2007 RYLA JC Applications
	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 1 of 71
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	Allen, Haley	Applied on	12/22/200	Born	11/15/1989	Female
	5760 S. Danube Cir.	School:	Grandview High School	Rotary:	Aurora
	Aurora	CO	80015	Year in school:	Junior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	20
	(303) 627-9405	(303) 875-7962	soulsinger@comcast.net
Why do you want to be a junior counselor?
I want to be a JC for RYLA 07 because my experience at the camp last summer was amazing! I’ve learned so much and the 
junior counselors last year helped make a difference in my life. I learned about teamwork and how to structure a strong team 
and use each individual’s personality for dividing the responsibilities in the team. I also learned how to make decisions in an 
effective way that is positive for everybody involved. I want to help make a difference too! At first I really didn’t want to go to 
the camp because I thought it was a waste of time and that it was going to be boring, but by the end of the week I was crying my 
eyes out because I didn’t want to leave! I had so much fun and I met so many amazing people! I found one of my best friends at 
RYLA and I’ll always keep her near and dear to my heart. I want to be a JC at RYLA because I know this camp can help make a 
huge difference in some lives if not change them like it did mine! 

How will you contribute to making your team and RYLA 2007 the best ever? I will help to make RYLA 2007 the best ever by 
being spirited and energetic. I will also make sure the RYLA campers are having fun but learning at the same time. I remember 
the junior counselors last summer where great leaders themselves because their energetic and positive attitude was contagious
 and made everyone feel the same and I will make sure to do the same for next summer’s RYLA campers. The junior 
counselors from last summer where great because they made it easy for us shy, timid campers to get close and open up. I 
could help make RYLA 07 amazing because I know what it’s like to be the shy one and I know what it’s like to be scared. I also 
have a personality now that could help ease the campers into RYLA. I am positive and am capable of taking charge of a group 
of people in an affective way. 

How have you grown or changed as a result of attending RYLA?
RYLA has made an amazing effect on me. I am more confident now and a better able leader because of the new skills I adopted
 from this camp. I use them all the time! When I need to make an important decision I use the four-way test and when I’m 
working with a group of people I think about the colors and give jobs according to that. Everything I learned at RYLA last 
summer, I use. RYLA has also made me more positive and happy. Before I was a little more caved in and just kept to myself. 
But after meeting so many outgoing people and open people I came to realize that you make more friends with sugar then you 
do salt and vinegar. RYLA was the best thing that’s happened to me in a while! I’m so glad I went!

Whatever else you want the RYLA committee to know about yourself to help us in your decision, i.e.: current leadership roles 
or accomplishments. Remember this letter is your opportunity to distinguish yourself from the other applicants.
Some of my accomplishments include my audition and acceptance into the Arapahoe Philharmonic Youth Orchestra of which I
 am proud. I also have been proactive and captured myself a job that I absolutely adore! I am the junior class representative for 
my orchestra for which I was nominated and won with the popular vote. My freshman year I was given the award for the most 
improved and dedicated orchestra student while last year I won an award for my English department at school. And sometimes 
when the principal cellist is sick or not attending class I take over the section and have to lead all the cellos. 
I fell in love with RYLA and I hope I will get the chance to help others fall in love with it too. I hope to be selected to make a 
difference next summer! 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 2 of 71
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	Amen, Heather	Applied on	12/29/200	Born	3/11/1987	Female
	7323 S Syracuse St	School:	Rotary:
	Centennial	CO	80112	Year in school:	sophmore in 	RYLA Year	2003	Team
	(720) 220-0260	(303) 770-3005	little_amen@hotmail.com
To Whom It May Concern:

RYLA has been a springboard for so many good things in my life. I have always been a hard worker and a good leader, but 
RYLA gave me so much more than that by helping me realize my full potential. 

The friendships RYLA has given me will stay with me forever, and some friends are so close I consider them family. These 
friends and family have served as role models, support systems, and everything in between. Daily I thank God that I have them 
in my life.

The passion that infuses every second at RYLA has thankfully infected every area of my life. I have seen what such passion can 
do, changing lives within a week, and I strive for that amount of strength in all that I do.

Last year, I discovered exactly how much organization it takes to run a great conference like RYLA. Though I know I was far 
from perfect, I learned about every single detail of the conference, from picking speakers to perfecting a schedule to deciding 
on the height of the cones for playing Olympics. I loved every minute of it. As RYLA got closer, organization became less 
about the long term, and more about spontaneous decisions. There will always be things that go differently than expected, and I
 learned how to make decisions on my feet and keep on running smoothly. All of these skills combined to make me more 
organized and decisive, which will only help me in college and professional life.

Finally, RYLA taught me the most important lesson that I will ever learn. I am not even sure I can iterate it correctly, but all 
that matters in life is the difference that you make. RYLA has allowed me to change hundreds of lives. I may not be able to 
change the world, but I made a difference to them, which is more than I ever imagined was possible. The best part is, each of 
them has changed me too, so everyday I am the best that I can be.

RYLA has been wonderful, but it is time for new adventures. I have been able to work with high school students for the last 
four years, and this year I hope to switch to middle school students at YRYLA. All the glowing reviews of YRYLA have 
convinced me that I should experience it for myself, and foster a new kind of RYLA magic in the slightly younger generation.

Middle school is such an interesting time. It is a time for growing up, but not quite knowing how, which ultimately leads to 
some hard choices and hard times. This is the age where I can really make a difference. Personally, I am thrilled with the 
potential opportunity of working with these students, to make a difference for them and for them to teach me more about life. 
However, the most important reason I want to be a JC at YRYLA is that I can be there for them.

A JC’s role is to lead and educate the conferees who follow them. The education and the experience of the conferees while 
they are at YRYLA is and will always be my number one concern. My job is to give them a wonderful week filled with life-
long lessons in leadership and confidence. Though I am new to working with middle school students, I believe that I am well 
suited for the job.

All my skills that I have learned at RYLA will greatly aid me in keeping track of my team and helping them learn at the same 
time. That can be the greatest challenge with younger students, keeping them interested and focused long enough to learn the 
lesson. I am wonderfully patient and openly caring. Combined with my organizational and leadership skills, I can keep the 
focus of a group and let them have fun at the same time, which is essential when working with middle school students.

I believe so strongly in all that RYLA is and all that it represents. You have my promise that I will work as hard as I can for 
these students, because I know what RYLA can do. As silly as it sounds, I act like the vessel that all the RYLA magic just 
comes streaming through, and my part is to be as open as possible so all around me can get a large piece of the magic. I know 
that YRYLA 2007 will be the best ever, a program like RYLA can only ever improve, and I believe that I could help it grow. 
Thank you for your consideration. RYLA love to all.

Love,
Heather Amen

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 3 of 71
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Other:
Year in school: sophomore at Trinity University

Other Accomplishments:

School
-I am a University Scholar, meaning I am in the top ten of my class of almost 700.
-I am classified as a junior due to the number of credits I received from Advanced Placement classes.
-I am a chemistry and biology peer tutor for the freshmen.

Service
-I am Service Chair for my sorority. This fall I planned weekly service opportunities for 40+ young women, and helped raise 
over $1300 for various causes.
-I am Service Chair for my community hall. This fall I planned a Haunted Hall for safe trick-or-treating for over 75 children.

Leadership
-Last year I was one of the Head JC’s for RYLA, along with Jason Griffith. The best job I ever had.
-I was hired for the Junior National Student Leadership Conference this summer (teaching leadership and science to 8th 
graders)(unfortunately, the program was cancelled suddenly).

Extra YRYLA Questions:

1. My room is my favorite place. It is filled, but completely organized. I have pictures and souvenirs and posters (a lot of 
RYLA!) all over my walls, grouped by theme. Above my desk I have shelves full of books and mementos, each shelf having its 
own category. There are a few lamps to always brighten the room, and my potted plants outside always make me smile. All 
though it may sound cluttered, it is perfect for me. I like to think that it represents my life, busy, but organized and filled with 
happiness.

2. If a teacher assigns a paper, I write down the date and go back to paying attention.

3. In a group situation, I’d say it’s important to lead the group so that everyone is satisfied; however, the type of leadership 
needed to accomplish that may be to follow others, rather than leading yourself. But the most important thing is that all are 
satisfied with the results.

4. The top five ways I spend my time outside school:
- 20% Most importantly, I stay close to my friends and my family, spending time with the ones close to me, and keeping in 
touch with the ones farther away.
- 30% I work with my sorority, community service hall, and other organizations.
- 15% I read constantly for pleasure, I read anything and everything I can get my hands on.
- 20% I spend a lot of time in the theater, where I choreograph and dance for musicals.
- 15% I love my job, where I tutor freshman in chemistry and biology.

5. My word would be leader. Whatever situation I am in, I lead. That definitely does not mean that I am always the center of 
attention and the ring leader of the group, actually it is quite the opposite. Through my life’s experiences, I have learned to lead
 with my head and my heart in combination. I am logical and smart, but also empathetic. I know when a group needs me to take 
and stand, and I know when I need to follow another’s lead. I am a patient leader; rather than rushing to finish, I make sure all 
are satisfied with the end result. For me, leadership has become a personality trait, one that I treasure constantly. I believe that 
others would agree with this description, though it is hard to say that for sure due to my unique definition of a leader. Others 
can easily see my leadership in my activities inside and outside school, and if they look close enough, they will notice that I 
lead in all aspects of my life.

PS I have asked Chuck Rutenberg for my recommendation, but I asked him last minute. If you have not recieved it by the time 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 4 of 71
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	Bachus, Amanda	Applied on	12/3/2006	Born	4/19/1990	Female
	1939 Yucca Court	School:	Douglas High School	Rotary:	Douglas
	Douglas	WY	82633	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	16
	(307) 358-3081	(307) 358-3081	manda_bachus_2008@yahoo.com
To the RYLA selection committee:
 
     RYLA was a truly outstanding experience for me. It changed me in more ways than i ever thought was possible, and I'm so 
glad that i was given the opportunity to go. One of my favorite things about the whole camp was the way all of the councilors 
made you feel. All of the big hugs and words of encouragement never got old. The people that I only spent one week with are 
now some of my closest friends, and I have so much more knowledge now. It's hard to believe, but very true. 
 
     I knew I wanted to be a JC seconds after i left RYLA. Although I was terribly sad to be leaving i know that it was the most 
influencing thing that had ever happened to me, and I want to keep that feeling going. RYLA is hard to pack down into words, 
all i know is that it is world changing, and you don't find love that strong very often. This is why I want to be a JC. To be 
surrounded by that love, where everyone is equal, and the fun never stops is just something you cant get enough of! The friends
 I met and the lessons I learned also played a big part on my decision to try and be accepted as a councilor. The activities and 
the learning experiences you go through give a unique opportunity to form very strong friendships. The fact that i am still in 
contact with most of the people i met just proves how moving it was to me, and I'd like to help other people receive this 
experience. 
 
     If I was accepted to be a JC we would have the best group ever! I'm a very social person, and i love getting excited. I would 
try my hardest to help everyone out, and try to get the most out of their stay at RYLA. I'd like to get even the quietest kids in 
my group shouting, laughing, and having the best time of their life! I have a creative mind, and love adding different touches to 
things to make it special, and I love being part of a team. I'm very organized, and I think that I would do a great job in carrying 
on the RYLA spirit. 
 
     Before I got to camp i was completely bummed out. I didn't want to be there, and i didn't even know what it was! All i knew 
was that i was being sent to a leadership camp. Once i got there i was automatically hit with hugs and laughs.All i could think 
was oh gosh, these people are crazy, but its kind of awesome! I met my group and spent the best week ever learning, and 
growing as a person. I made some of the best friends i ever had, and learned a lot of things i didn't know. The most important 
thing i took home from RYLA was myself. Although i was happy i was just passing things by, just getting things done. I learned 
to appreciate everyone, and just because you have seen a person around, doesn't mean you know their true beauty. I learned that
 life is what you make it, and you have to take a stand and love every second of it, even the hard times. I have grown into a 
better person because of RYLA, and i honestly believe I'm making a difference in the world now more so then ever.
 
     I am currently a junior in Douglas Wyoming and i try to get involved in as many activities as possible. I'm involved in 
Student Council, Healthy Youth, Healthy Community, choir, prom committee, advanced art, and swimming. In student council 
we try to help out around the school and town. We frequently take place in community service. We also try to make the school
 a better place by doing small favors from scraping windows in the school parking lot to making everyone Christmas cookies. 
Healthy Youth, Healthy Community is a team of kids working together to try to inform everyone how to be healthier. As a 
choir we try and go to many different conferences to further our choral abilities. We learn to work together and make a unison
 sound.
 
     Besides school activities i am a lifeguard. Being a lifeguard is a huge responsibility and has had a positive affect on me. 
Helping people is a great feeling, but i also had to learn discipline to stick to the rules of the pool. Teaching swimming lessons
 and working at the Michael Manor are other jobs i have. I absolutely love teaching swimming lessons. I teach three and four 
year olds and they light up my day. Working at Michael Mandor has taught me self control. Michael Manor is an old folks 
home, and its hard when some of your favorite people don't always remember you. But working there has made me feel very 
good. 
 
     I really hope that you chose me to be a JC. RYLA has such a strong place in my heart and i would love to be a part of it 
again. I'm very excited to hear from you, and for another great time at RYLA! Kylie, my JC, should be sending a letter of 
recommendation. There is also a picture attached to this letter.
 
