Welcome
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Camp (RYLA) 2025
“The mission of Montana RYLA is to empower young leaders to facilitate impactful changes in their schools and communities.” (Pictured above are the 2025 RYLA campers from Bozeman High and Gallatin High)
In July of 2025 around 60 students from across the State of Montana attended Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). You can learn more about RYLA on the RYLA website.
This year our club sponsored Violet Hilmer and Elizabeth Bartle. These are the activities and workshops they participated in:
- The leadership training was framed around SuperHeroes. Campers were guided to examine their PAIN they’ve overcome, their POWER and their PURPOSE.
- The campers defined their values and clarified their foundation of all decisions.
- The campers worked together to define problems they see in their high school communities and then brainstormed solutions. Some of the ideas this year were:
- Letting students know that the 988 state hotline is available for help, big or small
- A campaign to decrease vaping
- A project to help keep schools clean and support the janitorial staff
- The most popular ideas involved spreading kindness throughout the school with inspirational messaging, or holding the front door open for everyone who enters
- Each group presented their ideas to Rotarians for feedback.
RYLA has a leadership ladder. The first year students are campers, some are invited back to be counselors (C1s), some of those return as C2s (2nd year counselors) and there are also “Adult staff” members who are now in college and have been campers, C1s and Cs. All of these young people said RYLA changed their lives!
RYLA also develops teamwork through fun activities such as a talent show, skits on leaders including Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Buffet, Plenty Coup, Queen Elizabeth, Teddy Roosevelt, the Dalai Lama and Lady Gaga, a “Redneck water slide”, a dance and a hike to Pine Creek Falls.
Our donated money is well spent! The RYLA team of volunteers work year round to create this experience and put thousands of hours and their own dollars into the camp.
Elizabeth Bartle Violet Hilmer