYLA Training Director Bridget Monteith organized and facilitated a few hours of fun and reflection activities designed to get staff members thinking about how to use their facilitator tools in everyday life. Do you have a plan of how to implement the 4-way test as you face obstacles and look to achieve your goals? Do you have an accountability partner that reaches out and checks in on how you are doing with implementing your plan and helping you process the results? Well, the RYLA team left the day with both.
Now a RYLA gathering would not be complete without Jacey running some games like Big Bootie and having a cookout and campfire. Community in action is having the personal bonds that connect all of us as we look to take on the impossible. RYLA is a movement and not an event.
Be on the lookout for details for the RYLA Coordinators meeting on the November 16th from 8:30 to 12:30 at USM. Save the date and mark your calendars. This is where we will bring together all clubs and their youth services focused club members. For your club it may be one person in a Youth Services Chair position, or you may have a RYLA Coordinator, an Interact Advisor, and a Youth Exchange person, or you might just want to get more involved and find out more about youth services in District 7780. During this meeting Tim and Jacey will have the marketing material for RYLA 2025 so you can hit the ground running in January to find your 2025 campers. We will also hear from many RYLA staff members and continue to bridge the Rotary Youth Connection.