Local High School Students Win RYLA Scholarships

Posted by Joseph R. Mazzola

on Sep 22, 2011

Broomfield Evening Rotary Presents Youth Leadership Awards

Broomfield High School Student, Jake Gardner, and Legacy High School Students, Gina Perez and Peyton Lindbloom joined high school students from Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska at the Estes Park YMCA of the Rockies to participate in the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference which began on Sunday, July 17, and continued until Friday, July 22, 2011. The students attending were juniors and seniors who have been actively Involved in high school activities and have proven leadership experience or shown leadership potential.

Two hundred and forty students joined together in an atmosphere where future leaders experienced democratic living that would (1) aid them in developing sound values, (2) promote an environment that will provide each individual with a basis for insight and understanding, essential to intelligent leadership, (3) expose these student leaders to some of the opportunities and some of the life challenges inherent in a free democratic society, and (4) promote involvement in the process that encourages the participant to think through and arbitrate conflicts.

The 5 day program emphasized personal responsibility, service and integrity and helped to develop skills; such as, goal setting, decision making, working as part of a team and skills for interaction with others whose life experiences differ from one’s own. The program was action orientated and included guest speakers.

RYLA Olympics, skits and group discussions on issues appropriate to their age group were important components of the learning environment. All students stayed in the YMCA dormitory under the supervision of adult Rotarians.

Following their return to Broomfield, Gina, Peyton, and Jake met with their Broomfield Evening Rotary sponsors to join in reflections on their RYLA experience. They were joined by Holy Family Student, Kyla Spengler, a 2010 RYLA attendee.

Asked to give a brief summary of RYLA’s impact, each 2011 student replied:

Jake Gardner(BHS): “RYLA was a truly unique experience. I gained a whole new perspective on life, and learned how truly blessed I am.”

Peyton Lindbloom(Legacy): “A leader is someone that leads by actions and not words.”

Gina Perez(Legacy): “Words would not be able to explain the things I was able to take back from this conference. I learned that character is: who you are when no one is looking and in order to be a strong leader, we must lead by our own example. I hope that many others from our generation will get this opportunity.”

Left to Right, Gina Perez (Legacy), Peyton Lindbloom (Legacy), Jake Gardner (Broomfield) ,

2011 RYLA Students with Kyle Spangler (2010 RYLA Student – Holy Family)