Thanks for everything, 
Amanda Bachus, Team 16 the purple cobras

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 5 of 71
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	Beemer, Brianne	Applied on	1/22/2007	Born	4/26/1990	Female
	1850 E. Hwy 60	School:	Mountain View High 	Rotary:	Loveland/Thompson 
	Loveland	CO	80537	Year in school:	RYLA Year	2006	Team	14
	(970) 635-2379	beemer@ewebetranch.com
November 5, 2006

Dear RYLA Committee,

There are two ways to look at life: the glass can be half empty or the glass can be half full.  RYLA is the reason I choose to 
view life as the latter saying.  RYLA is the best personal experience of which I have ever been associated. I am an addict to the 
RYLA love.  I have not turned my back on what I learned and experienced at RYLA.  Every time I encounter a former attendee, 
I remember the amazing time I experienced and pray that I will be able to help spread the love.  My high energy, enthusiasm 
and out going personality would encourage conferees to strive for the next level of leadership. My junior summer of 2006 at 
RYLA is the reason I have truly became a leader. In the past, I have felt that I could only lead others in certain areas or places. I
 have always been a leader at cross country meets or on the basketball court, but scarcely in the school halls or in the middle 
of calculus class. Thankfully, now I am armed with the tools to allow me the confidence, strength and desire to lead my peers 
in other ways as well. Through out the RYLA camp I improved upon my communication skills in addition to helping others 
achieve their personal goals. Currently I am starting an Interact Club in the city of Loveland that will unite all of the area high 
schools.  I have communicated with adults, Rotarians and peers to arrange meetings, which have proceeded impressively well.  
 Another trait I have hooked on my tool belt is the skill of mediation. I am level headed and try to learn all sides of the story 
before assisting the disputing parties to a conclusion. I would be prepared with this tool if a team is having a conflict.  
Furthermore, I want to further improve my leadership skills. Being a JC for RYLA would allow me to continue to grow as a 
leader and most importantly I would be able to share my wonderful experience with other conferees and influence their lives 
as my life has been influenced by RYLA. Thank you for your time.
							Sincerely,					Brianne Beemer 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 6 of 71
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	Brauchler, Ryan	Applied on	12/29/200	Born	8/17/1989	Male
	114 52nd Avenue	School:	Rotary:
	Greeley	CO	80634	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2005	Team
	(970) 356-4668	(970) 302-6198	Ryan.Brauchler@gmail.com
Note: I would like to be considered for RYLA and/or YRYLA by the selection committee. Thank you for that accommodation. 
The YRYLA Questions are at the end of this application letter. 
Also, Joni Triantis had agreed to write me a letter of recommendation for the position, so if that is not in my application 
materials, could I please be alerted of that? Thank you for your time and effort. 

RYLA Selection Committee Letter

December 26, 2006
Dear RYLA and YRYLA Selection Committee:

I have often been told at conferences such as RYLA that there are two types of leaders in the world. There are those leaders, 
that when they walk into a room, say "Here I am." There is also a completely different group of leaders, who, when they walk 
into a room, say, "There you are." I know that after RYLA I have devoted myself to becoming a leader who says, "There you are"
 when I walk into a room. My experience at RYLA was endlessly rewarding and provided me an opportunity to discover things 
about myself I had never thought of before. The counselors at RYLA, both senior and junior, showed me how fun being open-
minded and outgoing could be, and they have inspired me to apply to be a Junior Counselor at RYLA or YRYLA, whichever 
program I am best suited for. 

It is because of them that I would like to be a Junior Counselor. I want to show my conferees how to enjoy life and how to look
 at their world in a different light. I want to give them an experience at RYLA and YRYLA that they will remember for the rest 
of their lives. For me, being a Junior Counselor is all about the conferees. They are at RYLA and Young RYLA to interact with 
people like them and to experience something not possible at their individual schools. I want to make that experience as 
rewarding as possible, by providing my insight and experience for them to use toward their own personal growth. Put simply, I 
want to be a Junior Counselor to realize the motto of my RYLA experience, to "Touch a Life." I will be that positive influence 
on the conferees that allows them to learn and realize their own personal potential. 

As part of the Junior Counselor team, I feel that I would contribute an open-minded, outgoing personality that will serve well 
to excite and motivate the conferees. I feel that my charisma and energy will be a welcome addition to the counselor team and 
will allow this upcoming conference to be the best ever. I know that my high energy and great sense of humor will allow me to 
connect with the conferees and keep them motivated and more importantly, awake, throughout the week. I know that 
sometimes it can be hard to operate on such a high level on such low levels of sleep, but I know that with the proper 
motivation, this year's conference and counselor team will be, bar far, the best ones ever. 

The week I spent at RYLA gave me a chance to meet some of the most incredible people I have ever had the opportunity of 
speaking with. They are so ARTICULATE and REAL. It was exciting to meet people I knew were like me; who had the same 
ambitions and the same motivation. My interaction with the people in my group, as well as the counselor team, was endlessly 
rewarding. I remember just sitting on one of the couches in the lodge talking with them, finding out about their experiences, 
and learning about them as individuals. The combination of intellectually stimulating activities, riveting keynote speakers, and 
wonderful people all contributed to an incredible week that has made me a better leader, and more importantly, a better person.
 I find myself analyzing situations differently, evaluating myself more critically, and overall seeing the more important things 
in life for what they are. 

"Touch a Life." This was the theme of my RYLA conference. Three words, that when taken seriously, have a very deep and 
sincere meaning. I know that the RYLA leadership conference touched my life, and I can only hope to be there to do the same 
for next year's conferees. As a leader in my own school, I have been able to put to use all of the things I learned at RYLA every
 single day in my interactions with people, as well as my reactions to life's unique situations.

Currently, I hold leadership positions in many of the clubs and organizations I am involved with. I am currently the student 
body president of Northridge High School, INTERACT co-president, Thespian Troupe treasurer, Cache Bank Junior Board of 
Directors Vice-Chairman, secretary of the Northridge Technology Student Association, FBLA President of community 
service, and finally, I serve as the Mountain Plains Region Parliamentarian over 10 states in FBLA. These official leadership 
roles, as well as other unofficial ones present me with unique challenges every day as well as an opportunity to expand my 
horizons and put to the test what knowledge and skill I gained at RYLA. I know that as a member of the Junior Counselor team 
at next year's RYLA or YRYLA conference, I will be able to pass on this knowledge and influence some of tomorrow's leaders
 to make a difference today, because I know that's what RYLA did for me. I want to allow them to realize their full potential in 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 7 of 71
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everything they do, and I want to see those young leaders walk into a room, and proudly say, "There you are!" 

Sincerely,
Ryan Brauchler
Senior, Class of 2007
Northridge High School

YRYLA Questions
1. In a few brief sentences describe what your locker, backpack or bedroom looks like? (Is it organized, color-coated, you don 
't know where it is?) 
My school locker is rather sparse, with only the necessities in it, and the supplies that I cannot carry with me. So, by default, it 
is very clean. My bedroom is very well organized with most of my possessions having their own specific resting places. Every 
once in a while, things get out of place, but for a majority of the time, it is very clean and tidy. My backpack follows the same 
general theme and is well organized to let me get to what I need when I need it.
 
2.       Your teacher assigns a 5 page English paper on the novel you just read in class, the first thing you do is: 
- Write the due date down and go back to listening to the teacher discussing what you had read the night before. 
         
3. In group situations it is more important to: 
- To lead the group so that everyone will be satisfied. 
      
4. List the top five ways you spend your time outside of school and the percent of your time is spent on each of these 
activities.
1.      Homework - 45%
2.      Athletics - 25%
3.      Entertainment (TV, Movies, Music) - 10%
4.      Spending Time With Friends - 15%
5.      Relaxing - 5%

5.	If you could describe yourself in ONE word, what would that word be and why? Would others agree with your choice of 
word? Why? 

The one word to describe me would be COMPASSION. I chose this word because ever since my RYLA experience, I have 
dedicated myself to the ideals of service above self. I have made every attempt to positively influence the lives of others in 
whatever way possible so that they too can experience all that life has to offer. I realize that I am b lessed with the things that I 
have, and those that are less fortunate than I deserve respect and understanding. I believe that others who know me would agree 
with this word because I try to display compassion in whatever I do, whether it is coaching the forensics team or volunteering 
at the food bank. Those who know me see that volunteering and philanthropy are very special to me. They realize that my 
motivations are genuine and for the betterment of the world around me. 

Ryan Brauchler

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 8 of 71
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	Burgeson, Brittany	Applied on	12/28/200	Born	10/11/1988	Female
	2233 Augusta Dr	School:	Evergreen High School	Rotary:	Evergreen
	Evergreen	CO	80439	Year in school:	Senior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	14
	(303) 670-8008	(303) 241-9650	Nikebabe333@aol.com
I feel so fortunate to have been able to participate in the 2006 RYLA program. When I left, I did so as a changed individual. It 
would be amazing if I could re-experience that RYLA magic again and to share my RYLove with the next round of attendees. 

In all honesty, I applied to RYLA for the wrong reasons. I did so, not out of genuine interest in the program, but rather upon my
 counselor’s suggestion that I should ‘pad my resume’ (which I have attached out of irony).  As it turned out, RYLA was the 
most empowering experience of my life. It was far from the fluff that I had expected, It was gritty, empowering, and above all, 
real.

From the moment I stepped out of the car, I found myself surrounded by love. Everyone seemed to radiate energy, enthusiasm,
 and excitement.  What impressed me most about those people was not their ability to possess joy, but rather their ability to 
overcome obstacles. I remember listening to the words of focuses (foci?) and being riveted by the JC’s unflinching honesty. 
As I sat there reflecting on what they said, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my life. It was then that I realized that my 
motivation to appear "impressive” caused me to take my experiences for granted. The individuals that I met at RYLA cared 
about me as a person rather than as an unsubstantiated list of accomplishments. They gave me more than a new perspective on 
life; they gave me the inspiration to make a difference.  My experience at RYLA taught me the true meaning of individuality, 
acceptance, passion, courage, strength, gratitude, and most importantly, what it is like to feel pure, innocent, unadulterated 
love for another person.

When I returned home, I did so filled with enthusiasm and an insatiable passion for learning. I was no longer afraid to release 
the hyperactive, loquacious, intensely passionate, childlike person that I had repressed throughout high school. 

My memories from RYLA (and my optimistic hope of returning) have helped to sustain me through my challenges this past 
semester. Staying in contact with the people I met while there has helped remind me of who I am: the athlete, girlie-girl, artist,
 nerd, loyal friend, flirt, overachiever, and individual bent on enjoying new experiences. As for now, I am going to take each 
day at a time and “smell the roses in my life”. I am going to try not to over involve myself next semester and instead focus my 
energy on doing well in those select activities I chose to pursue. I am going to try lead through action, stay healthy, and try to 
not worry about college. After all “the past is history, the future’s a mystery, each day is a gift that’s why it’s the present”.
	Buss, Daniella	Applied on	12/21/200	Born	5/25/1990	Female
	P.O. Box 172	School:	Clear Creek High School	Rotary:	Clear Creek 2000
	Dumont	CO	80436	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	19
	(303) 567-1656	(303) 906-7986	Luv2btickled7@aol.com
	When asked why I feel I would be an excellent candidate for the Junior Counselor position, several, expected answers come 
to mind.  I’m not writing to tell of my accomplishments and how these would be reason enough to accept my application.  
Instead, I wish to tell the committee of my mission.

	Within the binder all conferees received was a reading intended for Sunday, July 16th, 2006.  This specific literary piece was
 titled The Touch of Master’s Hand written by Myra Brooks.  The piece’s message can by summed up in the final paragraph 
which states, “But the master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul and the change that’s
 wrought by the touch of the master’s hand.”  RYLA changed my entire perspective of life and of people.  It enabled me to see 
people for who they are even if they can’t see me for who I am.  I learned how to live life, which may have been a long time in 
coming if I had not attended RYLA.  The master’s hand was embodied in RYLA; it gave me the courage to be me.  What my 
mission is is simply this:  to be the hand that touches another’s life and changes it in a positive manner.  I truly desire to share 
the incredible experience I had.  I believe I can be this influence for others and that is the reason as to why I should be selected
 for the Junior Counselor position.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 9 of 71
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	Cangilla, Kirsten	Applied on	12/26/200	Born	4/9/1989	Female
	1239 49th Ave. Ct.	School:	Greeley Central High 	Rotary:	Greeley Redeye
	Greeley	CO	80634	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	18
	(970) 351-6339	(970) 381-5654	kcangilla@comcast.net
December 29, 2006

