We extend our congratulations to Megan Crossen a talented young Engineer, based in our Orewa office, on being awarded a place at the Rotary Young-Person Leadership Awards (RYLA). We are thrilled to support aspiring young leaders and this week-long leadership development programme for 20-28 years is designed to help young people develop their teamwork and communication skills and fulfil their potential as leaders, both as individuals and in leading teams. RYLA is hosted and sponsored by Rotary District 9910, encompassing clubs from Central, West and North Auckland regions and the Pacific Islands (Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Norfolk Island). The programme brings together a diverse group of young leaders across industries, cultures, gender and ethnicity.
Written by Megan Crossen – Intermediate Engineer – Cato Bolam Consultants
It was an honour for me to attend the Rotary Young-Person Leadership Awards 2021 week-long development programme with support from my club Rotary Kaipatiki and Cato Bolam.
Throughout the week we heard from incredible speakers, solved problems, helped at a school, and even learnt how to line dance! A highlight was coming up with a business idea and pitching it with my team, pulling together our strengths to deliver the winning pitch. It was an amazing experience connecting with other aspiring young leaders, developing, and building our skills and confidence.
Our day would start at 6am with exercise led by a different group, and before starting the first session we would spend time in reflection with a mindfulness/mediations exercise. Each day included a range of inspiring guest speakers, sessions and activities to develop our teamwork and communication skills. We had the opportunity to learn poetry writing techniques, to develop a method of putting into words what we want to communicate. Our community activity involved visiting Waimauku School where we helped the students prepare for three separate events, Matariki, Book Week and their 100-year celebrations.
Thursday was “Business Day” where we would present a pitch for a business idea. We began coming up with our ideas for this on Wednesday evening in our teams and then on Thursday morning each team had 2.5 hours working with a business mentor to develop our pitch. It was a fantastic experience and our team’s idea for an employment App proved to be the winning idea. Our prize was a signed copy of Silver Linings by Joe Davis, co-founder of Nanogirl, who during the week had given a session on resilience.
Our week finished with a dinner on Friday night attended by Rotarians from the different Rotary clubs who sponsored the event. That night each team had a different task such as table settings, canapes, dishes etc and we then combined as a group to put together a concert. For the concert programme we drew upon our experience of what we had learnt during the week. An original poem was recited by a couple of the group, I put my newly discovered line-dancing talents into action and our team repeated our business day presentation. We finished the night with a song written by part of the group, with the intent that it is passed on each year to new RYLA attendees.
During the week we were fortunate to have many outstanding presentations and workshops facilitated by a range of community and business leaders focused on leadership development.
Below are a few of my personal highlights of the week.
- Dr Malvindar Singh-Bains shared her school and career journey, specifically her research into Huntington’s Disease.
- Joe Davis, co-founder of Nanogirl, spoke about resilience.
- Kyron Gosse spoke about his journey to his first ultra-marathon and his experience speaking to the court following the Christchurch Mosque attack.
- Futurist Dave Wild presented on Future Thinking, which led into a group discussion on the future of leadership.
- Robyn Fond spoke about emotional IQ and shared experiences from her corporate and prison work.
The week was a fantastic opportunity for me to develop my confidence and leadership skills and I highly recommend the RYLA to others.
You can read more about the programme at the following link, RYLA website and at Rotary District 9910
