Blog

Leticia Cole and Elin Evers reported on this summer Rotary Leadership Youth Awards (RYLA). RYLA is an intensive leadership experience where high school students develop skills as a leader, have fun and make connections. Rotary Clubs in District 5710 sponsor students to attend a five day program in early June on the Kansas University Campus. Club member Leticia Cole was in charge of recruiting and coordinating with students and District. This year our club sponsored four students. Free State sophomore and Granddaughter of club member Jim Evers, Elin Evers, spoke to the club about her RYLA experience. Elin described ice breaker activities, a leadership test and small group presentations. She particularly enjoyed a service project for Willow Domestic Violence Center. Elin met young people from all over eastern Kansas and noted many new friends have kept in touch.

Sara Davis works for War Horses for Veterans and First Responders, a program in Stilwell, Kansas, that utilizes equine therapy to empower and heal. Combat veterans and first responders attend a five day program where they work with horses and learn leadership and communication skills. Participants first learn to communicate with their horse, ride bare back and then saddle riding. Finally, rope work is added to their skill set. Groups often continue to communicate with each other long after the completion of the program. The program also teaches about non profits and business skills and provides additional resources for healing. War Horses has a waiting list of approximately 150.

Dr. John Paul Henry is a geographer and Educator who became interested in a project in the Yumbe District in Northern Uganda. Dr. Henry is a member of the Monday Rotary Club and is the spouse of our own Emily Henry. Dr. Henry was inspired by a speaker from Uganda to get involved in the Word by Word adult literacy program for women. Northern Uganda has a large refuge population and the average annual income is approximately one thousand dollars, with few books in the home. Local women are utilized as facilitators and each graduate of the program pledges to teach five more. Local songs, stories and poems are utilized in the curriculum. Ugandan Rotary Clubs support the program and Dr. Henry is looking for Rotary partners in the United States.

Andi Simon is a sixth grade STEM teacher at Southwest Middle School where she teaches project based learning. A STEM class is untraditional in that disciplines are integrated, utilizing an engineering design process to work on realistic and relevant problems. Students work in teams, building creativity and thinking skills. The teacher facilitates a design, build, test and improve process. Projects include robotics and designing mobile apps, which are very popular with the students. The future of STEM education is bright and is expected to have a positive impact on the work place.

Katlin Stanley is executive Director of the Kansas Land Trust (KLT). KLT works with land owners, communities and other conservation organizations to protect the national heritage of Kansas through volunteer conservation agreements. Less than 1.5 per cent of Kansas land is accessible to the public, one of the lowest amounts in the country. KLT is a private non-profit that works with land owners to preserve working lands, wild life habitat, and recreational spaces. The organization develops conservation easements that permanently protect those lands. KLT seeks to preserve biodiversity and wetlands, encourage connectivity to the natural world, and encourage sustainable food production. Presently 81 properties of some 41,000 acres are protected by conservation easements.