On 1/23/2018, the six students sponsored by the Magnolia Rotary Club who attended the 2018 RYLA Camp, gave a slide presentation to the Magnolia Rotary Club membership and spoke about their experiences at the camp. Pictured above from left to right are: Rotarian Melissa Pride, Courtney Kramer (MWHS), Alexis Mendoza (MWHS), Kenadie Wilde (MWHS Senior Counselor), Kelly Kirk (MHS), Camelia Hamilton (Alpha), Josh Watzak (MWHS), and Tonya McClesky (Alpha Teacher Counselor & Rotarian).
Tonya McCleskey who has been involved with the RYLA program for a number of years, told everyone that this year's RYLA had beautiful weather instead of the usually frigid weather for the 287 students that attended the camp. Tonya then asked all the students to come up while she went through a slide presentation put together by Spencer Beeman who is now in college but has previously been involved with the RYLA camp both as a participant and as a counselor.
One of the first things the 2018 RYLA students did was sing the camp song "Peanut Butter Monday" led by MWHS senior (and 2018 RYLA counselor), Kenadie Wilde. Kenadie also told everyone that this year's RYLA students seemed to bond together much faster than she remembered when she attended as a participant. They were also close friends by the time the camp ended.
The slide presentation had photos of the group attending the camp "Ropes Course" (with "The Wall", The Spider Web", "The Trust Fall", "and the "Mountain Top" courses), Ethics activities (where the Rotary 4-Way Test was used to determine whether or not an activity was ethical or not), and the annual card board box races.
All of the students thanked the Magnolia Rotary Club for sponsoring their trip to the RYLA Camp. Several students even stated that the camp was one of the best weekends of their life.
Tonya McCleskey told everyone that Alexis Mendoza (MWHS) was also selected to return to next year's RYLA camp as a camp counselor. Alexis told everyone that the camp was an awesome experience and that he especially liked the fact that he could eat all the ice cream he wanted while there.
To see RYLA slideshow from Rotary District 5910, go to: http://rotary5910.org/photoalbums/ryla-2018
Some additional photos from the Rotary meeting are below:
