Our club sponsored Sam to attend RYLA this year. Sam said that RYLA had made a profound impact on his life, and went so far as to say it had changed its trajectory.
RYLA was held at Knox Grammar School for a week in January. All 80 participants stayed on site for the week, and the activities were run and mentored by Rotary Volunteers. They had activities during the day, and his favourite part of the experience was the reflection groups in the evenings. Six of them were selected in each group, and they had an appointed facilitator. He explained that there is a secrecy element to RYLA, so that activities came as a surprise—although he said they often felt like a deer in the headlights. They were certainly going into the unknown.
Although his sister had been a RYLA leader, Sam had no preconceived ideas, and felt pushed to his limits and they often had to think on the fly. He felt they had all learned who they really are and how they react under pressure. Eighty people act very differently, and it gave each participant a gauge as to what they needed to work on, and what were their strengths.
Sam said he had done quite a lot of travel in his 22 years, which gave him quite a lot of experience. But he said the experience he had at RYLA was 1000 times more, without leaving the country! Meeting his reflection group he found quite awkward on the first night, but those people realised over the week that they had far more in common than they had first imagined, and that their differences are quite minor. They are now all the best of friends and are even contemplating a trip together.
One of the big things he learned at RYLA was that he had previously no real interest in his community, but now he is keen to work on himself and share with others. He has a new power, and believes in himself. He wants to bring people together . He is bringing together a group of six—some from RYLA and several from his friend group here on the Central Coast, and they are proposing to start a new Rotaract Club.
He asked his sister whether she could see a difference in him since his RYLA experience. She told him he seemed like a grown man for the first time.
