Rotary Youth share their recent experience

This summer, two Douglas High School students attended the local Rotary Youth Leadership Award-Academy in Portola, Calif., with other students from Rotary District 5190.

Jacob Haire’s interest in participating in the academy stemmed from his past two years in leadership class. 

He describes himself as shy and is trying to improve on that aspect.  During RYLA, he enjoyed getting to know other participants and now his “phone contacts are filled up.”  The team building activities deepened this aspect.  Jacob shared that he grew a lot from the group discussions.  Jacob’s goal was “to learn and improve myself to hopefully improve the world.”  Jacob’s parents were both at the Rotary meeting and his mom shared that Jacob “took it upon himself because he knew that is where he wanted to grow.”

Kaylee Bradford shared that “RYLA was not what I expected.”  She said she learned you can’t judge a person because you don’t know who they are and she learned to be more vulnerable.  She most enjoyed meeting new people and improving her communication skills.  She also “learned to be more involved and help who I can.”  When asked what the most important quality of a leader is, Kaylee spoke about two aspects “communication and getting ideas clear” as well as “engagement - hearing and acknowledging people’s opinion.”  Kaylee will expand her Rotary experience as a part of Interact - a Rotary club at the high school level. 

RYLA is an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts where young people can develop leadership skills while having fun and making connections.  The Minden Rotary club will be seeking two high school students in the Spring of 2025 to participate.