RYLA this year was virtual --  eRYLA. We had over 150 Campers/Trailblazers attending along with 36 Counselors/Youth Leaders. The event was held March 10-14, 2020 with camp running 6 pm-10 pm on Wednesday and Thursday, 6 pm -11 pm on Friday, and full days on Saturday and Sunday. Every camper received an eRYLA crate with their T-Shirts, snacks and personalized clue packets  which they would open just before designated activities. The youth loved these crates! “Every lesson and activity was incorporated into the crate and it was nice,” said one camper. “I have never in all my experiences seen a camp care this much for their campers,” said another. Campers gave great feedback on each activity, and felt they really received a great camp experience.
 
While some of us were concerned about how effective a virtual camp would be, here is what the campers thought.
“…. eRYLA completely changed my perspective, it was the most captivating virtual experience I have ever been through.”  
“eRYLA is DEFINITELY the exception as they truly make an impact to each individual and although you may think it’s not possible, with the team behind RYLA, anything is possible!”
“It was so much better than any of the leadership camps that I’ve done before this. RYLA has it down!”
 
Just a final thought … Rotarian Bridget Markwood was the lead on creating eRYLA, but it was our RYLA graduates that actually created the adapted content. A team of about 10 each took activities from the regular RYLA programing, and with the learning objective in mind, created activities that accomplished those skill developments within the virtual environment. They created activities, videos – even the LeaderNU website so critical to the program. At the end of the day, that is what RYLA is all about – creative problem solving.
 
Comments from campers:
“It truly is something that is going to stick with me for the rest of my life and having impactful people to talk to us with all our issues and problems meant the world.”  

“eRYLA is DEFINITELY the exception as they truly make an impact to each individual and although you may think it’s not possible (virtually), with the team behind RYLA, anything is possible!”  

“This was an emotional experience because it made me think of all the things I had to go through to get to the place where I am now. I think this did a great job in making me emotionally self reflect on eRYLA and my experiences.”  

“I have never in all my experiences seen a camp care this much about their campers.”

“One word extraordinary.  I learned more about myself than I ever have.”

“The team challenges were great- to see the progress we had from the start of the camp to the end.  At first, there was pretty good communication for not knowing each other, but it wasn’t enough to succeed.  Round the end of camp, we were all open to each other’s ideas and got the job done way more efficiently.”

“I liked it because it gave me insight into what type of learning style I have.”