From left, Georgia Cummings and Gage Fuller of Wayland and Rachel Garofallo and Michael Martinez of Weston attended the 2017 RYLA conference.
The Rotary club of Weston Wayland is partnering with Gatehouse Media to select one sophomore from each town from October 2017 to May 2018 to be recognized at the monthly Rotary Celebration Dinner.
“Today, we are excited to announce the ‘Rotary Rising Youth Leadership Award’ in partnership with GateHouse Media and our two outstanding communities,” said Mark Messina, president of the Rotary Club of Weston and Wayland. “The monthly award will enable our Rotary Club to support, inspire and recognize sophomores in our year-long effort focusing on leadership and community service in keeping with the Rotary motto of ‘Service above self.’”
Each student selected as an award winner also will be invited and encouraged to apply to represent Wayland and Weston at the 2018 Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA), the three-day leadership conference held annually in Massachusetts. Approximately 200 students attend along with 200 volunteers.
Rachel Garofalo, a member of Weston High School’s Class of 2019, attended RYLA in June and wants to return as a mentor to help younger student leaders discover their most effective leadership styles.
“Some people lead most effectively by example,” she said. “I learned that I lead best with words. That has helped me in school and on the soccer team this fall.”
In 2018, the Weston-Wayland Rotary Club intends to sponsor at least four students from Weston and four from Wayland, which is a 100 percent increase from 2017.
Any student can be nominated by a member of the community through a simple online form. The deadline for nominations for the first Rotary Youth Leadership Award is Friday, Oct. 6, and the first award will be presented on Thursday, Oct. 26th.