By: Sam Klemarczyk and Emily Rumble, New Voices RC, RYLA Co-Directors
The RYLA Retreat we hosted this year was an absolute success! We called it “a RYLA Retreat”, instead of a regular camp week, and used it to invest in our staff and connect with RYLArians, past and present. It was a 2-day affair, complete with RYLA swag, leadership-development activities, a final campfire, and more! After a year of not being able to see one another, to connect and build community, this Retreat was vital to the success of our 2022 RYLA camp week. Staff was able to catch-up with one another and spend both days exploring their leadership strengths, honing their facilitating skills, and taking a close look at the RYLA curriculum to make sure we are catering to the modern-day camper.
We also used this time to give all kinds of gratitude to Phil Giordano as he stepped down from being Camp Director after 6-years of leading the program. We used the final campfire as a means to say “thank you” to Phil and to transition leadership to Sam Klemarczyk and Emily Rumble. We were beyond grateful to work closely with the District Governors and the rest of the leadership team, as well as the Boy Scouts at Camp Hinds, to make that weekend happen! Thank you, thank you, too, to all the Rotary Clubs that helped make this happen through fundraising for the event and supporting staff members.
We are in the off-season stage of RYLA! From September all the way to June (when we host our RYLA camp week), the RYLA staff is busy training, creating curriculum, recruiting campers, planning RYLA camp week, and working with Rotary clubs: we call this the “off-season.” Sam and Emily have been working recently to get the ball rolling for RYLA Camp Week 2022. RYLA will take place for campers at Camp Hinds next year from Sunday, June 26th - Wednesday, June 29th. We have created some awesome posters, brochures, etc. for each Rotary club in our District to bring to their local schools to help promote the program. We also hope that these materials will help Rotary clubs and their local high schools connect! Please be on the lookout for updated information regarding these materials in the next couple of weeks.
Lastly, we are currently planning a RYLA clean-up day for the Fall to help get Camp Hinds ready for Spring 2022. We will use this time to clean trails, make sure campsites are clear, address the needs of the low-ropes and high-ropes courses, etc., as well as use some time to do some Fall training with staff. We may need some volunteers to help us with a clean-up, so please be on the lookout for updated information regarding this event, if you’d like to join us in cleaning up Camp Hinds.