Dear RYLA Committee,
     My name is Kirsten Cangilla and I am a senior at Greeley Central High School in Greeley, Colorado. I attended RYLA 2006
 and would be thrilled to serve as a Junior Counselor for RYLA 2007.
     As I sit here listening to, “All for You” by Sister Hazel, the RYLA back massage song, I am reminded of all the good 
memories from my week in Estes Park - my team’s final rap session by the fire at the lodge, the rainy hike and the story of our
 epic journey to the top that my team improvised, but most of all, I am reminded of my JC, Jenni Schrader, and her remarkable 
love for RYLA and the penguins of Team 18.  At the end of my week at RYLA, I was anxious to apply to become a JC, to share 
the RYLA magic and build new memories with another group of exuberant young people.
     If I am chosen to be a JC for RYLA 2007, I hope to build the same loving relationship that my team formed.  Looking to 
Jenni as a model, I would lead our nightly rap sessions with confidence but then turn it over to the conferees and lend a 
compassionate and interested ear to the stories and feelings they have to share.  A JC must be able to lead naturally; RYLA 
magic is spread through example, like the first night the conferees arrive and the energy and spirit that is extracted from the 
RYLA staff.  I would view my role as a JC as the emitter and conductor of RYLA magic.  I feel that I have a solid background in
 energetic craziness.  As a thespian and forensics team member, I spent most of my time surrounded by hilarious, orange 
individuals if I may, that love to entertain and make people happy to be around them.  I think I have these same qualities of my 
peers and can bring that vivacity to RYLA.  My duty at RYLA 2007 would be to pass the RYLA spirit on to my team in the 
good night hugs, the dancing, the tears and laughter that surround such this marvelous leadership retreat. At a Rotary meeting 
when I was selected to attend Young RYLA, a Rotarian read the following quote that I think lends perfectly to the duty of a JC: 
 “Work like you don’t need the money.  Love like you’ve never been hurt.  And dance like no one’s watching.”
    JCs are the backbone of the RYLA conference.  Without their leadership, the RYLA conferees would not experience all that
 RYLA has to offer.  I feel that I have a good background in leadership.  I have been president of my high school class for three 
consecutive years; I am president of my high school thespian troupe; I am chairperson of the Cache Bank and Trust Junior 
Board; I was a member and chairperson of the Greeley Youth Commission for two years; I have been a class representative for 
my Key Club for four years; I was awarded The University of Colorado’s Outstanding Junior Award, the Richard Neet 
Honorary Scholarship to attend RYLA, and I am a semi-finalist for the Boettcher Scholarship.
    If I am chosen to be a JC for RYLA 2007, I would be overjoyed to experience the RYLA conference again.  The most 
memorable aspect that I took away from RYLA was the openness I could share with people I had only known for three or four 
days.  As I sat in my Parent/Family/Teacher Relations - Make a Difference group, I realized the importance of family and a 
solid support system.  Many of my group members never knew their mothers or fathers or had trouble getting along with 
parents that did not recognize their true potential.  I am very fortunate to have a family that is always there for me to tell me 
that they are proud of my accomplishments or to help me along when I hit rough patches.  RYLA taught me to listen to those 
that are not as lucky as I, and to step up as a supporter when needed.  As I stated in My Personal Commitment at the end of the 
conference, “Through my Make a Difference group I saw the power and responsibility that parents hold.  With that knowledge I
 am going to better appreciate my parents and start molding myself to be a good listener and role model in the future.”  
     In My Personal Commitment, I also vowed that I would contact my local Habitat for Humanity chapter and start a tutoring 
program for homeowners and their children.  With the RYLA spirit still thriving within me, I called Habitat for Humanity and 
did just that.  With a group of students from my high school Key Club, I tutor for two hours every Thursday at the Habitat 
Community Resource Center.  Sharing some of my knowledge and experience is one of the ways that I am able to make my 
difference in the world.
     At Young RYLA we watched the movie Pay it Forward and witnessed how one little boy could impact his entire community 
with just small acts of kindness.  When the main character, Trevor, is questioned as to the validity of his idea he replies, “What 
did you ever do to change the world?”  RYLA and the Rotarians and youth that support it are doing something very concrete 
and essential to make our world a better place.  Becoming a JC would allow me the opportunity to be a part of such an 
imperative experience for young people and to “pay forward” my RYLA experience – a love and understanding that can never 
dissipate.
     Thank you for your consideration in the junior counselor selection process.

Sincerely,
Kirsten Cangilla
Greeley Central, Class of 2007

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 10 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Clark, Travis	Applied on	12/30/200	Born	12/6/1988	Male
	P.O. Box 145	School:	Kemmerer High School	Rotary:	Kemmerer
	Frontier	WY	83121	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	7
	(307) 877-5772	pierced_6917@yahoo.com
Dear RYLA,
   My name is Travis Clark, in case you didn't already know, and i want to be a junior counselor for RYLA 2007. I want to be a 
junior counselor because of my junior counselor Devin. He made the entire experience amazing and I want to be able to do the
 same for a whole new group of people. It is an oppurtunity that doesn't come often and should be taken advantage of when it 
does come. I want everybody to have the greatsest experience ever, just like I did when I attended RYLA.

Theres not much you can do to be the best ever. Being the best is a simple matter of opinion. I want to teach my team that all 
that matters is being there best, being happy with the decisions they made and having no regrets. I will give my entire team my 
neverending support and help them in every way they will allow me. That is probably the only way to be the best ever.

When i entered RYLA, I was afraid to show my true self. I had no securities whatsoever. I live in a small town where only so 
much is acceptable. That wasn't a problem at RYLA, you were accepted for who you were, and there were no questions about it.
 This helped me to go back home with a positive outlook on everything, no matter how bad things may seem, there is always 
something positive to look forward to. Another thing I learned was to follow your heart and ensure your future. i have done that
 to my utmost ability since attending RYLA, I will always follow my heart and do what I feel is right. 

In conclusion, I would like to say that I would give almost anything to attend RYLA just one more time. It was an unforgettable 
experience, and if I am selected to be A JC than I will do everything to keep it unforgetable.

                          Thank You,
                           Travis Clark 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 11 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Colling, Emily	Applied on	12/3/2006	Born	10/14/1988	Female
	9500 OSCEOLA ST	School:	Iver C. Ranum High 	Rotary:	Westminster
	Westminster	CO	80031	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	8
	(303) 428-3951	(303) 246-7059	ecolling@juno.com
RYLA 2007 Committee,

My sincerest hope is that by the end of this letter you will understand exactly how RYLA has changed my life. I entered my 
RYLA adventure very skeptical. My intention in becoming a part of RYLA was not to gain anything but a scholarship and 
attending a summer camp, though inconvenient, was worth the trouble. So I set out, closing myself off, expecting to be bored, 
and arrived at a place that was very much unlike any other I had experienced. In retrospect it was not the place that was 
different, but rather the people that inhabited it. When I first arrived they were whooping and cheering, every person gave me a 
hug. These people, who I later knew as Junior Counselors, were my first introduction to something I had yet to experience in 
my life, unconditional love. 

Let me just say that I have never been a popular person. Always a bit chubby and an object of laughter, I found it easier to close 
myself off from people rather than to expose myself to ridicule. I buried myself in schoolwork and defined myself by it. I 
thought the only thing that I could offer was my 4.0 GPA, the offices I held and the rewards I received. The “friends” I had in 
the first few years of high school were more of acquaintances than real friends. Without a real confidant I turned to other 
things, in short I began cutting. This is how I came to RYLA, expecting nothing. 

However what I received was beyond all expectations, even my unnaturally low ones. I found that at RYLA I had a team of 
people that accepted and loved me just the way I was. It took me days to accept such a gift but by the end of the week I felt the 
same way. My team became my family and everybody else at RYLA I consider close friends, I will always hold them in my 
heart. If RYLA has taught me anything it is to love and respect myself and all others. I will not judge but attempt to share the 
unconditional love of RYLA with everyone that I meet. I am a senior this year and after I graduate this spring I want to be able 
to carry this message of love with me through college and the rest of my life. 

The person I credit most for this change in me is my JC Lindsay Kaufman. She made me realize that it is ok to be myself and 
for that I am eternally grateful. If there is one reason that I want to be a JC it is because of her. Lindsay changed my life for 
good and I want to be able to do that for somebody else. I do not doubt that I have leadership skills enough to achieve this, 
offices I have held and leadership programs I have been a part of have taught me this. But because of RYLA I know that I have 
more to offer than just my resume, I have more to contribute than that. What RYLA gave me was love, pure and unadulterated, 
confidence and self-respect. Now I want to give this back to a new group of RYLArians. I want to be a part of RYLA 2007 so 
that I cam be that person who will hug a person and say with honesty “You are perfect and I love you just the way you are”. This 
is the way I want to live the rest of my life, this is how I will make RYLA 2007 better. I hope that you will see how much 
RYLA has meant to me and that you will allow me to give the back the gift of love that I have been given and will carry with me 
always. 

Sincerely,
Emily Colling

Below are some of the activities that I am involved in if it helps!

Year		Description of Activity				Position Held/Awards

2003-2007	Varsity Girls Swim Team				Co-Captain

2003		DL Parson Youth Theater, Play: Tom and Huck	Lead roll: Aunt Polly

2004		Thespian Troop 2688				Member

2005		DL Parson Youth Theater, Play: Narnia		Mrs. Beaver 

2005		Leaders Challenge				Team Member

2005		Thespian Troop 2688				Vice President

2006		Leaders Challenge-Global Challenge	Team Member

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 12 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
2005-2007       National Honor Society			   	Historian (06-07)

2006            School Choir Council 				Vice President

2006		Thespian Troop 2688				President
	Cooley, Nicholas	Applied on	12/29/200	Born	12/26/1989	Male
	990 SC Road	School:	Morrill High School	Rotary:	Morrill
	Morrill	NE	69358	Year in school:	RYLA Year	2006	Team	2
	(308) 247-2722	nick_cooley@hotmail.com
Hello, my name is Nick Cooley and I am currently a Junior at Morrill High school where I am Vice President of the Student 
Council, football captain, basketball captain, track captain, and all-around good guy. I am also involved in One Acts, volunteer 
for our Booster Club, and am a lifeguard in the summer. I attended RYLA this past summer in Estes and had a life-changing 
experience. Not only did I have a diverse group of individuals who were amazing people on my team, but I was also privileged 
to have an awesome set of counselors. Gaby and Doug were people that I could look up to and learn from. Like every other 
conferee I showed up expecting a lot less than I ended up receiving. Little did I know how much I was about to change.

The magic is why I want to be a JC at RYLA this summer. I want to give this year's conferees the same gift that I received last 
summer! RYLA changed my life in such a positive way that I feel like a completely new person and others have noticed as 
well. I believe that I have become less judgmental of others that aren't the "normal kind of person" I would hang out with and 
have become more outgoing. As Ghandi once said, "You must be the change you want to see in the world". I want to be the 
change for the young people attending RYLA this summer.

I think I would be the GREATEST JC IN THE WORLD because I could use what I have learned from my experiences in RYLA 
and the connections I made there to help bring out the best of others at the camp. I am also a firm believer in leading by 
example and this approach has garnished me a captain role on all of my sports teams. I also love how good it feels knowing that
 I can be a good role model for the kids that come to our swimming pool. Our STUCO advisor calls our little followers "Little 
Eyes". Little Eyes are always on us, and I try to remember that when making decisions.

I hope this is as easy of a decision for you to allow me to become a JC as it is for me to apply to become one! I would also 
like to challenge you. I would like you to find a JC who knows me that doesn't believe I would be THE WORLD'S GREATEST 
JC. If you can, then I do not deserve the title of Nick Cooley, SUPER JC.

If you do make the right decision in allowing me to help make RYLA 2007 the best RYLA ever, you can contact me at:

Thank you for considering my application!

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 13 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Cooper, David	Applied on	11/19/200	Born	2/22/1989	Male
	15267 W. Ellsworth Pl.	School:	Golden High School	Rotary:	Golden
	Golden	CO	80401	Year in school:	Senior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	1
	(303) 279-4643	(720) 934-4076	dcooper17@comcast.net
When I departed the RYLA conference in Estes Park this past July, I truly felt as if I had become a different person. It is 
difficult to put into words (my fellow Rylarians can probably relate), but I seemed to notice the good in everything and 
everyone. My smile was hard to conceal as I gazed out the car window as we drove away, thinking of Group 1 and the amazing 
people I had met. What was interesting about RYLA was that most of my group members were people that I probably would 
never have hung out with at school. Yet, in only one week’s time, I had grown so attached to them and felt as if I had undergone 
some sort of life transformation. I realized immediately that I really wanted to return to RYLA again in the not too distant 
future.

On the first day of school in August, everyone seemed to notice that I was acting a little differently. I had a strange desire to 
hug everyone I knew, and I might have been a little too enthusiastic since my Spanish teacher sent me out in the hall for being a
 distraction. Not only was I being extremely friendly to people I was acquainted with, I was also initiating conversations with 
those I did not know. As a result, I have met so many new people at Golden High School. I never realized how hard high school 
can be for some kids, yet all they really need is some attention and friendship. As they say at RYLA, just saying hello to 
someone in the hall can make their day so much better.	

Being selected as a RYLA Junior Counselor would be a dream come true. I am a pretty quirky kid that likes to have fun. I do 
possess leadership abilities, since I am the past Junior Class President and current Senior Class President of my high school. I 
am also President of the National Honor Society and am involved in planning and implementing many activities which benefit 
the school and my community. I have spoken in front of an audience of 1300 students numerous times and have even danced in
 a tank top and bow tie in front of the entire school. I have also been a group leader on several occasions. For the past two 
years, I have been a Mentor in Violence Prevention, which means that I mentor a group of freshmen the first semester of 
school. I have also been an Outdoor Lab high school leader the past two years, which involves spending a week leading sixth 
graders on a wilderness retreat in Evergreen, Colorado. My responsibility and work ethic are reflected in my GPA. I have 
received straight A’s throughout my high school career and have taken all honors and AP classes. But most importantly, I know
 that my enthusiasm, energy, and friendly attitude will surely make me an effective and fun Junior Counselor at RYLA, 2007. 

