The Rotary Club of Anstruther’s recent meetings hosted Waid Academy students, Beth Stewart (November 15th) and Nicholas Janse van Rensburg (November 22nd), who spoke about their time at the week-long RYLA camps.
RYLA stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Award, which is designed to foster leadership and communicative skills among young people. There are separate camps for girls and boys, and the ones Beth and Nick attended, over successive weeks last July at the Abernethy Centre in Nethybridge, brought together school students from all parts of north and mid Scotland.
The camps put participants through some quite challenging outdoor activities such as gorge walking, abseiling, and rafting, a lot of which include teamwork under difficult conditions. Overnight improvised camping is also involved. During evenings more cerebral activities take place, some focused around building confidence and character, others around learning about the natural surroundings of the Highland area.
Beth and Nick both showed videos depicting the RYLA experience, which certainly confirmed that they had taken part in a highly enjoyable, and at the same time character-building week. What came through strongly from the talks was the inspiration and the high level of professionalism offered by the resident staff at the Abernethy Centre, who were absolutely critical in making the week something to remember for a very long time to come.
