District 1140 Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) Weekend 2015 - 03/04/2015 - 06/04/2015

A guest post from our Social Officer, Helen, on this year's District 1140 Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) Weekend.

I helped with the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) over the Easter weekend. It took place in a lovely activity centre called Avon Tyrrell, in the beautiful countryside of the New Forest. It was great fun for all involved. Twenty students from local Sixth Forms participated. The staff consisted of 3 Rotarians from different clubs, myself and another Rotaractor from Portsmouth. The idea of the weekend was for the participants to develop and improve their communication, teamwork, and leadership skills. The accommodation was dormitories in the main house, and meals were provided in the dining hall, by the Centre.

The weekend included canoeing, low ropes, archery and a trust activity with the instructors from the Centre. The rest of the time was spent doing indoor activity sessions run by Rotary. These included a wide range of teamwork and communication based games, such as a fast paced coordination hat game. Another was a rumour game based on Chinese whispers, telling a short story. Others included silent teamwork games, which required different ways of communicating.

One of the most enjoyed activities run by Rotary was a creative egg race, in which the participants were split into four groups and each team had to design and make an object, out of any materials they could find, which they could use to propel an egg as far as possible, without breaking it. The winning team made wheels out of a stick and giant drafts pieces, sellotaped the stick to a chair trolley and put the egg on top, inside two cups sellotaped together, with tissue inside.

Another very much enjoyed activity was a treasure hunt in which participants were in teams, and had to find something ugly, a thing of beauty, something very light, a smooth round stone etc. from anywhere around the grounds. As judges, we had to disagree with what they found as much as we could, and they had to argue their reasons for why they thought it was a suitable object, which earned then more points, if it was a good argument. For example; one of them said the brick wall was ugly, but we argued it wasn't, as it consisted of different colours and had plants growing on it, so they had to find something else.

There were also sessions on 'Issues Affecting Young People' in which the participants listed all the issues they could think of, and put them together to make one long list. Some examples of issues which came up were unemployment, university fees, driving expenses, depression and abuse. The participants then got into groups to discuss who they could speak to about a particular issue, and what questions they could ask, which would help the problem. Each group shared their ideas with everybody else.

During evenings and daytime breaks, we all watched TV, and played table tennis, pool, Jenga and other games.

On the first day; myself and the Portsmouth Rotaractor said a few words about Rotaract to the participants, and the Rotarians told them about what Rotary do. We also had a visit from the District Governor and her husband, who is also in Rotary, and they gave a very inspiring talk to the participants about being a part of Rotary.

There was also a chance to go and see the local village Burley, one afternoon, which is a tourist area with interesting shops, including witch shops. There were lots of wild ponies around the village and in the fields by the road on the way to the village.

Feedback on what the participants liked about the weekend is as follows:

"I felt that because everyone and everything was so welcoming, we all bonded exceptionally."
"It was very diverse."
"A lot of messages were given to us through unique/interesting ways."
"Everybody got involved."
"There was a great reinforcement to interact with others."
"An emphasis on every person having a voice."
"Helped build up confidence and skills such as leadership."
"Communication skills were improved."
"It allowed you to be able to put your ideas across and be heard as well as communicate with different forms of communication."
"We learnt new skills that we can apply in the future."
"Game such as 'Rumours', 'Hats', and 'Sinbad' were all fun and taught us key features also on communication"
"Helped improve many life skills."
"The range of activities."
"The people, I've made friends which would last for a lifetime, at least, I hope."

Some feedback from participants on what they learnt is as follows:

"How to connect as a team and utilize all members strengths in each task when meeting new people."

"If you do not take the most obvious route through a situation an alternative pathway may be just as good."

"Different aspect in order to communicate your message and what could happen if the correct message doesn’t go across, meaning that people will only listen/remember to the things that they want."

"How to become more of a leader, as I've gained new confidence due to the course"

"That people are more accepting and less judgemental than I had anticipated"

"To compromise for others, even when you don't want to"

"To help become a better leader, team player and a good communicator at getting a message across to people"

"To trust strangers to a certain extent"