APRIL 24, 2012 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Camp RYLA Closing Celebration

Club 10 Business Report

On a fine spring afternoon in downtown Saint Paul, Club 10 celebrated the completion of the 2012 Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and conference) by welcoming all student campers to the weekly meeting.  After an icebreaker exercise led by Junior Counselor ("JC") Ken Wilson, President Doug Bruce brought the meeting to order at 12:35 p.m.  The Camp RYLA Song Committee led the assembled Rotarians in singing This Land Is Your Land.  Campers Luis Estrada-Guzman and Hemraj Nimnauth provided today's invocation and facilitated the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests including today's visitors from Bolivia.  Today's Greeters were Merry Butikis and Margaret Preska.

Trip Lund appealed for volunteers to fill the remaining available shifts for this weekend's Feed My Starving Children packing event sponsored by the Saint Paul Rotary Club.  An invitation was extended to the Camp RYLA participants to join the meal packing event. President Doug provided a brief explanation of the local, district and international structure of Rotary for the benefit of the campers so they could understand the significance of past president Joe Kovarik's election as District Governor.  President Doug then asked for a Camp RYLA ovation in Joe's honor for taking on the District Governorship.  Shelly Rucks invited all to attend Joe's installation as District Governor at an event to be held at the Minnesota Historical Society on Tuesday, June 19 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

President Doug then introduced today's Camp RYLA student masters-of-ceremonies, Miranda Olson and Alex Phernetton.  The student MC's asked representatives from each of the six color groups at Camp RYLA to come forward to be introduced. Student speakers Jamie Kiefer and Andrew Roggeman were invited to the podium.  They thanked the sponsoring Rotary Clubs for Camp RYLA and pledged to recommend the experience to future students.  Next, a color group cheer was demonstrated by the Red Group, the "Red Bulls."  Speakers representing the JC's, Demetrius Neal and Shelby Van Slooten then spoke, describing the experience of a JC.  The Song Committee performed "100 Years" (by the band Five for Fighting) immediately before an address from adult counselors ("ACs") Brianna Vujovich and George Xiong outlining the leadership experiences, life changing realizations and professional speakers heard by the campers during the week.  They also asked the sponsoring Rotary Clubs to continue their support to Camp RYLA into the future.

Campers Josh Bergeron and Jack DiGregorio detailed the RYLA High School "scenario" which challenged the campers and allowed them to develop collaborative and creative problem solutions.  The exercise taught the campers communication skills, compromise, team work, dealing with real life problems and "thinking outside of the box."  Those in attendance were then treated to a slide show of highlights from the week presented by campers Brandy Vo and Lauren Roschen.  The evocative soundtrack for the slide show included the tunes "You've Got a Friend in Me," "You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello," and "Closing Time." 

Camp Director and Saint Paul Rotarian John Bradford came to the podium and handed out "thank you's" to Sherry Howe, Executive Director of Club 10, the RYLA Volunteers, the RYLA network of past directors and leaders, and the "door people" (those campers who voluntarily held doors for their fellow campers).