“I’m a good grandma’s boy, and my grandma told me this was a great opportunity.”
Bryce Schubert describes his transformational week at RYLA “camp.”
The opportunity that Bryce Schubert, our speaker last week, was referring to was RYLA, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. He had recently completed a week at a RYLA “camp” at Menucha in the Columbia River Gorge.
Club member and Director of Portland Community College’s Newberg Center, Lynn Montoya Quinn encouraged Bryce, who is a 19-year-old nursing student at PCC, to apply. He “wrote essays,” completed the application process, talked to his grandma, was interviewed and was selected.
He described his weeklong experience in enthusiastic detail. “You go into it oblivious as to what to expect,” he said. But after the first day, he was sold. “A pool, they feed you all you can eat, amazing people, amazing location, inspirational speakers….what’s not to like?”
Bryce had been doing drywall before. “If you’ve ever done that kind of work, you know how hard it is. I didn’t want to do that the rest of my life.”
“One of the most important things they teach is the difference between being a leader and a manager,” he said. “Things like, ‘Set an example. Be on time. Make eye contact.'”
One of the biggest takeaways, Bryce said, “was seeing people open up” and blossom from the training.
He especially enjoyed a presentation by the person who had served as the University of Oregon Ducks mascot. “They told us what it’s like to give back to the community. I wasn’t aware of the concept of community before this,” he said. “Now I see you all here at Rotary, I understand how you give back, the projects you do in Newberg. I see how it works.”
President Leah presents a Rotary pen to Bryce.
Other takeaways:
- He was able to use the skills he learned to improve his relationship with his sister
- He is committed to his gym workouts. “My goal is to play football,” he said.
- He understands the importance of having values
- He is very appreciative of the “great opportunity” he was given.
In other news…..
Please don’t forget: We’re meeting at Friendsview this week!!!
Our guest last week was Alex Brown from Willcutts Realtors.
President Leah reminded of us of service opportunities and coming events:
- We always need Greeters. This is a great way to get to know all your fellow club members
- Sign up to deliver dictionaries to 3rd graders
- Mark your calendar for Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6:30pm. We’ll have a joint get-together with the Early Birds to hear from a Holocaust survivor. Should be a very moving program
- Dec. 2 is the date for this year’s Holiday Tree Lighting at the Library. We’ll be doing gift bags for children attending the event
- April 21, 2017 is the date for the “100 Peace Poles” project
And after the meeting, many Rotarians headed out to the ground breaking for our new community Aquatic Center!
