In what is becoming an annual treat, Anstruther Rotary Club was delighted to welcome student Ronan McKinstray from Waid Academy as speaker at its 8th September meeting.

Ronan was sponsored by the club to attend a week-long Rotary Youth Leadership Award course, which took place at the Abernethy Centre, Nethy Bridge. Introduced by club member Ian Kennedy who coordinates schools programmes, Ronan was returning to report on his experiences.

We were treated to a first class PowerPoint presentation followed by an excellent video of activities during the week – all delivered with confidence, great polish and good humour.

Around 70 boys attended the event, which aims to encourage team building, self-confidence and leadership skills. The course is based around outdoor events including hill walking in the Cairngorms, rock climbing and abseiling, gorge walking, mountain biking, canoeing and raft building. As we have seen before, all of the events are physically and mentally challenging! There are also some indoor sessions including quizzes, volleyball – and coaching in business presentation techniques.

The challenges are tackled in teams of 7 or 8, with everyone having an opportunity to lead. Ronan explained that he was team leader for the mountain biking event. Interestingly Ronan commented that, before attending the course, he thought ‘leadership’ was about giving orders. He now sees it in terms of working as a team and facilitating problem solving.

We were delighted to hear that Ronan is continuing his studies at Fife College and has secured a job with a St Andrews business. He said how valuable the RYLA experience had been to him in putting together a CV and preparing for job interview. Ronan ended his talk with a big ‘thank you’ to Rotary for making the week possible.

Following questions, club president Ian Brunton presented a certificate of achievement to Ronan, together with best wishes for the future and thanks for being such an outstanding representative of the club and school.