As a Junior Counselor, I feel that I could impact lives for the better. Because I had such a great time at RYLA myself, and truly
 felt inspired, I feel that I can convey the meaning of RYLA to a group of my peers. I was a little reluctant to attend RYLA 
because I was not sure what to expect. Yet RYLA was truly a meaningful experience, and not just a bunch of fluff like some 
other leadership camps I have been to. With my accepting personality and willingness to be a friend to anyone, I feel that the 
role of Junior Counselor would be perfect for me. RYLA taught me how to express my love for people and my community, 
and showed me how I have the ability to make a difference in this world. RYLA is a time for self discovery and appreciation, 
and I feel that I can add a little bit more magic to this amazing experience. I would love to be a member of the counselor team, 
and look forward to hearing from you soon.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 14 of 71
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	Dixon, Bennett	Applied on	11/20/200	Born	8/9/1988	Male
	1835 Aspen Street	School:	Gering High School	Rotary:	Scottsbluff/Gering
	Gering	NE	69341	Year in school:	senior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	6
	(308) 436-2991	(308) 641-2932	bennbball_88@hotmail.com
“OOOHHH!!! You got schooled! Alright, alright, get back on D guys! Hey, have you been in yet?”

“No,” replies the shy young lady.

“Well, I’m exhausted, ya wanna jump in for me?”

“Yeah! Thanks, thanks a lot!”

“Sure, just don’t beat up on those guys too badly!”

It was Monday, June 19, the first full day of RYLA 2006. For my first morning activity of the week, I decided to play one of 
my favorite sports: basketball. I was “tearing it up” most of the game, okay, not really, but I had been playing the whole time, 
when I noticed this young lady watching from the sidelines, itching to get in the intense game. Taking the initiative of allowing 
everyone to play, she took my spot on the court. It was the beginning of a wonderful week of giving and receiving, of 
friendship and love, of listening and speaking.

RYLA was, and still is, one of the most important events of my life. But I hope my RYLA life isn’t over. There is something I 
have been striving for ever since I left the YMCA camp: becoming a junior counselor (JC) and giving the next generation of 
RYLArians an experience at least as wonderful as mine, if not more so. One person who made my experience so fantastic was 
my JC, Danee. She was so open with our team, so giving of herself, sacrificing her every waking, and few sleeping, moments 
for our group of young difference makers. I would like to contribute my best qualities, share my worst qualities, and learn to 
overcome those qualities, with a group of conferees, just as she did for us. One of the main reasons I want to become a JC is 
to better myself as a person. I am a firm believer that you learn from everyone. I learn various lessons daily from my peers at 
school; I have even learned many life lessons from young children who come into my work place, Sports Village, a local shoe 
and athletic store.

Another reason I’d love to be a JC is so that I can work with you, the RYLA staff. You are the root of all this love, the people 
who make the unique atmosphere possible, and the difference in so many young lives, mine included.

However, the most important reason I’d like to become a JC is relatively simple. I want to make a difference. Not only make a 
difference, but be a difference, and help others receive the same kind of support and motivation I now have.

Since that magical week up in the mountains, I’ve done all I can to do just that: to make, and be, a difference. Not only have I 
been carrying out my duties as the President of the Gering High Student Council, but the group is also more active in this, my 
senior year, than it has been in many years prior. Aside from planning all the Homecoming activities, organizing the decorating
 process for the Homecoming dance, and having truly unique “spirit week” themes, we, as a group, have raised money, via a 
Halloween costume day, to feed at least one local needy family a delectable Thanksgiving dinner.

But I haven’t done all this myself. I have a wonderful group of students who are quite active in the organization. They listen, 
give feedback, and do what’s best, whether it is my idea or theirs. We plan to make a Christmas float for our city parade and 
hold a window-decorating contest, all proceeds of which will be donated to the local “Gift of Love” program.

There are three other important occurrences in my life since RYLA. One, I have carried out and completed my Eagle Scout 
project, incorporating many of the leadership skills I learned at RYLA in the process. The project was a complete success; we 
had fun making the benches made for the local Buckboard Therapeutic Riding Academy, and all the people who use them have 
loved them. Along with this completion came the Board of Review, which I passed, and I am now proud to say that I am an 
Eagle Scout.

Second, I “landed” the main lead in our school play, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Without the courage and 
self confidence I gained at RYLA, I may not have had the “guts” even to try out for the part, much less do as well as I did. 
Although my part is massive, I am doing quite well at memorizing my lines, and the show opens in a week. Many of my fellow 
actors and actresses are counting on me to do my best, as I am counting on them. I have gathered them once for an 
inspirational “let’s do this!” speech. The results of this are evident in our renewed hunger to do this play right.

Lastly, I have recently begun to push the cause of helping to stop genocide in the province of Darfur, a small region of eastern 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 15 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sudan which has been ravaged by a civil war. More than 400,000 innocent people have been brutally murdered. I plan on using 
all of my personal contacts to speak to local Rotary and Kiwanis groups, among various other clubs, in an attempt to raise the 
awareness of this horrible tragedy.

Yes, these are all wonderful reasons I want to become a JC, but there is one more, very important reason. I want to help 
people. I came into RYLA needing help. I’d just gotten out of a horrible relationship the week prior to my attending the camp. 
After finding out the my girlfriend of nearly ten months, the girl I wanted to marry, had cheated on me three times, I had to 
come to this camp and be surrounded by complete strangers. Needless to say, I felt like less than nothing. Thoughts of suicide 
ran through my head all the time, even surfacing themselves in an attempt once. But, RYLA and my own stubbornness were my 
best enemies that night. My stubbornness of wanting to attend RYLA stopped me from doing anything too extremely drastic. I 
held back. Too many people were counting on me, looking up to me, expecting great things from me. And then there was 
RYLA. I considered it such an honor even to be chosen to go that it saved my life, even before my arrival.

Upon arrival, I seemed happy on the outside, but I never was truly happy, until I had a heart-to-heart with a fellow conferee. She
 opened up her broken past to me, and I opened mine. She made me feel whole again, as did I for her. After that conversation I 
really opened up my heart and soul to everyone at this camp. Through the course of the week, I got to know some people better
 than I’d known myself. Every single person that I met during that week helped me to realize that I’m not nothing; I am 
something. Something great. We all are, we just have to open our eyes to the promise of it. I want to help people do just that. I 
do it here, at home, every day, but I’d like to spread that influence to everyone in the world, and RYLA would be a great place 
to start.

These reasons I’d love to be a JC, along with my caring heart, open mind, desire for change, and natural leadership skills are 
the reasons why I think I’d make some excellent contributions to any 2007 RYLA team. My RYLA 2007 team would be the 
best team ever for one reason, and one reason alone: the potential of the conferees, JC, and SC to change the world.

One last thing I’d like to say: thank you. Even if I’m not chosen as a 2007 RYLA Junior Counselor, thank you for  giving me 
the opportunity, the will-power to change, and the best time of my life. And so I leave you with this: a warm fuzzy idea from 
the bottom of my heart. We are all wonderful, the potential, the sleeping greatness within us is there; all we need is someone 
to step forward and bring it out. We, all involved with RYLA, are, I feel, the ones to do this. Some people feel lonely, but 
loneliness is only a perception. There’s always someone there; all you have to do is open your eyes. Again, thank you.

RYLA love,
Benn Dixon
1835 Aspen St.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 16 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Doty, Andrew	Applied on	12/28/200	Born	12/31/1988	Male
	2202 Green Oaks Lane	School:	Regis Jesuit High School	Rotary:	Denver Southeast
	Greenwood Village	CO	80121	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	4
	(303) 795-2628	(720) 217-8548	Doughttttt@aol.com
I would like to be a JC because it’s been a dream of mine since I went to RYLA ’06 and absolutely fell in love with everything 
about it.  I saw in the JC’s everything that I wanted to be; they had confidence, strength, intelligence, and happiness in 
themselves.  They were able to instill all these qualities in me and now I wish to do the same for those attending RYLA ’07.  I 
want to give back to the RYLA community as much as it has given me, which is a lot to give.  Also, Karen Sekich, my SC, told 
me she would be very disappointed if I did not apply, and I never would want to let her down either!

My contributions to RYLA ’07 would be a great addition to the already stellar RYLA team I know will be there.  I am a hard 
worker, and would be sure to get things done.  I am also very organized, and would keep everything together to ensure a 
successful RYLA.  Although I have been fortunate to live a privileged life without much family strife or worry about the future,
 I still have a good story to tell.  I had a very difficult middle school experience in making friends and getting along with my 
classmates.  I didn’t do anything bad; I had just had trouble making friends and was picked on often.  I have trouble 
strengthening my faith as well, especially in attending Regis Jesuit High School.

I have grown from going to RYLA in many ways.  Most importantly, I found that my peers are going through the exact same 
trials and experiences, many of which are harder than mine even.  This is an obvious fact that many teenagers are ignorant of, 
but that RYLA revealed to me.  I also grew in how I would carry myself in life and how I would treat other people.  Another 
discovery for me was about myself.  When faced with many of the difficult questions RYLA poses you, I learned more about 
myself whether it was that I am Green and Gold, or how I know I want to go into business in college because of the Titan 
Business Simulation.  RYLA not only showed me new things about my life and myself, but assured me of many other things 
that I had already learned in life.

I am in my senior year at Regis Jesuit High School and am turning 18 on December 31, 2006.

Andrew David Doty
2202 Green Oaks Lane
Greenwood Village, Colorado 80121
303-795-2628

Activities                                                                   
Grade 

Varsity Soccer Team - Regis Jesuit 10, 11, 12	
2006 State Semifinalist; 
Season: August –November. 
Practice: five days/week-15 hours		          
Sophomore Soccer Team - Regis Jesuit	9

Season: August through October. Practice: five days/week-10 hours

Colorado Storm Soccer Club - Royal “Elite” Level9,10,11,12

2005, 2006 State semi-finalist. 
Season: February through July. 
Practice: four days/week -8 hours. Weekend games-4 hours. Tournament travel
 throughout the U.S.
	
Boy Scouts of America	9,10,11,12
Member 1st through 12th grade.  
Achieved highest rank: Eagle Scout.

Select Choir - Regis Jesuit	10, 11, 12
Audition-selected choir of 15 members which performs at school functions, 
President’s Receptions, nursing homes and conducts concerts throughout
the school year. 	

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 17 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapel Choir - Regis Jesuit	11, 12
Voluntary choir for school masses.

Freshmen Choir - Regis Jesuit	9

Regis Christian Life Community - Regis Jesuit 12
Builds religious and spiritual experience for the Regis community through prayer, community service and retreat.

Pastoral Committee - Regis Jesuit 11, 12
Plans school masses and participates as an altar server. 

Key Club Member - Regis Jesuit	10
Provides service for local charities such as food banks and soup kitchens.							
National Honor Society - Regis Jesuit	11,12
Volunteer tutor for underclassmen-20 hours annually.

Student Ambassador - Regis Jesuit 9,10	     Tour guide and escort for prospective students.	

Piano	9,10,11,12
Weekly piano lessons since 2nd grade.
	
Leadership Positions

Captain - Regis Jesuit Varsity Soccer Team 12
Voted by coaches and teammates. Responsible for coordinating fundraisers, team dinners, awards banquet, retreat and off-
season running and weight lifting.

Secretary - National Honor Society 12
Elected to serve on board for Regis Jesuit.  Plan induction and reception.

Quartermaster - Boy Scouts of America 10,11
Kept inventory of all camping supplies for troop. Purchased supplies. Maintained and repaired equipment for troop of 40.

Other Leadership - Boy Scouts of America 9,10,11
Served as Patrol Leader (Leader of 8 person patrol); Troop Guide (leader for incoming scouts); Historian (kept scrapbook and 
archived records).

Scholarship Committee Chair - Fairways to Heaven Golf Committee	12         
Formed committee of eight classmates to solicit funds to benefit Fairways to Heaven Memorial Scholarship in memory of 
classmate Ryan Stables. 

Kairos Retreat Leader - Regis Jesuit 12
Selected through nomination and application process to plan and lead a four-day spiritual retreat for 50 juniors.  Total hours-
122 for planning, day-long training and four-day retreat.

LINK Crew - Regis Jesuit 11, 12
Selected as group leader for freshman orientation program.  Completed two-day training retreat and day-long orientation. Led 
freshman group for day-long orientation. Total hours: 42 hours

Sophomore Retreat Leader - Regis Jesuit	12
Selected through nomination, application and essay to serve as group leader for overnight retreat. Total hours: 30

Assistant Coach - Regis Jesuit Soccer Camp 12
Assist coaches in running four-day Junior Varsity soccer camp. Total hours: 16

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 18 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
NSCAA State Diploma C License 10
Certified through soccer coaching certification course.

Service Activities

Eagle Scout Service Project - Boy Scouts of America	12
Researched and built stone deck for BBQ area at Boys Hope, a home for at risk boys. Raised $300 for supplies and directed 
volunteer team of 20.  Total hours: 150 

Life Scout Service Project - Boy Scouts of America	10
Refreshment Coordinator for Ryan Stables Bone Marrow Drive. Solicited donations from area grocery stores for 1,500 blood
 donors. Provided 
refreshments at day-long drive. Total hours: 20

Service Projects - Boy Scouts of America 9,10,11,12
Monthly clean up of Lee Gulch, Server for Knights of Columbus and Elks Club breakfasts, weekly troop meetings and service. 
Monthly hours: 15

Volunteer - Swedish Medical Hospital 11, 12
Worked two summers as a floor and front desk volunteer.  Awarded 100 Hour Certificate. 

