Staines Rotary awards for six potential future leaders

Dr Llewelyn presented six Year 11 secondary school students with their certificates for completing a week-long Staines Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) course in the summer.

The evening event at Staines Prep School saw four students from Matthew Arnold School, two from Magna Carta School and one from the Phoenix Project awarded for attending the intensive leadership experience run by Staines Rotary Club.

Surrey Outdoor Learning & Development (SOLD) developed the residential RYLA course, which runs over five days. The main campus is at High Ashurst in Surrey, with a marine base near Richmond.

SOLD focuses on youth development. During the course, the young people learn and develop communication and problem-solving skills and unlock their potential to ‘turn motivation into action’ as dynamic leaders while having fun and building connections.

Before Dr Llewelyn presented the certificates, individual students and groups delivered presentations about their experiences to the audience, including parents, Staines Rotary President Jonathan McCarthy, other Rotarians, and the Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey, Nick Wood-Dow.

Afterwards, Dr Llewelyn said: “It was inspiring to hear the students’ stories about the course, and I’m sure many of them will use their experience to become motivational leaders in the future.”