Rotary Connects the World

Meeting 3092 was opened by Chair Dino Donati and the Toast was given by Angela Moore. The speaker for the evening was Gabby Barilla who reported on her recent participation in RYLA. Gabby was sponsored by the Gawler group. Guests were Gabby's mum and Rotary friend Grace and her Nonna. 

Tonight's fines went to Mental Health. 

Kim gave a brief report of recent funds raised through the Area 6 dinner and the Gawler Gold cup. 

Barry delivered his usual sergeants session and presented wheel winners with their chocolates. 

After dinner, Gabby presented a very enlightening recount of her week at Ryla. RYLA  is a seven day leadership training program for 18-26 year old's. This year it was held at Belair and was attended by around 40 participants.

During the seven days participants discussed and learned about leadership, communication skills, problem solving, conflict management, building self-confidence. The theme of the program was the Olympic Games, whereby everyone was split into six groups. Gabby was in the Federation of chaos, also known as the red team.
Each group had a mentor throughout the camp, who lead the teams and helped earn points for the group went through daily practice missions. As a group, they had to complete things such as general knowledge, questions and puzzles. Participants had to hand in all mobile phones at the beginning of the week so their communication was via a daily newspaper. This included having a photo of the day amazing efforts, team games such as best beard, but it's not about winning- it's about having fun. During the seven days, there was a range of diverse guest speakers, workshops and other activities, or guest speakers were very interesting, especially some of the experiences and how they got to where they are today. Gabby particularly enjoyed the workshop on resilience and one on behaviour types and adapting communication styles.
Trying to be more confident within herself and adapting communication styles would be the key takeaway for Gabby. She also made a lot of friends that will be friends for life. So was grateful for this experience and encourage others to get around. Gabby thanked the club in particular Youth Chair Dino Donati and President Mark for the opportunity.
At the end of the week, there was a presentation attended by families, participating Rotary club representatives, Jeff Neil- District Governor and Julie Johnson.
The highlights for Gabby were, meeting new people and experiences with them, getting to know them, and building confidence to actually like to speak in front of people.

After a short Q and A session, Dino thanked Gabby for an engaging talk and presented her with a certificate of appreciation.

In closing the meeting President Mark once again thanked the club for the support over the last week in regards to the passing of his father. He also wished member Anthony Barilla all the best for his upcoming wedding this weekend.