Caretaker Assistant - Johnson Center	11
Worked as volunteer for senior adult day care program/ caretaker assistance program. Total hours: 80

Senior Service Project - Regis Jesuit	12
Additional 80 hours of service to be completed senior year with Capstone Project showing excellence in endeavors: Open to 
Growth,
Intellectually Competent, Religious, Loving and Committed to Justice. 
Total hours: 100

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity	12
Worked construction on Habitat for Humanity House with Greeley Rotary Clubs. Total Hours: 10

Key Club - Regis Jesuit	10
Provided service for local food banks and soup kitchens. Total hours: 10

Tutor - National Honor Society	11,12
Volunteer tutor for underclassmen-Annual hours: 20

Sophomore Service - Regis Jesuit	10
Planted trees at Bear Creek Park. Total hours: 8

Volunteer Coach - Greenwood Village Youth Indoor Soccer	11
Assisted with four-week fundamentals clinic for K-2nd Graders. Total hours: 12

Warehouse Volunteer - Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child 9,10,11,12
Worked sorting line and packed donated gift boxes for Christian relief organization. Annual hours: 6

Volunteer - COMPA Thanksgiving Food Drives 9,10
Packed holiday food baskets.  Annual hours: 6

Certification Volunteer - Colorado Storm Soccer Club	10,11,12
Volunteer for coaching certification courses.  Annual hours: 4

Total Hours of Volunteer Work:1,286

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 19 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Awards/Honors

First Honor Roll 9, 10
3.5 to 4.0 G.P.A. (unweighted)

Highest Honors	11	
4.0 G.P.A. (unweighted)

National Honor Society	11,12

Eagle Scout - Boy Scouts of America 12
Earned 21 required merit badges; held required leadership positions; attended weekly meetings and monthly leadership 
meetings; participated in over 50 nights of camping; organized, led and completed service projects over
8 years of Boy Scouts.

Order of the Arrow - Boy Scouts of America 9, 10
Boy Scouts National Honor Society.  Selected by peers to honor society focusing on the principles of cheerful service to 
others. Achieved rank of Brotherhood.

Baden Powell Award - Boy Scouts of America 9, 10
Awarded to top leader at Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch.

Mile Swim - Boy Scouts of America 9
Swimming 1 mile continuously.

50 Miler Award - Boy Scouts of America	11
Awarded for planning and participating in canoe trek of  over 50 miles. Conducted conservation project.  

First Team Academic All State	11,12
Recognized as a varsity athlete with a 3.5 G.P.A.  or above.

First Team All League - Continental League Soccer	11
Selected by the coaches as one of the top players in the league. 

Varsity Letterman - Regis Jesuit 10,11,12

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 20 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Doty, Lauren	Applied on	12/28/200	Born	6/27/1990	Female
	2202 Green Oaks Lane	School:	Regis Jesuit High School	Rotary:	Englewood
	Greenwood Village	CO	80121	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	17
	(303) 795-2628	doughttttt@aol.com
Attending RYLA was truly a wonderful experience for me and by becoming a Junior Counselor I want to make RYLA an 
amazingly fun time for a new team.  When I came to RYLA last summer, I had no idea what it was.  During my experience at 
RYLA, I learned how to be a leader and I also made a lot of great friends.

At RYLA I was part of a team of kids with many different backgrounds.  We all came from totally different parts of Colorado 
and had different lives.  Many of these people I probably would have never met or become such good friends with if it had not 
been for RYLA.  Through listening to so many great speakers and teenagers like me, I learned that there are so many people 
who have done great things and that if you just take time to listen, you can learn a lot from people who you might not have 
known before.  I also learned that everyone has a different story, and that you can never judge another because you don’t know 
the things they might be going through.  

I am currently a junior at Regis Jesuit High School, and I love it.  I am on the varsity swim team, and I am also on the soccer 
team.  School is always the most important though, and I currently have a 4.2 GPA.  This year I joined our school’s Link Crew, 
which help new freshmen become familiar with high school.  I am in the Ambassadors club as well, which participates in the 
school’s open house, and also grade school visits.  Also, I am a co-president of the Junior Ambassadors club, which involves 
the shadow program.

I want to be a Junior Counselor at RYLA because I want to show this new group of students how they can make a difference in 
their own lives.  I want them to have as great of an experience as I did so they can take what they learn at RYLA and bring it to 
their schools and communities to become great leaders.  I also love to have fun.  I want to make RYLA not only a time to learn 
but also a fun experience to remember.  I had so much fun during all the activities at RYLA and I want to make this summer’s 
RYLA just as fun and more for the new group.  I hope this letter has told you a little bit about me and why I would love to be a 
Junior Counselor.  Thank you!

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 21 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Enright, Carl	Applied on	12/10/200	Born	12/30/1989	Male
	1212 Twin Peaks Cir	School:	Silver Creek High 	Rotary:	Winter Park-Frasier
	Longmont	CO	80503	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	12
	(303) 772-6652	(303) 669-8754	carlenright@gmail.com
December 9, 2006

To:  	Bill Manning					
2007 Rocky Mountain 
	RYLA Chairperson

From:	Carl Enright
	carlenright@gmail.com
	1212 Twin Peaks Cir
	Longmont, Colorado 80503
	303-669-8754

Dear Jr. Counselor Selection Committee,

This letter is my application for the position of Jr. Counselor at 2007 RYLA next summer in Estes Park, Colorado. I would 
like to be a junior counselor because I want to influence kids that are my age and make a difference.  I want to do my part in 
making sure that students who come to RYLA can make the best life possible.  I enjoy meeting new people and getting to know
 more about people.  I feel that if I can touch one person and make a difference, the world will be better place.

My experience at RYLA last summer was phenomenal.  I was reluctant to come at first because I had not been initially chosen 
by the Longmont club.  I had a basketball game time conflict and had asked for another interview time.  My position on my 
team was one of leadership. I felt if I did not play the team would suffer.  The club filled all the spots for RYLA and apologized
 that they could not set another time.  My application was picked up by the Winter Park club which was brand new.  This 
worked out well especially when I met with the club after the conference.  I grew up in Winter Park spending a lot of time with
 my grandparents.  I felt the connection with my grandparents and the Winter Park Rotary club.  I know that any kid who gets to 
come to RYLA is being given a great gift.

I think that is what I can contribute to making my team and 2007 camp the best ever.  I know many kids, especially the guys, 
who come to RYLA are reluctant and not sure the camp is for them.  I think my special talent will be making the campers feel 
included and welcome.  I am also great with organizing team efforts and enthusiasm.  I think I can help my team work through 
problem solving and unite as a team.

I have grown from RYLA in the way I conduct myself in school, sports, and the community.  I came back from camp and 
dedicated myself to football.  Our team did well but we faced some adversity.  I worked to be my very best in both offense and 
defense and was rewarded by being nominated for four awards by the coaches.  I was the only junior that was nominated.  I also 
earned an all-conference award which was the goal I set.  While that was good, I would have given up any of the awards for my 
team to go further in the state playoffs.  I look forward to next season to see where my senior leadership can take us. In 
school, I decided to become more involved with student government.  I am now a member of student senate and enjoy working 
with all the school activities, faculty, and administration.  I have also been able to bring many new students into our Interact 
club for activities and service projects. We have raised funds in Interact club by delivering pumpkins to over 1200 homes and 
spent one day cleaning out the Project Cure warehouse. I am much more sensitive to kids at our school that may be a little 
different than me.

I am currently a junior at Silver Creek High School.  I was inducted into National Honor Society this year and am enjoying the 
community service opportunities that go along with the commitment of membership. I was a member of Link Crew at the 
school in August.  We went through peer mentorship training and then supported new freshman in orientation and their first 
few weeks of school.  I think my primary influence at school is that I am both a three sport varsity athlete and committed to 
excellence in my academic work.  I hope to attend an Ivy league college and play football at that level.  This is a very high goal 
so my decisions and work ethic all align to make that happen.  That takes leadership of self.  When I watch some of my friends 
want to party, I know that I have to make sure homework is complete and my body is ready for the next game.  I feel I am an 
influence to the freshman and sophomore players of a good scholar athlete.  I also enjoyed this year a fellowship with other 
football players where we met once a week for bible study and talked about ways to be strong and yet walk the good walk.

I hope to be selected as a junior counselor for RYLA 2007.  I know I will always want to be a part of Rotary International and 
feel I have much to give to the youth programs.  I am including a list of my academic records, activities, and honors that I have 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 22 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
received.  It would be a great honor to be selected as a junior counselor.

								Sincerely yours,
								Carl Enright

Carl Enright
1212 Twin Peaks Cir
Longmont, Colorado 80503
303.669.8754
carlenright@gmail.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Education:
	Silver Creek High School, graduating May, 2008, 4.156 G.P.A., Rank 8/256
	A.P. Chemistry, A.P. Calculus, A.P. Literature
	Honors Biology, Honors English, Honors U.S. History
	Math Analysis Best Student Award
	Introduction of Business Best Student Award
	Geometry Best Student Award
	Honor Roll

Activities:
	Silver Creek High School Student Senate
	Varsity Football, 2005, 2006, two year letterman
	Varsity Basketball, 2005-06, 2006-07, two year letterman
	Jr. Varsity Baseball
	CARA tennis
	Denver Elite Athletic Club, Flight club basketball
	St. Vrain Valley Interact Club, treasurer
	Silver Creek Outdoor Activity Club
	National Honor Society, Silver Creek High School

Honors & Awards:
	American Mathematics Competition Award, 2005
	Young RYLA, 2002	
	Rotary Youth Leadership Award, 2006 
	Advanced Rotary Youth Leadership Conference, 2006
	All-Conference Award, Tri-Valley Football Conference, 2006
	Academic All-State Award, Football, 2006
	CARA State Tennis Tournament, Champion, 2002
	Academic Letter, Silver Creek High School, 2005, 2006

Community Service:
	After School Activity Programs, St. Vrain School District
	Project Cure
	Kenya Water Project Fundraising
	Art Tile Project, “Global Understanding”, Longmont Recreation Center
	Denver Health Center Christmas Party

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 23 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Fiser, Jessica	Applied on	12/28/200	Born	8/28/1988	Female
	2973 Headwater Drive	School:	Poudre High School	Rotary:	Fort Collins
	Fort Collins	CO	80521	Year in school:	Senior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	13
	(970) 493-3631	JessyLue202@msn.com
To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Jessy Fiser and I would absolutely love to be a Junior Counselor at RYLA this coming year! This camp changed 
my whole outlook on the world and how I want to live it. I am unable to explain to anyone how amazing this camp is and if I 
have to opportunity to go again I know that I may be able to make an impact on others the way the people there made an impact 
on me.

I attended RYLA along with my twin brother, Lucas. During those six amazing days at the camp I experienced what you all call 
the RYLA miracle. When I first went to RYLA I thought it was going to be a disaster, but as the hours passed I slowly started to
 fall in love with the idea and the people at the camp. This camp made me realize that everyone goes through a hard time and 
you just have to pull through and be strong. Everyone at this camp was able to help my brother and I realize that we were still 
best friends and that we still loved each other. He had been suffering from severe depression and we were quickly pulling apart
 from each other. I came to realize that he was actually hurting me the most because he knew that no matter how horrible he 
was to me, I would always love him. Since the camp we still go through rough times, but now we both know we will always be 
there for each other. 

At RYLA I was also able to talk about all the struggles I have faced in the past, such as being homebound for the whole second 
semester of my freshman year and having two shoulder surgeries. This experience has made me want to help others the way 
RYLA helped me. I have since started an Interact Club at my school, Poudre High School, where I am the President. So far this
 year I have led my club in “trick o’ treating” for cans and spending time at a nursing home. We actually collected 147 pounds 
of food and then donated all the food to the Food Bank in Fort Collins. Then we made Christmas cookies and cards and 
delivered them to a nursing home. We visited with the special care unit where we spent about an hour trying to make there day 
just a little bit better. In February we are planning on having a shoe drive, where we would donate all the shoes to villages in 
Tanzania. RYLA has made me passionate about donating my time to others. I want to “Make a Difference” in the world and I 
know that I can help others see how good it feels to do so. I am also a member of Student Council, Class Council and National 
Honor Society. This year I have been more motivated to help people around my school and in my community. And that is 
thanks to this amazing experience at RYLA.

I know that I will be able to help make RYLA 2007 the best year ever! I understand that this place is special and I have never 
seen or heard of anything better. When I am there I am like a new person who can’t stop saying, “I love you” and giving hugs to 
complete strangers, this camp is like my haven. I learned so much about myself while I was there, that I know I will be able to 
help others surpass their struggles and realize that they can get through anything no matter how big the obstacle. I am now a 
much stronger person since I last attended RYLA and I would love to get the chance to lead of group of young adults through 
what I experienced last year. It would mean the world to me if I got to experience RYLA for a second time!

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 24 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Fleming, Joshua	Applied on	1/16/2007	Born	9/30/1988	Male
	2307 Sceap Ct	School:	Rotary:
	Fort Collins	CO	80526	Year in school:	Senior	RYLA Year	2005	Team
	(970) 490-8936	(970) 631-3456	joshuatfleming@gmail.com
Why I want to be a RYLA JC!

