Welcome

What is RYLA?
In Rotary Districts 5440 and 5450, RYLA is a 5-day leadership conference held at the YMCA of the Rockies, in Estes Park, Colorado. These two Rotary districts cover Northern Colorado, Wyoming and Western Nebraska.

Who is eligible?
Any High School Sophomore or Junior prior to the summer conference may apply. Generally, the applicants who are selected have excelled in one or more areas of high school involvement and have proven leadership experience or potential.

The objectives of RYLA are:

• To encourage and assist youth leaders and potential leaders in methods of responsible and effective leadership by providing them with a training experience.
• To encourage continued and stronger leadership of youth by youth
• To publicly recognize the outstanding qualities of many young people who are rendering service to their schools and communities as leaders

The entire focus of RYLA is to provide foundational leadership skills for teenagers. It has been said that leadership cannot be taught, but it must be learned. At RYLA there are opportunities to learn leadership skills through experiential activities, incredible speakers, small group discussions, large group presentations, and in building life-long friendships. 

Part of the magic of RYLA is not having any expectations going into it, which is why we are rather close-mouthed about exactly what we do. RYLA keeps the students busy all day every day, but the end result is more than worth the initial scariness of the unknown. 

What does it cost?
Your local Rotary club pays the conference fee of $450 per participant.

Visit www.RMRYLA.org for more information