District Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)
Conference 2015 – Leaders Build Teams, Teams Build Leaders
The District Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)
Conference for 2015 was organized by the Rotary Club of Bandarawela and was
held at the Holiday Resort Bandarawela on the 4th, 5th
and 6th of September.
On behalf of our club, Rtr. Hiruni Perera, Rtr. Bimla
Kannangara and Rtr. Umanga Kariyawasam participated in the event.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards is a leadership program
coordinated by Rotary Clubs around the world, for Rotaractors and other young
people aged 18-30 years chosen for their leadership potential. The format of the event varies from District
to District, but commonly takes the form of a seminar, camp, or workshop to
discuss leadership skills and to learn those skills through practice. Initially originated from Australia, now RYLA
is a global event expanded to all Rotary Districts worldwide.
Under this year’s RYLA theme “Achieving Greater Heights”,
the Rotary Club of Bandarawela was able to conduct a very successful leadership
program for 80 delegates in line with the mission of RYLA to develop skills
focusing on youth.
Heading the journey to Bandarawela, transportation was
provided to delegates from Colombo starting from Royal Skills Centre at 8.00 am
on the 4th of September.
Upon arrival at the Holiday Resort in Bandarawela,
proceedings for RYLA began with the opening ceremony in the presence of
dignitaries: the Chief Guest District Governor PHF Rtn. George Jesuthasan,
President of Rotary Club of Bandarawela Rtn. PHF Keerthi Bandara, RYLA
Chairperson Rtn. Rajiv Renaganathan and the organizing committee.
Addressing the delegates RYLA Chairperson, Rtn. Rajiv Renaganathan,
stated that everyone of us wants to be successful, however craving for success
would not be sufficient. Therefore RYLA will enable the delegates to have a new
look at their lives and take suitable actions to succeed and celebrate.
Rotary International invests on youth, training leaders to
take up possibilities when it matters highlighted District Governor Rtn. George
Jesuthasan. He shared his insights on the race to have the 1st man
on the moon, which was won by Apollo 11 in 1969. Emphasizing the team concept he
stated that in order to be the best team you’ll have to count on the weakest
member of the team.
The 3 day / 2 night residential program of RYLA thus began.
DAY 01 – TEAM FORMATION
With the conclusion of the opening ceremony the delegates,
under the guidance of Rtr. PP Ravindra Tammita, were given an ice-breaker
session involving activities such as getting the entire participants to stand
according to the alphabetical order of their name, age within a given short
period of time and then giving the delegates a task of writing the first
impression of each other on a half sheet pinned to the back of each individual.
After the ice-breaker session all delegates were blind
folded and Rtr. Tammita whispered a name of an animal to each and every
participant and then everyone was instructed to find their own kind of animal
by making the respective sounds. These names of the animals finally became the
RYLA teams for the program.
After getting to know each other in the team, each team was
given the task to come up with a team name, to appoint a leader, to do a team
cheer and to perform an entertainment item lasting for 2-3 minutes.
Also before the end of the day, the teams were given a task
to plan out an act to be performed on the next day, at the camp fire.
DAY 02 – MORNING EXERCISES, INBOUND AND OUTBOUND TEAM
SESSIONS
The day began early with delegates instructed to be ready by
6.00 am in the morning for exercises. After 1 hour of physical exercises and
warming up sessions which also included a few fun games, an inbound session on
“Effective Communication” was conducted by Mahesh Vipula Jayasinghe, DTM, PhD
(Reading OUM), MBA (Col), B.Sc. (Col), CGMA (U.K) (Executive Coach,
Motivational Trainer, Management Consultant).
Mahesh, the Founder Managing Director of Mpower Soft Skills
Ltd. has diverse experience spanning over 25 years in the public and private
sector across many industries from financial services, manufacturing,
plantations, health care and construction into his consultancy practice.
He started the session with emphasis on leaders, who he said
are unique and have salient characteristics that make them standout from
others. He further stated in order to be a successful leader effective
communication is vital, and explained communication methodologies to be
highlighted as a capable individual who could influence resourceful parties and
climb up the ladder of success.
Then Mr. Mahesh Jayasinghe pointed out the need to change,
for the survival in the future. He pointed out examples of global organizations
who failed to exist in the present due to their inability to adapt to the
changes that took place in the environment.
This session included 2 activities; one was a compass test
which enabled delegates to identify their personality characteristics,
strengths and weaknesses and thus how to develop ones’ self to successfully
survive change.
Second was a Desert Survival Team Simulation activity, in
which Mr. Mahesh Jayasinghe gave a small case study situation where a plane
crashes into the Sonora Desert, United States killing both the pilot and
co-pilot; however none of the passengers are injured. The pilot was unable to
notify the position of the plane before crashing but had indicated that the
nearest habitation was 70 miles south west.
The challenge given to the delegates was to rank 15 items,
which were salvaged from the plane according to their importance assuming that
they were the actual passengers in the situation.
Next another inbound session was conducted by Rtn. PDG PP
Dharshan John sharing his story of life to success. It was a very personal and close discussion
which enabled us to grab key factors such as focus, hard work and determination
as essentials for success.
Following the 2 inbound sessions, the program shifted to an
outbound session which initially began with fun games and warm up sessions.
Next it transformed to a survival training session, which involved teams to go
through different obstacles and gain points. These obstacles required physical
stamina, team cooperation, leadership and other aspects.
With the successful completion of inbound and outbound
sessions, the night of Day 02 went into deep with the camp fire.
Traditional camp fire songs were sung and all delegates
performed various acts which they were instructed to prepare the day
before. All delegates enjoyed the
session filled with music and drama after a hard day with other sessions.
DAY 03 – CONCLUSION OF THE PROGRAM AND AWARDS
As the day earlier, the delegates were up early morning for exercises,
although they stayed up late the night before.
The day witnessed the conclusion of RYLA in the presence of dignitaries
such as the DRR Rtr. Sathyendra Tharmakulerajasingham, Youth Services Chair Rtn.
Farzana Khan, President of the Rotary Club of Bandarawela Rtn. PHF Keerthi
Bandara and the members of the organizing committee.
The Best Rylarian for the year was crowned to be Rtr. Miyuru
Dharmage from Rotaract Club of Colombo Mid Town and runners-up Rtr. Sumalka
Mendis from Rotaract Club of NSBM.
RYLA 2015 concluded on a very successful note adding color
and value to the lives of all the delegates who had the opportunity to
participate in it. Rotaract is always about fellowship and making other
people’s lives shine. It’s always about service and humbleness which was the
common sight witnessed in all delegates throughout the program. Helping each
other, working together and being unique from one another, and not hesitating
to take initiative; everyone was confident in what they were good at.
The Rotaract Club of University of Colombo Faculty of Management
& Finance wishes all the very best for the winners and expresses the
gratitude for the RYLA Chairperson Rtn. Rajiv Renaganathan and his organizing
committee for all the hard work they went through to make this event a success.
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