By, Joshua Fleming

The summer of 2005 was a crazy one for me.  The Rotary After Work Club had accepted me earlier that year to participate in 
the Rotary Youth Exchange program.  Through out that school year I attended orientations, more interviews and regularly was 
present at the Rotary meetings.   By the end of the school year the president of the After Work club has presented the idea to 
me that before I leave for my yearlong exchange to Argentina, I should attend RYLA.  Not having any idea of what RYLA was 
but being the president of the Rotary club that would be sending me to another country for a year I decided the best thing to do 
was to go.  The first week of August I headed up to Estes Park not having any idea what I had just got myself into.  Thinking I 
was going to have to spend a good five days with random people and dread through sleepy motivational speeches, I non the less
 wasn’t to excited. The only thing on my mind was getting out of the country in the next few weeks. 

          Wow! Was I wrong though! I don’t believe that the RYLA camp could have motivated, challenged, and prepared me for 
my yearlong exchange any better.  Our JC couldn’t have been more excellent.  She is one of the reasons I am know applying to 
be a JC, seeing how much fun it was to see her bring our group “ten” together better than any professional could have done.  
And trust me our group couldn’t have been more diverse.  We had people from the middle of nowhere Wyoming; we had a 
conservative eagle scout that had never showed emotion in his life, a kid thrown into the RYLA camp by his dad. We had 
popular girls, straight edge girls, one that was even a little too crazy, and one that was in love and one that said she never 
wanted to get married.  And then there was me.  The kid that didn’t want to have anything to do with the United States didn’t 
want to see his friends, family, home, bed room any more. A crazy tree hugging liberal that probably couldn’t have been any 
more ignorant at the time.  We all came together!  In fact our group, group ten, was awarded the Pop-eye award! Along with 
three others we were by far the closest, funniest, most outgoing, rambunctious, and competitive group that was there.  

          We, as a group were able to see every one for who they were, because we were stripped of any reputations and our 
escape goats were long gone before we hit I25.  But, I think the most valuable thing we all learned, especially me was the 
leadership skill to sit back and let some one else lead for a while.  Our group was full of strong willed, and dominant leaders to
 begin with.  We all wanted to lead the minute we got up to Estes, weather it was subconscious or not.  We learned to step back
 each time we needed to and let the best-prepared and able take the head positions.  We were a team! And we were only as good
 as our weakest link. 

          After I left RYLA that year I got on a plane and flew eleven hours south to Buenos Aires, Argentina.   Which I have to be 
honest was the best year of my life.  I meet people from all over the world, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, New Zealand, 
Canada, Mexico and many more places.  I was thrown into situations much like those of RYLA but on a very real life scale, it 
was make friends or respect those ones you didn’t make friends with real quick or get out!  I lived with three host families and 
had a group of friends from my hometown San Carlos De Bolivar that I cannot wait to visit again.   I took what I learned from 
RYLA and applied it on a huge scale.  I had to respect every person I was around.  I had to let everyone that I meet take the 
chance to lead before me if I didn’t know the way.  It was that or get lost in Buenos Aires, a third world country were over 15 
million people live.  I had to take the responsibility to take control of my life and make real life decisions for myself that year,
 something I would have never had to courage to do if I hadn’t gone to RYLA! 

          Now, I am back in the United States, I will graduate with my class of 2007, but it wont come with out a struggle. I am a 
dyslexic kid that was thrown into Special Ed in third grade when I moved here to Fort Collins, CO.  Now I will graduate high 
school at Rocky Mountain High with no Individual Education Plan (IEP), reading at accelerated college level and being in 
Argentina for my junior year.  This first quarter after being back from South America, I have achieved a 4.0.  I have applied to 
colleges in the Pacific Northwest, like Portland State University, Lewis and Clark, and Evergreen, one of which I hope to 
attend this following year.  

After a year like the one I had last I have to keep myself occupied.  I volunteer at my moms Head Start class were I get to keep 
up on my Spanish with many of the little 3 and 4 year old Hispanic kids.  I am in an independent world studies class were we 
read Spanish books and discuss them every Thursday after school at a local coffee shop.   I still continue to travel; in mid 
November I took a four-day trip to visit the colleges I am applying for, in Portland and Seattle by myself.   As well I have 
raised enough of my own money to fly to Europe with a friend to travel for a month.  I want to study International Relations 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 25 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
and hopefully finish out my last two years of college in another country.  

I want to be a JC to tell my story, to share my love, outgoing, adventurous, weird, rambunctious, ridiculous, crazy personality 
with others and use that to teach them.  I want to show young kids like myself the difference and the way to respect the other 
cultures and people that separate the world from understanding each other.  If that persons is on the other side of the world, 
your next door neighbor, or your bunk body at RYLA we need to shed the ignorance from ourselves and give the new 
traditions, cultures, people our undivided respect and give peace a chance to prevail.  

 
 Young RYLA JC QUESTIONS.
1.     My Backpack.
            My backpack is used for its general use only.  I carry to and from school of which the inside contents are my 
schoolbooks, and notebooks. I should have pins and pencils in there as well, but I can never guarantee that I am completely 
prepared. I will almost always have a novel in there because frankly school can get pretty boring and I find it easy to engulf 
myself in a good book.  Every once in awhile when my book has also gotten boring, I am scrounging looking for a pencil or 
just bored I find a Peso coin from Argentina. Or a flyer from some trip I have been on, maybe a note some one has wrote me, 
or directions to my hotel.  

2.     5 Page English Paper
            Write the due date down and go back to listening to the teacher discussing what you had read the night before.

3.     In a Group situation it is more important to:

            I would choose to lead the group so that every one will be satisfied.

4.     The top five ways I spend my time outside of school.
1.     Working, I usually am working 10-12 hours a week at a inside playground for children called Fit For Fun.
2.     Volunteering. I volunteer for the ESL program in Fort Collins every Tuesday for about two hours. 
3.      Hanging out with friends. I drink coffee a lot with friends. The Bean Cycle is my favorite coffee place in town. That kind 
of setting brings good conversation and good atmosphere to do homework and friends always make a good Atmosphere. 
4.     Reading.  I am in a independent study group reading Spanish books.  I am fascinated with travel books and politics.  
Probably a good hour a day I am reading if not much much more!
5.      Talking on the phone and doing homework is a complete split for the fifht thing.

5.     One word to describe me and why…
              Demonstrative is my word. This is a perfect word for me because I am always being expressive.  My opinion is almost 
always heard I even, to a point, love to hear my own voice.  I love to tell stories, I sometimes have a hard time finding my 
words and fall into Spanish to explain my thoughts, I laugh at my own jokes and think everything is funny, I like to show people 
the way, lead the way, I like to have a good time and to shout out.  I am expressive, I use my hands to describe things and sound 
effects to explain myself.  I always will try and tell the truth and I hate being alone for the lake of my ability to be 
deomstrative.  I am loud and abnoxious.  I get very passionate and excited when I talk about something I really enjoy and I will 
start to studder when this happens.  My heart rate rises dramaticly with anything I am passionate about and I always find a way 
to stress myself out. But thats O.K.!

-- 
Joshua Fleming
"Oh The Places You´ll Go" Dr. Suess

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 26 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Gerlach, Rachel	Applied on	12/2/2006	Born	12/12/1988	Female
	5686 Saddle Creek Trail	School:	Regis Jesuit High School	Rotary:	Parker
	Parker	CO	80134	Year in school:	Senior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	2
	(303) 840-7576	(303) 748-9603	rmg@halseycomponents.com
Dear RYLA Committee,

"A caterpillar doesn’t know it will one day become a butterfly, and it doesn’t aspire to do so. The caterpillar sees maybe an 
acre of land its entire life.  It doesn’t know that there’s more land out there. Then as the caterpillar goes into its cocoon, it 
becomes covered in mucus.  A caterpillar spends one-third of its life covered in mucus and mud, but when it comes out of its 
cocoon it’s the most beautiful creature known to man, and it can travel the world.”

Kimra Perkins said this to us on the last full day of RYLA, and to me that quote embodied what RYLA is all about. Before I 
went to RYLA, I was a caterpillar. I didn’t know what kind of person I wanted to be, or even what I could be.  I was happy with 
exactly where I was in my life; I was content with my acre of land.  RYLA showed me how wonderful it is to be a butterfly.  I 
want to be that butterfly. Before RYLA, I was afraid to be myself.  I had been shot down so many times, that I became what 
everyone wanted me to be.  I was not my own person, and I never strived to be anything more than a member of the group.  At 
RYLA, one of the first things that they told us was that this was a safe environment, not only to be who you are, but who you 
wanted to become.  There was nothing to lose, so I tried it.  I have never felt more loved and accepted than I did at RYLA. And 
all for being myself.  I was giggly, sensitive, bright, ditzy, moody, honest, accepting, bold and cautious.  Finally I felt that 
someone loved me other than my family.  I felt on top of the world, and better than I’ve ever felt before.  I came home with a 
renewed spirit.  Before RYLA, my younger sister and I did not have a good relationship.  She had been sick for a very long 
time, and I had resented her for that.  When I came home, I was determined to make my relationship better with her.  Our 
relationship is a work in progress, but after six months, I can now say that my little sister is one of my best friends.  At school, 
I have made so many new friends.  I am no longer just part of a group, but I have true friends who love and care for me, just like
 the people I met at RYLA.

My junior counselor was Gaby Nagy.  She is one of the reasons I want to be a junior counselor.  On the very first day of RYLA 
I felt comfortable around her.  Throughout the entire week, she was my strong hold.  She was the one who encouraged me to 
open up and to grow.  Gaby would not let me just observe, she demanded my participation, and she was the best junior 
counselor there for doing so.  I want to be able to give someone what Gaby gave me.  She gave me the best experience of my 
life, and I do not want anyone to miss out on RYLA just because they are afraid to participate. Doug Armbrust was my senior 
counselor, and he was such an important part of my RYLA experience.  We had a lot of intimate talks, and while talking with 
him, I learned a lot about myself.  I learned that love is unconditional.  Doug taught me how to love people; even those who 
don’t love you back.  He taught me that by loving people, you teach them about love.  I want to be a junior counselor for RYLA 
so that I may love all of the RYLArians of 2007 and maybe I could impact just one person the way that Gaby and Doug 
impacted me. Another reason I want to be a junior counselor is because I fell in love with RYLA.  There is nothing like the 
love that is shared at RYLA.  It encourages people to be themselves and to grow with one another.  I so desire to be a part of 
that again.  RYLA was over too fast, and even though I’ve been living RYLA at home, I want to be back with people who are all 
living RYLA together.

As a member of the RYLA 2007 team, I will devote my whole self.  I have always had the ability to get along with all types of 
people.  I love meeting new people and learning all about them. Leadership is a quality that I have always possessed.  Since high
 school started, I have participated in numerous leadership camps and programs.  My leadership abilities have only grown since
 RYLA.  I know how to encourage and lead small or large groups.  However, I also know how to follow a leader.  I follow 
directions well and I enjoy working on tasks within a group.  Being part of the RYLA 2007 team would fulfill the dream I’ve 
had since I came home.  I’ve daydreamed about my small group, and everything that I want to do for them, I want to encourage 
my group to open up and experience the RYLA magic.  Witnessing the growth of another person was the most rewarding thing 
at RYLA.  I want to be responsible for that growth, to encourage and foster my group to be able to able to experience the same 
life-changing experiences that I did.

This year, I am a senior at Regis Jesuit High School Girls Division.  I am a member of National Honors Society and am a tutor 
in music theory and English.  All four years of high school I have been a member of the Mock Trial team and have been the 
defense team captain.  Based on my scores at the regional mock trial competition, I have been selected for the past two years 
to participate in the National Student Leadership Conference.  In addition to National Honors Society and Mock Trial, I also 
teach second grade Sunday school.  Teaching second graders has truly taught me patience and given me the ability to have new 
people trust me.  In September, I also participated in a Servant Leadership Weekend.  At this conference, I learned how to 
serve others in a leadership position.  This experience, more than any other, taught me how to truly be a productive leader.  I 
also took part in the first ever Advanced RYLA conference.  It was so thrilling to be a part of the groundbreaking ARYLA, and I
 truly hope it continues.  I learned how to take all the skills I learned at RYLA and apply them in my everyday life.  It has helped

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 27 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
 me in my interaction with teachers and throughout my college application process.  I was able to have a successful interview 
with the music program at Nebraska Wesleyan University where I will be attending in the fall.  These interview skills were 
those that I learned at ARYLA.
  
Thank you for your time, and God Bless,
	Gonsalez, Jayde	Applied on	12/28/200	Born	1/10/1990	Female
	420 South 8th Street	School:	Worland High School	Rotary:	Worland
	Worland	WY	82401	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	10
	(307) 347-2719	(307) 431-5425	jayda_24_4life@hotmail.com
To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Jayde Gonsalez and I would like to be selected as a Junior Camp Counselor.  I attended RYLA last year and learned
 so much about myself and others, and have tried to implement those skills in the activities I’m involved in locally.

I am almost 17 years old and a junior in high school.  I feel I am a very good leader.  I am organized, responsible, hardworking, 
and just love a challenge.  I carry a 3.8 GPA and have never been on the deficiency list for sports.  I participate in volleyball, 
basketball and soccer and am a leader both on and off the court.  It is very important to me that I set a good example for 
friends, acquaintances, and the young people I am associated with.

I am also involved with Key Club and have cleaned highways and helped put on a Haunted House for the community.  I helped 
with the Catholic Church Summer Totus Tuus program for grade school kids and attended in the evenings with my friends. I 
have also helped with the Children’s Christmas program for several years.

