Students Learn Valuable Lessons Through Rotary Program

“People say that certain experiences changed their lives.  The RYLA leadership weekend changed my outlook on life. I’ll never look at things the same way again,” declared Ben Papke, a senior, at the May 13 meeting.

Papke was talking about his experience one of ten students selected to participate in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program this spring.

Students spent four days and three nights listening to speakers, sharing experiences, taking Outward Bound training and participating in “experiments” designed to identify their leadership styles and help them develop leadership skills.

“The best thing about it is that everyone treats everyone else like an adult,” said Kayla Cluff, who was at RYLA for the second time after having “begged” organizers to let her in again.  

Cluff particularly remembers an experience where she worked with a team of students to build a protective cage for an egg so it could be dropped from a height without breaking.

“We did that right after learning what our leadership styles were and it was interesting to see how everyone let their own skills come out," she said.

Emily Melavic, a junior, also participated. She said that the skills she learned will be most helpful as she takes over the presidency of the high school’s Interact Club, which is the student Rotary Club. The Interact Club is currently the largest extra-curricular club at the school, with 80 fully-qualified members.  

Interact students live Rotary’s “Service Above Self” motto by volunteering for a wide variety of projects including Feed the Starving Children, Citizens for Conservation, the Lake Zurich Food Pantry, Special Olympics and the Lake Zurich Business Expo, among others. Interact’s Badminton Bash raised $1,600 for Cystic Fibrosis research during the school’s Charity Bash. Interact students even sponsor a girl named Silanda in Tanzania and will continue to do so until she graduates from school.

Is all of the volunteer time, including the long weekend at RYLA, worth the time away from studies and friends? Kayla Cluff is a believer:  “I wrote about RYLA and how much it helped me in all my college essays and I am going to Miami of Ohio this fall. Other kids should definitely do this, especially if they think they aren’t really leaders. It’s such a family  - it will bring [leadership] out in you.”

This story was submitted by Nancy Shepherdson, treasurer of the Lake Zurich Rotary Club.