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ELKINS -- Madalynn Ferguson and Raighan Carte visited with the Elkins Rotary Club to talk about their summer experience at RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards). Joining them was Rotary Past District Governor Dennis Shreve, who serves as District 7545's Youth Service Chair.
Ferguson is the daughter of Elkins Rotarian Hoy Ferguson and Teresa Ferguson of Elkins. Carte is the daughter of Heather Hall and John Carte of Elkins. Joining them at the RYLA conference was Amy Dong of Elkins, daughter of Jennifer and Danny Dong of Elkins.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards is an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts where young people can develop leadership skills while having fun and making connections. This year's District 7545 RYLA conference was held in May at Jackson's Mill.
"There were students from all over the state. Throughout the weekend, we listened to speakers, participated in team building exercises and completed a community service project," said Ferguson. The group also held a campfire, sang songs and did icebreaker activities to make new friends.
This year's RYLA conference had approximately 40 participants. Prior to COVID, the group numbered around 100.
"Hopefully, we can start getting that number back again," said Shreve.
Throughout the weekend, a number of speakers addressed the group. Among the speakers were a representative of Free Meals Appalachia and a professor from WVU. Founded in 2021, and located in Buckhannon, Free Meals Appalachia is an organization that is dedicated to fighting hunger in this area. The group crowd-sources materials and supplies and makes use of social media to solicit food donations each week.
A favorite project of those who participated in RYLA was the packing of 10,000 meals for Rise Against Hunger. Rise Against Hunger is a global movement to end hunger by empowering communities, nourishing lives and responding to emergencies. Meals packed consist mainly of beans and rice supplemented with vitamins and minerals. The meals will most likely be sent to African or South American nations. According to Shreve, the District will be notified where the meals are sent.
A favorite presenter of Carte's was a professor from WVU's department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
"That made me light up a little bit because I've been very interested in engineering and aerospace engineering. He brought some drones and we got to fly those around and take some photos. That was pretty cool. We programed the drones to do flips in the air, fly across the room, go up to the ceiling, it was a real fund experience," said Carte.
"The best part of RYLA was making new friends. Throughout RYLA we were able to become closer to one another. We were able to make friends across our home state. A cool thing about making friends across your home state is that you still get to see them in other parts since we're such a small state," concluded Ferguson.
Shreve also spoke with the club about Rotary's youth exchange program. Elkins Rotary is hosting Lilou Roiseux from Belgium. During the current year, District 7545 is hosting two in-bound students, one in Elkins and a student from Taiwan in Kingwood.
Rotary Youth Exchange is open to students aged 15-19. Students learn a new language, discover another culture and truly become global citizens. They also develop lifelong leadership skills and build lasting friendships with young people from around the world.
There are two programs within Rotary Youth Exchange -- a short-term exchange that lasts three weeks over the summer and a long-term exchange. The short-term exchange is a matching of students of same age and gender with the students spending three weeks with each other's families. The long-term exchange takes place over the entirety of a school year with students being placed with a host Rotary club in a foreign country.
The students stay with Rotary or Rotary approved host families, attend school and learn about the culture of their host country. Applications for the 2024-2025 long-term exchange are due by December.
More information about Rotary Youth Exchange can be found at Rotary's website, www.rotary.org or by contacting the President Kenny George.
Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change -- across the globe, in their communities, and in themselves.
Visit www.Rotary.org to learn more about Rotary International. Visit the club's Facebook page, Rotary Club of Elkins, or contact club President Kenny George at kenneth.george@blueridgeriskpartners.com.