The purpose of RYLA is to further demonstrate Rotary’s respect and concern for youth and to encourage, assist and train selected youth leaders, and potential youth leaders, in responsible, effective leadership and to publicly recognize the high qualities of many young people who are rendering service to their communities as youth leaders. The Rotary Club of Pelham supports these princlples each year by awarding an outstanding local student with the opportunity to attend RYLA camp.

The student is chosen by the staff of our local schools. They are selected on the basis of character, leadership qualities, general education, personality and leadership potential. We feel that by providing an outstanding young person with the opportunity to learn how to be a great leader will benefit not only the student but also our community as a whole. When the student returns from RYLA, we ask the student to come to one of our weekly meetings so that they can tell us about what they learned. The members always look forward to hearing about the experiences that the student had.