Rotary Club of Belfast

RYLA Thanks

GroupShot2The Club were delighted to hear Monday 13 May from the 4 Club participants at the recent Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) Seminar held in Belfast 28-31 March. Organised by the Club, 19 participants from 6 cities attended the packed programme. RYLA is Rotary's training program for young people. The Seminar next year will be held in Berlin and the Club hopes again to send representatives.

Representing the Club in Belfast were 3 Rotary Global Scholars whom the Club has hosted: Ciara McHugh and David Mills (2018/19) and Laney Lennox (2016/17) and Club member Veja Olberatova. They all expressed their thanks for the opportunity and experience and pointed out some of their highlights. Picture shows from left Laney Lennox, Ciara McHugh, President Mark Seminar Organiser Past President Ivan McMinn and Rotarian Veja Olberatova.

RYLA1DavidMillsRotary Scholar 2018/19 David Mills thanked for the opportunity to participate and noted that he had actually 2 highlights - the address on Brexit from Danske Bank's Chief Economist at the time when votes were taking place in real time and the fun group bus tour of Belfast. He revealed that it was a unique experience to see the walls and Titanic etc. in a group and see their reactions and advised that he would be going to Berlin to meet up with them again.

RYLA2CiaraMcHughRotary Scholar 2018/19 Ciara McHugh gave a huge thanks for the experience which had met all her expectations and pointed out that with 4 different continents represented there was a wealth of different experiences. She revealed that she was delighted to be able to show Belfast (her 2nd home after Chicago!) and see it through their eyes. She also advised that she was particularly struck by the workshops led by Ted Corcoran on 10 minute speech writing with 10 minutes preparation and now having this permanent skillset will be using the techniques in her course and in the future.

RYLA3VejaRotarian Veja Olberatova also thanked for the opportunity and noted that her favourite aspect was to see the impact on the participants as it had all been about boosting confidence. She noted that PP Ivan had advised all to not be shy and to open up and take part and she had found the ability to talk to people from all the different backgrounds was a great learning experience. She revealed that she had never considered business before but has had her eyes opened and now sees business not an individual but a team effort.

RYLA4LaneyLennoxLaney Lennox, Rotary Scholar 2016/17 who is now studying for a PhD at Ulster University also noted that it was an incredible experience and that she had been particularly interested in the business sector and the Catalyst session. She revealed that she realised that people have the same social problems from different perspectives. She particularly thanked the Club for continuing to include her in Rotary.

Join Us

Membership of the Club is an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable experience and we are actively looking for new people to invite to join and breathe new vibrancy and ideas into the Club and take Rotary into its second century in Belfast.

If you think Rotary may be for you, or for further information, please contact us.

Getting involved with Rotary could be the most important thing you ever do.

Contact the Club

If you would like to contact the Club,

please click here to use our Contact Form