Julie Davis
jdavis@cherryroad.com

Following the 2020 cancellation of the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a few years of alternative meeting plans, two Nebraska City High School students were recently able to attend an in-person RYLA meeting at Camp Sonshine in Roca.

The students, Delilah Borrego and Sofia Harger, visited the Nebraska City Rotary Club on Nov. 20 to thank the club for sponsoring them at the event and also to report on what they learned.

Borrego said she had never done anything like the RYLA program before and “would do it over and over if I could.”

Harger said the RYLA program showed her that “everyone has the opportunity to lead, and everyone has their own strengths and talents.”

Both students thanked NCHS Principal Brian Hoover for encouraging them to sign up for the program.

This year’s RYLA meeting was co-sponsored by Rotary and Launch Leadership, an organization formerly known as the Nebraska Association of Student Councils. Like Rotary, Launch Leadership is concerned with developing leadership skills to help create change makers in schools and communities.