Claire Chesley and Alan Zhu will represent Brook Hill at the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) leadership camp in February.

Chesley and Zhu were selected after being nominated by Brook Hill faculty and staff then being interviewed by a panel from the Rotary Club. Rotary International selects high school juniors to participate in a weekend leadership development program called RYLA camp. To them a leader is someone who influences in a positive way and someone who cares for others.

The purpose of RYLA camp is to provide outstanding high school juniors who exhibit outstanding leadership qualities in their high school activities, an opportunity to develop those skills in a team working and bonding environment designed to challenge them to excel. To Zhu, being a leader at Brook Hill involves many different things.

“I just show a positive attitude toward school work, all the activities going on and getting involved in every event,” Zhu said.

RYLA is an international program that was created by Rotary International to encourage strong leadership in youth. Young people are chosen for their leadership potential to attend an all-expenses-paid camp to develop and enhance leadership skills through activities conducted in an atmosphere of trust and respect. RYLA aims to teach what it takes to be an effective leader.

Alternates from Brook Hill for RYLA camp is Emma French and John Dixon.