President Todd Nicholson called the hybrid meeting to order at 5:15 pm. Lynne Beck was scribe. The greeters were Laura Nichols-Endres (online) and Marvin Anderson (in-person). The A/V Teach Team was Ken Crabb and Matt Magers.
Todd Nicolson led the club in the 4-Way Test. There were no visiting Rotarians or guests.
Shelly Rucks introduced the speaker Linda Mulhern, Client Services, Northern Prairie Financial, a member of #10 and the Director of RYLA this year.
Linda discussed the history of Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award). It began in the 1940s. The camp teaches high school students from districts 5950 and 5960 about leadership with the help of Rotary volunteers. In 1959 the government of Queensland Australia invited Rotary clubs within the province to plan an event to help celebrate the centennial of the state and invited youth that were the same age as Princess Alexandra, the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth. The committee wanted to train youth in character, leadership, personal development and good citizenship. The Rotary International Board expanded it to all Rotary districts around the world in 1971.
RYLA uses various events to promote leadership such as the egg drop, designing t-shirts and finding names for their color group. Other activities are:
- Team Building - climbing on high ropes
- Feed My Starving Children - packing meals for children around the world
- RYLA Action - problem solving to bring solutions to their communities
- RYLA Olympics - participating as groups to problem solve activities
As a group, the students are also given an exercise to solve a problem, listen to each other, and present their ideas. On Sunday evening, John Crudele speaks to the campers about sharing their struggles and trusting each other.
Each year some campers return as junior counselors. This year this includes students who participated in 2019 since there has been a two-year break during Covid. Linda encouraged Rotarians to volunteer during the session - April 8-12 - by driving youth to and from camp and helping with various activities at RYLA.
Jacob Martin, a former camper, Jr. Counselor, 2nd Century Scholarship winner, and Youth Exchange student in Brazil spoke about his positive experiences with RYLA. He said it is a special place where youth learn about and challenge themselves. There are 32 registered for RYLA now but they can take at least 50. The camp coasts $425 per youth.
Todd Nicholson made the following announcements:
- Next Signature Lunch Meeting - Noon, Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront Hotel; Speaker - Megan Remark, President, Regions Hospital
- Hybrid Signature Lunch - Noon, Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront; Speaker - Jerry Will, Sr. VP of Corporate Development, 3M
Marvin Anderson asked for Happy Dollars.
The meeting closed at 1:10 pm.
Lynne Beck
Scribe