Today the RYLA students took over and ran the meeting from start to finish and did a great job.   They handled every aspect from pledge to introductions of guests to invocation and even fined Jim Ryder $100.  For those who don’t know, RYLA stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Award and the young people who attend from Arcadia High School will without a doubt represent the leadership of tomorrow.  This three day weekend allows them to meet, bond, and team up with youth from other cities, states and even continents.  The first reporter, Danielle, talked about her activity named LEGO which gave a team member a LEGO piece that no one could see.  She had to explain to her teammates what it was so they could design and build one.  It is an excellent method of communicating a message from one to another and using everyone’s individual talent to get the job done.  Next was an exercise called Decision Delima, in which participants had a choice to make ethical and moral decisions or not.  It was presented in the form of a question that asked “what would you do if you had the choice to use an answer sheet dropped by your teacher knowing there was an important test which would change your low grade”.  The decision was to either use the test (unethical) or return it to the teacher (moral & ethical).  As more evidence was presented later the students used the four way test to help make good decisions.

The Trust Fall exercise was one where an individual has to trust others when he falls off the bleachers backwards and has to trust teammates.  This is an exercise in showing support of teammates who choose not to fall as well as support those who do.  The Rock Climb was done blindfolded.  It’s a three minute climb listening to others guiding you and trusting them to get to your goal location.  All the RYLA students learned leadership, patience and teamwork which will prepare them for great successes in the future.  One student quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson by saying “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”.

Pat Dolphin