I coached a group of 5th and 6th grade girls in basketball for the Recreation Department and realized there is so much more to 
coaching that knowing the game.

I worked as a teacher’s aide for a summer continuation program for 2nd graders.  It was so rewarding knowing I helped these 
little ones in some small way.  I also babysat a 6-year-old girl and had to organize meal plans, daily activities, and coordinate 
playtime with friends.  That was a whole new challenge, knowing her parents were counting on me to teach, discipline and care 
for their child as they would.

My team for RYLA 2007 would be the best for many reasons.  We would be louder and more enthusiastic than every other 
team.  I would hope to ensure that my team would gain friendships as I did.  I still remain close with some of my RYLA 2006 
team mates.  Being a JC would be the best thing that ever happened to me.  There is so much that RYLA has taught me and 
sharing that experience with others would mean the world to me.  My Junior Counselor, Sam Berry, and my Senior Counselor, 
Ken Henley, made a huge impact on my life so much that putting it into words would do it no justice.  They both truly inspired 
me to apply to become a Junior Counselor.  However, even if I am not selected, I hope that they know that because of them I 
am more outgoing, more responsible, and a much, much more confident person.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Sincerely,

Jayde Gonsalez

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 28 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Gonzalez, Brian	Applied on	12/11/200	Born	2/22/1991	Male
	12121 E. Ford Ave.	School:	Ranum High School	Rotary:	Aurora Gateway
	Aurora	CO	80012	Year in school:	11th Grade	RYLA Year	2006	Team	19
	(303) 364-7278	BGonzalezArenado08@echalk.adams50.org
Dear RYLA Committee,

	My name is Brian Gonzalez and I wish to apply for the position of Junior Counselor for the summer of 2007. 
It was July 16, 2006 and I just got out of my car with my luggage ready to do the usual summer camp routine. All of a sudden, 
some people came up to me and gave me hugs and asked me for my name and I thought to myself, “What have I done?” I 
seriously thought that this would be the most boring, fake, and mushy week of my summer. I got to my dorm room and I met 
my roommates, and they all agreed with me. At the end of that week however, I left RYLA crying; I absolutely did not want to 
leave. I cried all the way home and I couldn’t stop. After evaluation, I found it amazing how one week in a secluded place in the 
mountains, could flip you and your personality upside down. That one week at RYLA changed me and my overall aspect on life 
and how to approach certain obstacles that are thrown at me. This is why I want so badly to be a Junior Counselor. I want the 
privilege to give another child the feeling that I had the summer of 2006. 

After meeting my Junior Counselor, I totally changed my aspect on RYLA; she was the most down to earth girl you could ever 
meet. She knew how to make someone laugh and feel confident about themselves. This newly discovered confidence was what 
let my group and I open ourselves up to her and our group. I highly respect and admire her for being such an amazing human 
being. I believe that from what I learned that week at RYLA, and from having experienced first-hand the best junior counselors;
 I would make an outstanding Junior Counselor. I know when to be serious and when to laugh. I’m not afraid to cry and most of 
all I’m definitely a born leader and l love talking to people and just having some fun. These qualities would let me make my 
team the best team for RYLA 2007. 

I feel that my accomplishments accentuate my character and personality. I’m currently a junior at Ranum High School in 
Denver. I’m in the National Honor Society and the International Baccalaureate Program. I speak Spanish, English, and French. I
 teach piano to young kids and I love doing it. I design websites and am currently the webmaster at my middle school. I’m in 
MESA, which mainly focuses around mathematics and science and their use in modern life. I’m in Knowledge Bowl, which is 
like a fun nerdy trivia game. On top of that, I plan on becoming a pediatrician when I grow up. I love talking to kids and just 
being around them makes me happy. 

That one week at RYLA not only let me learn how to change myself for the better, but also taught me how to change the people
 around me for their better. It takes a strong sense of character and personality to be Junior Counselor, and I now understand 
why you must have attended RYLA before, to be a Junior Counselor. We needed to have experienced the strong RYLA love, 
and by doing so, it lets us learn how to give that same love back to another child. RYLA changed my life for the better and 
made me and the people around me better people. I will never forget that week in my life, and I hope that I can get the chance 
to give that feeling to another child. 

									Thank You,
Brian Gonzalez

12121 E. Ford Ave.
Aurora, CO, 80012

303-364-7278

          bgon291@hotmail.com

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 29 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Griffith, Jason	Applied on	1/10/2007	Born	9/22/1985	Male
	285 32nd Street	School:	Rotary:
	Boulder	CO	80305	Year in school:	Junior in 	RYLA Year	2002	Team
	(970) 590-7107	(970) 590-7107	Jason.Griffith@colorado.edu
My YRYLA Friends:

Here are the answers you seek:

Why do you want to be a junior counselor?
Simply: I love RYLA.  I think I may be a junkie.  If there were a 12-step program, I would have gone through it about a million 
times.  My favorite venue for service above self has been RYLA itself.  I have been a round for a while, as you know, and I still 
get chills at the prospect of helping kids have the kind of experience that I did at RYLA, at committing myself so deeply and 
passionately to serving the world’s future leaders.  At RYLA, I find the best version of myself because it is a place where it is 
easy to give everything I have to the people around me.  My life has become about other people, and there is no better way to 
give than at RYLA.  I LOVE IT!

How will you contribute to making your team and RYLA 2007 the best ever?
The one thing I have learned from RYLA and YRYLA is that all you can do is offer your true self to people, so that’s what I’ll 
do.  I like to say that I will “bring it.”  By “it,” I mean that I will bring everything I have and give it to my team of kids and my 
team of JCs and SCs.  There are a lot of details in any RYLA, but I believe that if I just offer myself wholly and honestly, that is
 the most I can do to make YRYLA 2007 amazing.

How have you grown or changed as a result of attending RYLA?
For a lot of people, RYLA changes them, but for me it defined who I am.  I always was involved with the community and I 
always served other people, but before RYLA I did it for me, for my resume.  I did it to get into Stanford. However, something 
about being surround by so many people who deeply and passionately believe in doing something good in the world simply 
because it is the right thing to do altered my soul.  Post-RYLA life for me was much the same, but I found myself doing things 
for other people because I wanted to help them; I wanted to be an agent of change; I want to live the RYLA spirit every day.

In a few brief sentences describe what your locker, backpack or bedroom looks like? (Is it organized, color-coated, you don’t 
know where it is?)
I am a super organized person.  That being said, I also like to have a lot of fun with what my room looks like and what is in it.  I 
like to say I am organized with a flair.  I guess I have the organization that helps keep me sane tossed in with the pizzazz that 
keeps me happy!

Your teacher assigns a 5 page English paper on the novel you just read in class, the first thing you do is:
Write the due date down and go back to listening to the teacher discussing what you had read the night before.

In group situations it is more important to:
Value and consider everyone’s input before finding the path to work with everyone on in order to move forward.

List the top five ways you spend your time outside of school and the percent of your time is spent on each of these activities.

-Working at the State Capitol: 15-20%
-Homework: 15-20%
-Service and other extracurricular activities 30-40%
-Spending time with family and friends 15-20%
-Playtime 15-20%

If you could describe yourself in ONE word, what would that word be and why? Would others agree with your choice of word? 
Why?
Passionate.  Samira always says, “Go big or go home,” and I guess this is kind of my version of this.  It doesn’t matter what you
 do; if you do it with the whole of who you are, you will be successful.  Those things which I cannot invest myself completely 
in, I won’t do.  Besides, a life of passionate things is just more fun!  Other people would agree with this I think.  It is something
 that I try to wear on my sleeve and share with the people around me everyday.

Whatever else you want the RYLA committee to know about yourself to help us in your decision, i.e.: current leadership roles 
or accomplishments. Remember this letter is your opportunity to distinguish yourself from the other applicants.
I think that is about all I will say.  Rotary does a lot of good in the world, but I am convinced its biggest contribution and its 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 30 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
most lasting mark will be RYLA and YRYLA.  It has been a profound honor and privilege to dedicate myself to service in those
 programs, and I would love nothing more than to devote another year.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 31 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Griffith, Kelly	Applied on	12/2/2006	Born	5/2/1990	Female
	2981 Fall River Road	School:	Clear Creek High School	Rotary:	Mountain Foothills
	Idaho Springs	CO	80452	Year in school:	Junior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	10
	(303) 567-1529	(303) 570-5940	chessypup@msn.com
Dear Committee Members:

First, and foremost, I hope this letter finds you well, and excited for the upcoming year of RYLA. I, for one, am extremely 
excited, and all I can hope is that this letter makes an impression on you. I would encourage you to pick the best applicants for 
the job, as I’m sure you will, whether that is me or not. I know that without the amazing councilors we had last year, Junior and 
Senior Councilors alike, RYLA would have been drastically different. For amazing councilors and an amazing experience, I 
thank you. 

In the last four months, I have noticed a significant change in my life, and whenever I think about it, it all relates back to RYLA.
 I thought this camp, of all the camps I have been to, was the least likely camp to have any impact on my future, but RYLA has 
made a different person. I am more positive all the time, always countering pessimistic arguments with hopeful optimistic 
ones, and trying to help people change the way I have been changed. Unfortunately, I can only do this on a limited basis, 
because without the help of all the other people involving with RYLA, I have little lasting effect. For this reason, I would like 
to join the long list of RYLA Junior Councilors—I would like to join those people who have made me a better person, so that I
 can try to help other people open up, and see the world in a new light. 

Perhaps the most dramatic change in my life was pressure relieved from telling my group at RYLA, group ten, things that I had 
never told anyone before in my life, things that I thought I would never tell. For some reason, I thought that if I didn’t tell 
anyone, my problems would go away. Obviously, they didn’t. What I am mostly referring to is the fact that I was sexually 
abused as a child. I will not go into detail, I will only say that it had impact on my childhood and my current life. Today, I find it
 at least slightly easier to talk about; I have told some of my friends, and now, I have told you. I cannot say this was easy, but 
because of RYLA, I realized that silence does not ease anything. If I am chosen to be a Junior Councilor, I hope to inspire 
people to tell their discomforts and discontents to the group, and share some their experiences. 

I believe that in many ways, I can make this year as passionately life-changing or even more so, than last year’s RYLA. In 
effect, I hope to do this by, as I said, helping people face their past. I realize that in most cases, there past will not be as 
dramatic, but everyone has things they would like to say, but never could. I vow, as a member of the people whose life has been
 altered by RYLA, to work hard be as inventive and creative as possible. There is not a single day that I don’t think about RYLA.
 More than anything else, I want to have that effect on people—I want to light the way to greatness and happiness for those who
 have lost the way—I want be a part of the camp that made such a difference to me. 

This year in school, I am only taking four classes, however, they are all advanced classes. I am taking two Advanced Placement 
(AP) classes, namely AP Biology and AP American History. These two classes are two class periods instead of one, and are 
also weighted meaning that, if you achieve a “B” then it show up as a “B” on your report card, but is worth four points toward 
your GPA, instead of three points. To the best of my knowledge, I am maintaining a “B” in AP American History, and currently
 have a “C” in AP Biology, but I am working my way towards a “B.” Hopefully by the end of semester I will have at least “B” 
secured in both of my AP classes. My other two classes are Honor English: American Literature, and Pre-Calculus. I have an 
“A-” in Honors English, as it is my strongest subject, and I am sustaining a “B” in math. Please take my statement seriously 
when I say that there is not a single class I do not like in my current schedule. I think this is largely a result of the optimism 
that RYLA helped my gain. Honestly, I don’t know how could get through this year without that certain especially good 
outlook on life! My other two classes are study halls, and I was tutoring two different students in the second half of each of 
those study halls. Unfortunately, one of the students transferred schools, but I feel I am helping the other boy I am tutoring in 
becoming more successful academically. I am not in National Honors Society, like many of the tutors; I do this on a volunteer 
basis. 

Along with my academics, I just finished this year’s season of cross country running, and am now starting my winter sport, 
which is ski team. In this we do both alpine skiing, and cross country skiing. I have done both of these sports since my 
freshman year at Clear Creek High School and thoroughly enjoy both of them, despite the fact that they can be very 
challenging at times, both physically and psychologically. 

I hope this letter has told you the information you need to know in order to consider my for Junior Councilor, and I sincerely 
hope I am selected. May you be as cheerful and in as high spirits as I am regarding the upcoming year of the RYLA 2007, the 
best year of RYLA ever!

Sincerely,

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 32 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kelly Griffith

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 33 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Hartigan, Tara	Applied on	12/28/200	Born	12/16/1988	Female
	1242 doris cir.	School:	Erie high School	Rotary:	Erie
	erie	CO	80516	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	13
	(303) 828-4234	(303) 250-4639	piclemonky@comcast.net
Dear RYLA Committee 

My name is Tara Hartigan and I am a senior at Erie High School. Over the past few months, I have changed a great deal. 
Attending RYLA has left more of a lasting impression than I ever thought as possible. When I first arrived at the camp my 
expectations were small, and hopes were low. Though I didn’t know what I would be in for, I believed that nothing I could 
experience could really impact me. Little did I know that what I would experience would shape the way I thought, acted and 
viewed the world. RYLA was such a powerful experience for me that not a day goes by where I do not think of the people I met
 and the things that I learned. This year has been very hard for me due to the fact that my dad decided to attend dental school 
and is no longer around as much. My dad and I are very close and he is my role model and is very much accredited to almost all
 of my good qualities. Without him around, I lack the guidance that I had normally received throughout the rest of my life. 
Though at first I was disheartened and somewhat lost, the people that I have met in RYLA have helped me through it. Whenever
 I am feeling sad or need advice or even just someone to talk to, I can call anyone of the people that I have met at camp. I do 
believe that attending the camp was truly a blessing because the way I handled my loneliness and choices, which would not have
 been the same without attending the camp. RYLA made me believe in myself. I believed that I could move on without my dad’s
 constant surveillance and advice. In truth, although I miss my dad, his absence had made me see how much of a person I really 
am. I am more of a friend, student, leader and person than I have ever been. I am proud of my accomplishments and I take pride 
in the way that I treat people.  

