Pictured:
Melinda Yerian, MidEast student and RYLA attendee, and Chuck Fair, Byesville
Rotary past President.
Byesville
Rotarians welcomed Olivia Yerian, a Meadowbrook student who is a member of Interact--the
Byesville club’s young people’s service club. Olivia attended the RYLA
(Rotarian Youth Leadership Award) summer conference held at OU in Athens.
The
goal of the program, developed by Rotary International, is to identify young
people who show the potential to be leaders and expose them to ways to develop
their skills. Olivia explained that the program was hands on, fun and
inspiring. Olivia—who is vibrant and energetic-- stated that the program was
geared to young adults like her who have a lot of energy.
She
needed lots of energy to get through the 2 ½ day conference. Olivia described an
event that was packed with hands-on learning activities that were rooted in
real life experiences. For example, one game gradually sorted the participants
into different groups with varying levels of power. Olivia stated that the
lesson from this game was that people at the highest levels should not treat
those at others levels differently.
Another
activity helped the participants learn how to share differing views in constructive
ways. Each person learned to identify different behavioral styles. Everyone
identified which style they used. The activity taught the participants to value
different styles and to work effectively with different styles.
Olivia
stated that the final presentation was by an inspirational speaker who vowed to
walk one mile every day for each day 4 kidnapped girls had spent held captive.
His walk ended at the house in Cleveland where the girls had been held captive.
The theme of his talk was the value of “keeping your promises.”
Olivia reported
that conference presenters introduced the participants to the Rotary code of
ethics known as the “Four Way Test.” These four simple questions help people
decide if what they are about to do is ethical—"Is it the truth? Is it
fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it
be beneficial to all concerned?” Conference attendees broke into small groups
to discuss these concepts and to identify which one was the most difficult to
apply.
Olivia
explained that not only did she have fun and meet a lot of new people, she also
gained insights about how Rotarians affect change. As an example, she pointed
out how Rotary is working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to end
polio so that in the future no child will be disabled by this disease.
Connect
with #ByesvilleRotary at: www.Byesvillerotary.blogspot.com , Twitter Byesville_Club, or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Byesville-Rotary/256548047818283. The club meets 7:30 am, Tuesday at the Stop Nine Senior Center
at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Walk-ins are welcome at the
club’s meeting. #6690
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