By Alissa Reddy Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic High School Waterford, MI June 22, 2009 RYLA Rotary Youth Leadership Awards May 2009

What is RYLA? Rotary Youth Leadership Awards A program for young people Designed to develop the qualities of leadership Good citizenship Individual motivation Purpose: to bring students together from Southeast Michigan and southwest Ontario for a weekend of speakers, skits, projects, and fun. Chance to learn how to be a better leader Practice their public speaking skills Make new friends

What did I learn? As a good leader, I learned to listen to the needs of others in the group. Getting everyone in the group involved in the activity or conversation. It is good to be different with your ideas. I learned how to include those who are not as outgoing. I got them involved in the group so that they would feel comfortable. Also, I learned that there are different types of leaders: Expressive, Commanding, Steady, and Accurate. I am Accurate which has a personality that is controlled, cautious, precise, and rule orientated.

The first day..arriving at University of Guelph This is the building that we roomed in. Anna, Eva, and Sierra are the first friends that I met. We walked around the campus when we got there and looked around. Ridgetown Campus

My Group: JABANESSM! Everyone was given a group which consisted of students and an adult leader In the group we worked together create a skit and a cheer We also did leadership games Each group met in an assigned room where we practiced our skit and cheer, played games, and became good friends!

Skit We had to choose a global issue and make a skit from that issue. We chose ABUSE: Child-Child, Adult-Child, and Adult-Adult. My group worked really hard and came up with a great skit which was voted tie for first place. In this skit we were a family with the father being verbally abusive to the mother and his children.

Games In this game, we all grabbed each others hands and tried to get untangled. We were not successful the first time. Later in our free time, we got together and did it again. This showed teamwork and planning. We did group games during our free time.

Guest Speakers RYLA had guest speakers from Australia. They talked about their country and themselves. There was also exchange students who attended the Conference. We had two students: one from Mexico and Germany. Mauricio Exchange Student

Saturday Night Banquet We attended a semi-formal banquet where we had dinner. After dinner they hosted a dance and it was enjoyed by everyone. I have to say I was disappointed that I was missing my Junior Prom at my high school but it worked out for the better because the RYLA dance was more fun!

More Friends At around midnight, I played cards with my new friends in my room. We got to know each other better and it was really fun. This is my group with our certificates of participation.

Thank you…. Overall, I had so much fun! The most important lesson I learned on this trip was: to be true to yourself and a good leader is a “great” listener! I loved meeting new people friends. I think I am a stronger leader now because I attended RYLA. I would recommend RYLA to anyone because you not only learn how to be a better leader, you also learn more about yourself. Usually, I am really shy but I “got out of my box” because of RYLA and this experience. I have kept in contact with my teammates through Facebook and we are planning a summer trip to Cedar Point. I would just like to say THANK YOU once more! Thank you for sponsoring me. I had tons of fun and I will remember this for the rest of my life.