D6970 YOUTH SUMMIT 2025
June 6-8, 2025
Stetson University
DeLand, FL
Arrival Friday 6/6, 9:00 am
Dismissal Sunday 6/8, 12:00 pm
RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is a Leadership Conference held annually. It is designed for 100-125 high school students who have completed their sophomore or junior year. Students are selected by Rotary Clubs in District 6970, which covers northeast Florida. The Rotary Clubs select the students to send and pay the student registration fee, so the conference is free to the students.
The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and District 6970 are part of much larger organization called Rotary International. Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated human rights purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It is a secular organization open to all people regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, or political preference. There are 46,000 member clubs worldwide. 1.4 million individuals called Rotarians have joined these clubs. Rotary International Website (link).
WHERE ARE OUR RYLARIANS NOW?
Sterling
Haley
Rick
Testimonials
I have attended a number of leadership programs and RYLA was the most profound one I have ever attended. I was very moved and had fun doing the community service project at Pine Castle. I could not get over how the counselors made the students feel comfortable before the weekend and the personal follow-up he received from his counselor following the weekend. There was a reason for every session shared and I got value out of all of them. With all of the workshop topics, RYLA still continued to make it a FUN event.
RYLA was truly an amazing opportunity and an amazing experience. I am extremely grateful I got to go and have an amazing time with people I became so close with in such a short amount of time. I will never forget this event, I had an awesome time. I learned so much about myself and other people. I have been changed so much by this event. I cannot emphasize enough how awesome this event was.
RYLA truly does live up to its reviews. I have learned more about leadership in a mere 3 days than I have in my whole life. I have made amazing friends, I have formed close bonds, and I have met many people that inspire me to do the best I can every day… This conference was amazing.
I am home schooled and got a lot out of all of the programs, much was new to me. I had not been exposed to the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens before and that was my favorite session. Sunday’s activities was valuable to showcase how everyone has baggage they are dealing with and to keep that in mind and have empathy when dealing with others. I wish all high school students could be exposed to the curriculum.
For those of you who don’t know, I recently went to a conference called RYLA for four days. It was the best thing I did my entire life. 4 days didn’t seem like it would change my life at first. But when I went and returned from the conference I realized that I was wrong. I had such an eye opening experience while having so much fun in RYLA. I’ve gained new friendships that will last a lifetime.