Yohon Sinclair, a junior at Iola High School, conquered his fear of heights in late March at a camp near Tahlequah, Okla. RYLA IS coordinated by Rotary Clubs around the world, with the Tahlequah event embracing youngsters from through District 6610, which has clubs in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. COLBY WORKS lauded RYLA’s inspiration and high-energy.
That occurred when he and five classmates attended Rotary Youth Leadership Awards leadership camp. They told Iola Rotarians, their sponsors, about their experiences Thursday.
Sinclair said a course emphasizing climbing to what until then would have been a dizzying height for him became attainable with encouragement from a new-found friend. At the top they had the option of climbing down, but, with his confidence peaking, he opted to take a zip line — and enjoyed every second of it.
Arriving at the camp was a bit terrifying, Sinclair declared. Newcomers were greeted with yells and chants, so rambunctious that it was unnerving, but after that and some other ice-breakers, “I got comfortable,” Sinclair said.
Taelyn Sutterby also had a period of adjustment.
“I’m a follower, a quieter one,” she said, and RYLA taught her how not only to follow but also transition to leadership, crux of the three-day event. She learned an effective leader has to trust others, including those being led.
Sutterby also is discomforted by heights, but after scaling a 13-foot wall — with assistance from those she trusted — Sutterby felt “I could take on the world, that I can do whatever I want to.”
Time is spent in nearly non-stop exercises, mental and physical, meant to instill leadership qualities in participants.
This year’s six enrollees were the most Iola Rotary has sent. As an offshoot, participants and Rotarians are eager to see development of an Interact Rotary Club at Iola High School. The club will give students opportunities of full-fledged Rotarians, to put service to community and mankind above self.
RYLA was initiated in Queensland, Australia, in 1959, when local Rotary Clubs were invited to help plan an event to celebrate the upcoming state centennial. British Princess Alexandra, in her early 20s, was due to attend, so activities were planned specifically for her age group. More than 300 men and women 17 to 23 were involved, and thus was born RYLA, becoming an official Rotary project in 1960 to train young people in character, leadership, personal development and good citizenship.
Campers were put into Tribes — his was the Purple Cobras — and “it was incredible how tight we got in just three days,” Works said. He anticipated friendships made to last far beyond the three days of camp.
He gleaned a guiding light from one speaker, whose presentation emphasized that each person should “try to do your best everyday.”
“It was an amazing experience,” allowed Abigail Taylor, who felt like an internal battery “was all charged up by RYLA.”
She recalled a personality test that categorized by traits and gave her better understanding of why she got along well with some people, perhaps not so well with others.
The personality analysis, Taylor added, “opened my mind to how to improve relationships.”
Claire Moran learned to escape from her comfort zone. She “would have loved to sit back,” but drew on her expertise in art and became involved when “Colby appointed me to help him design our tribe’s flag.”
She learned cooperation in a game where several were charged with tying a knot in a rope while all but one was blindfolded, and during which they could not remove their hands from the rope. The second test came when they had to untie another tribe’s knot.
RYLA impressed enough that Moran said she was “ready to start with Interact” at IHS.
Joie Whitney told about a huge container of jelly beans meant to represent each day of a person life, to age 79. When it got down to one, the youths were asked what they would do, which put a thought in Whitney’s mind she never had had before: “What would I do.”
She said members of her tribe quickly meshed to the point that “we were like a big family at the end,” and called RYLA “my best experience.”
RYLA inspires students
