Skip to content

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards

  • Share:
June 13, 2017
Spaulding High School Students Experience
with Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
 
Spaulding High School announced the Top graduating seniors for the Class of 2017. Three of these students participated in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). RYLA is a leadership program coordinated by the Rotary Clubs to encourage leadership and to publicly recognize the outstanding qualities of many young students for their past and present service activities. The program has provided these students with life changing experiences.

The honorees are:

Elise Nelson has been active in a wide range of activities during her high school years and was honored to receive the Holy Cross Book award in recognition of her scholarship and service.

Elise, the daughter of Michelle and Michael Nelson of Rochester, identified the week she spent at RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) as the most meaningful experience in her high school career. Always involved in activities, Elise nonetheless felt that she was someone who lacked the confidence to speak up. At the RYLA program, she learned how to use leadership skills “to shine the light on others who may lack the confidence to speak up.” She learned how to “…interact with others without overshadowing them...” It was a life altering experience for her because “…this camp and the people there helped me to not only discover but also uncover my voice…I wish I could go back and attend again!” The extra-curricular school commitments that Elise pursued include the Interact Club (treasurer), Mentor/Mentee program, Project SEARCH and JV volleyball (co-captain junior year).

She was also inducted into both the National Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society and spent countless hours engaged in community service activities through each of these organizations. Her volunteer efforts included participating in Rochester Clean-up Day, sorting clothes at Gerry’s Food Pantry, painting faces at Octoberfest, assisting with the Haunted Tunnels, helping at the soup kitchen in No. Berwick, ME, volunteering as a “Welcomer” at Ward 2 on Election Day and helping to coordinate the Class of 2017 Color Run events. Looking ahead to the future, Elise would like to become a pediatric disability occupational therapist. Having been accepted at both University of New England and the University of New Hampshire, she will attend the University of New Hampshire with a major in occupational therapy. 

Emily Smiley is a young woman who would like to be defined by her passion for helping those who have no voice. Her goal of studying to become a civil rights attorney in the future should go a long way to cement that plan. Throughout her years at Spaulding, Emily has participated in the Interact Club, currently serving as treasurer. She loves the community service opportunities, as well as the affiliation they have with the local Monarch School.

This year, our local Rotary Club sponsored the Interact officers on a trip to New York City, a trip that Emily identified as her most personally meaningful event in high school. She not only experienced being in a big city, observed the United Nations and celebrated the importance of Rotary as an organization, but she also visited the 9/11 Memorial which had a tremendous impact on her. She described that memorial as being extremely “powerful,” and serving as a catalyst to her rediscovering the depth of what it really means to her to be an American…an unforgettable moment. In addition to the Interact Club, Emily is co-president of the Human Rights Club, belongs to the Spanish Honor Society, serves on the Teen Advisory Board for the public library and volunteers through her church.

She was the recipient of the Colby-Sawyer Book Award.  Accepted at Becker College, Champlain College, Franklin Pierce University, Simmons College, Susquehanna University, University of New Hampshire and University of Vermont, she will study political science at the University of New Hampshire in the fall. Emily is the daughter of Robin Morrison-Smiley and David Smiley of Wakefield. 

Ashley Wilkins, daughter of Brian and Tara Wilkins of Rochester, has managed to nurture and grow her natural leadership abilities through the activities in which she chose to engage during high school.  As a Girl Scout since first grade, Ashley earned the prestigious Gold Award (the equivalent honor to the better-known Eagle Scout award earned through Boy Scouts). Her project involved coordinating events at the Rockingham County Nursing Home that brought teens and residents together to begin to bridge the gap between youth and the elderly. She is currently a representative on the Board of Directors for Vermont and New Hampshire Girl Scouts.

She was chosen to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) her sophomore year and began to develop the skills needed to grow as a leader. She became a volunteer facilitator at RYLA her junior year and it is that activity that Ashley found to be most personally meaningful for her. In reference to RYLA, Ashley simply states: “…there is no place on Earth like it ….” The facilitators provide positive, engaging, encouraging support that creates a safe place for expressing thoughts and taking on personal challenges. Now, as a facilitator herself, she has found that that role has enabled her to continue to expand her own confidence even as she supports the “campers” in their initial journey. She intends to participate in RYLA for as long as she can because “…RYLA is changing the world one person at a time, and I want to help.”

Ashley received the Harvard Book Award her junior year for academic excellence, strong character and achievement in other fields. She served as secretary and head of school events for the National Honor Society, participates in the Latin Honor Society as well as the Latin Club, and Mu Alpha Theta (math honor society) through which she tutors students in math before school, twice a week.  Additional activities include writing for the Wandering Pen, participating in Project SEARCH, serving on Class Council and playing varsity tennis for three years.  Accepted at Cedar Crest College and Stony Brook University, Ashley will study biology with a concentration in neuroscience at Cedar Brook College. Her goal is to do research in the area of neuroscience in the future.

 
Contact:
Michelle Mears, President
rochesternhrotary@outlook.com

Scroll To Top