I am the Senior Class Vice President and enjoy my role in the school. My Student Government advisor has gone on maternity 
leave and in turn has left me and three other seniors in charge of the class. Although it is a lot of work and very stressful, the 
way that I lead the class has changed because of RYLA. With guidance and emphasis on qualities of a leader, rather than events,
 I have brought to the class, hope in the world, and more importantly, belief in themselves. I give them a shoulder to cry on and 
advice to turn to. I, for once, am proud of how I have handled the situation in leading my student government class. And my 
hope is to give them all of the insight that I have learned from RYLA.  In turn they will pass it down to the future leaders. Also 
RYLA has given me the inspiration to perform more community service. I have been helping sick community members around 
the house and have just started to help at the therapeutic riding center. While volunteering there, I interact with those with 
physical or developmental disabilities. Also I am able to meet people with the same passions that I hold. As of now, I have 
completed about 40 hours of community service and hope to get to 100 before the school year is over. I find that volunteering 
keeps my spirits up and guides me towards helping people, which is my true calling. Also as NHS president I encourage others 
to perform community service

I am also the president of an organization called Teens with Wings. The group was recently highlighted in the Daily Times Call.
 Our goal is to improve our community around us and make the school a better place. We recently put on a canned food drive 
which was very successful. We also emphasize Random acts of Kindness. Our members keep an eye out for students in need. 
We watch for troubled families, deaths or even people who have had a hard day and need a little pick me up. These teachers or 
students will receive a card or candy from our organization in hopes to brighten their lives. This is completely anonymous and 
Teens with Wings wishes to be very discreet. Part of our motto is for our presence is felt but rarely seen. I believe that little 
things can change people’s lives.

More than anything I wish to be a Junior Counselor. The experience that I had was so powerful and so profound, that I wish to 
give other people the same gift. My Junior Counselor did such a good job with leading the group and making it an environment 
where one could feel so open. I feel I have a great example to look up to. From attending this camp, as well as a few other 
camps, I have wanted to be the person that the conferees look up to. I am pretty outgoing and get excited by this sort of thing 
and can make others excited very easily. I am a very happy person that can make people laugh and make them feel right at 
home, and less uncomfortable. But by far my greatest attribute is my care for other people. Even as just a camp attendee I 
helped people in my group get through hard things. I am a very good counselor and love to help people solve or least cope with
 their problems. My obstacles I have had to overcome help me see the world in a different light. I am anxious to make others 
feel that they can change the world for the better. 

Besides the fact that I believe I could help people by being a JC, my motivations are also selfish. The RYLA camp was the best 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 34 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
week of my life and I would sacrifice a number of things to be able to attend again. The people, the speakers and the way that it 
made me feel, is an experience I want badly to have again. I am willing to be a counselor for both the Young RYLA and RYLA, 
but would prefer RYLA. I look forward to leading and changing even more and hopefully learning from the conferees as well.

Thank you for you time,

						Tara Hartigan
						303-250-4639
1.	In a few brief sentences describe what your locker, backpack or bedroom looks like? (Is it organized, color-coated, you 
don’t know where it is?) Well my bedroom isn’t completely horrible, but it is definitely not clean. I have books, clothes CD’s 
and makeup in piles all scattered throughout the room. If I clean do clean it, I never fail to lose something I put in the “right 
place.” Being too clean, my room loses its homey feel.
 
2.	Your teacher assigns a 5 page English paper on the novel you just read in class, the first thing you do is:
•         ?Write the due date down and go back to listening to the teacher discussing what you had read the night before.
 
3.	In group situations it is more important to:
•         ?To lead the group so that everyone will be satisfied.
.
      
4.	List the top five ways you spend your time outside of school and the percent of your time is spent on each of these 
activities.
           Tennis 10%, community service20%, singing and writing music 25%, hanging out with my family friends 35%, 
homework 10%
 
5.	If you could describe yourself in ONE word, what would that word be and why? Would others agree with your choice of 
word? Why? 
Love, I do believe that others would agree. My greatest asset is my ability to love. My friends and family would tell you I am a 
very loving person and try hard to make others feel loved. Whether it is doing little things for them or just giving them 
someone to talk to. I value love above any other quality. 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 35 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Jorgenson, Emily	Applied on	12/21/200	Born	3/10/1988	Female
	3972 North Bayou Hills Lane	School:	Rotary:
	Parker	CO	80134	Year in school:	Freshman	RYLA Year	2005	Team
	(303) 841-8626	(303) 885-4494	enj06a@acu.edu
Dear Bill Manning, Dave Boon and RYLA staff,??     

Thank you for taking my application for becoming a potential JC for RYLA 2007. Good luck with your ?decisions!??     

	 I remember my experience at Estes Park as though it was yesterday, even though it was two years ago. I ?was the girl in the 
group who opened up first, because I felt safe, accepted. I don’t know what it was about the ?people or the relationships, but 
never before had I felt as secure or as loved as I did in that week. That is why ?I wish to be included in this year’s RYLA. But 
those reasons are nothing compared to the reasons that I want ?to become a JC. 

	?Until I went to college, I never realized how much I connect with high school kids. Don’t get me wrong, I ?am only a 
freshman at Abilene Christian University, and I know that the age difference between me (19 in ?March) and a high school 
senior (18 years old) is basically inexistent, but there is definitely a different ?atmosphere around high school students than 
around college students. I enjoy that atmosphere because I can ?connect with it. I am so interested in how different people with
 different backgrounds mesh, especially while ?growing up. I love sitting down and connecting with people that I don’t know, 
especially when I would never ?meet them anywhere else. 
	
	?I want to be a JC because I want to get to know, get to experience, and get to change others as well as ?be changed. I think 
that RYLA is a perfect opportunity for this. ?If I were honored with becoming a JC, I would be sure to get to know as much as I
 can about my ?conferees and be sure that they knew as much as they can about each other, without breaking self-?disclosure, 
of course. I am positive that my group would not only grow from each other, but also learn about ?themselves. ?

	I would take my JC job very seriously by making sure that I had one on one time with each conferee in ?order to connect 
with each of them, I would obviously sacrifice my sleep- like all the other JC’s do, and I ?would be sure to keep in contact with
 them after RYLA. I find that last one very important because without ?contact after RYLA, the conference seems to lose 
depth and substance. ?When it comes to the other JC’s and the SC’s, I will also be sure to connect with each one and learn a 
?little about them. I will also be sure to enjoy my time there, because after all, RYLA is about having fun while ?building 
relationships.

	?Since RYLA, I am more outgoing, and more trusting towards others. I tend to look for the best in ?everyone rather than just 
avoiding meeting strangers, like I used to do before RYLA. I realize that my ?conference occurred two years ago, but I still 
remember that entire week as if it just happened. I still keep in ?touch with many of the conferees and have been in contact 
with my JC.

	I have grown tremendously because ?of RYLA- in relationship building, in self-confidence, in trusting others. I will always 
remember my time spent ?in Estes Park two summers ago- it has changed my life. ?Even though I have been a leader in a Youth
 for Parker building project, a Big Sister in the Big Brothers ?Big Sister Program, and a Learning Community leader at Abilene
 Christian University, I still look back at ?RYLA as a tremendous leadership opportunity for the JC’s, the SC’s, as well as the 
conferees. ?
I would be honored and blessed to be included into RYLA 2007. ??

Thank you, ??
Emily Jorgenson?  

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 36 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Kahl, Melinda	Applied on	12/2/2006	Born	2/28/1989	Female
	7444 Indian Wells Cove	School:	Highlands Ranch High 	Rotary:	Highlands Ranch
	LoneTree	CO	80124	Year in school:	RYLA Year	2006	Team	19
	(303) 708-1320	melinda2k2@yahoo.com
As the new school year approached I was in transition from a junior to a senior. I was nervous about several things because I 
was about to enter the real world in less than two years. In July of 2006 I attended RYLA on behalf of the Highlands Ranch 
Rotary, and it was the best experience of my life. At RYLA I met many incredible people, many I talk to still on a daily basis, 
but not only were the people moving, the guest speakers, the JC's and the SC's were. I learned many eye opening things, and I 
was changed as a person. I was able to carry the knowledge I learned and share it with others today and forever. Ultimately I 
know that RYLA helped me to mature and be a better all -around person for my upcoming senior year, and for my future.
 
I would be honored to be selected as a junior counselor because if I can make as big as an impact on my group as my leader did
 than I would feel as if I helped to change someone for the better. If chosen I will contribute a positive and fun attitude towards 
all activities and be serious when needed. I love to be the person there for others when they need advice or just a hug. I will be 
honest and open with everyone, and I will make this the best RYLA experience for all that I talk to. 
 
This year as a senior, I choose to not run cross country due to reasons of getting prepared for college and keeping my grades 
up, however I am involved in interact and FCCLA. Both organizations are community service oriented and I thoroughly enjoy 
them. In FCCLA I organized a project called A Cinderella Story in which I collected used prom dresses, had them dry cleaned 
and sold them for 10 to 15 dollars to students who couldn’t afford 200 dollar dresses. I am always there to lend a hand in both 
groups and I would love to round out senior year as a Junior Counselor.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 37 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Klitch, Robin Sonja	Applied on	12/4/2006	Born	9/4/1990	Female
	2925 Swing Station Way	School:	Poudre High School	Rotary:	Fort Collins After 
	Fort Collins	CO	80521	Year in school:	Junior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	20
	(970) 493-3655	(970) 412-6387	SNoBrdin_chick636@yahoo.com
QUESTIONS:
My room is green! I love to have things organized and sometimes I even get out of hand with my neatness and having things 
symmetrical. In my room there is a place for everything and I would say once a day I make sure each thing is in its place.  I 
must say I do not color coordinate my things but I do know where everything is and most of the time my family does also!

If my teacher were to assign a five-page essay about the book we read in class I would write the due date down in my planner 
and return to it later that night. While doing my homework after school I would probably draw up an outline of my composition
 and follow through with it in little chunks as not to overwhelm myself but also to get it done on time.

When I am working with a group I must say that I usually find myself conducting the project but I definitely try to make sure 
everyone agrees with the solution and is satisfied with the results. It is important to make sure everyone in the group has some 
input in the situation so you don’t have any disagreements at the last minute.

Outside of school I spend a lot of time at the Boys and Girls Club, my job but also my passion. After that I am probably 
cooking and baking and listening to and making music. I do not play any instruments but I love working with software on the 
computer that creates beats and songs. One fault I do have is the television we set up in my room but I can usually temp myself 
away from it with an outdoor activity. Finally with my last 10% or so, during the summer I bicycle and during the winter I 
enjoy snowboarding.

In one word,
Compassionate
I believe I am caring, sympathetic, and considerate. Yes, other people would probably agree with me when only given one word
 to describe me but I also hear from many adults mature, and my peers dedicated.

Extra Information for Robin Sonja Klitch

Leadership Roles:
Past:
-Get R!eal (Anti-tobacco Coalition for Colorado)
-Keystone President at BGC (Community service and youth run leadership program)
-Youth of the Year at BGC (2004)
-Silver Service Award (50 Hours of service to the Food Bank in Larimer County)

Current: 
-Junior Staff at BGC
-On Board of Directors for Boys and Girls Clubs of Larimer County
-Tech Team at BGC (Technology youth program)

Hobbies:
I love being outside and being active! I enjoy spending time with the less fortunate youth in my community and especially take 
pleasure in knowing I can make a difference in their lives. I also like to bicycle, listen to music, and make music. Cooking, 
writing and similar to my peers: spending time out with friends are all activities that make me a well-rounded person.

Qualities:
Respectful- I learned respect from the boys and girls club when I was very young because the three rules at the club are to 
respect yourself, others, and the facility. These words are just words until we put them to use and take the time to explain to 
members of the boys and girls club what they mean. This means to appreciate and be courteous as well as polite and kind to 
those three sections. 

Caring- I get really involved with the youth that I interact with and often find myself attached and unwilling to let go when I 
know something poor is going on at home. Being kind to others comes naturally when you stop to think that everyone has 
problems, don’t jump to any conclusions about someone’s attitude or emotions.

Best Year Ever:
Wow, what an amazing question, how to make this year the best year ever. Well, I can bring my own experiences working with 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 38 of 71
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kids in the eighth grade at my job to camp. I have really connected with youth at the Boys and Girls club and I can’t wait to 
teach to and learn from not only the campers but also the other Junior Counselors and Senior Counselors. RYLA helped me to 
get out of the real world and see that there are still people out there that really care no matter what and I want to show campers 
that I will care for them no matter what!

My Story , following completes the rest of the areas I may be missing such as, have I grown or changed because of or thanks to
 RYLA. Sorry if it seems to be long, I promise it is worth the read!

This summer I went to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards or Camp RYLA. I was chosen from twenty applications by the Rotary 
Group in my area. In addition to a strenuous interview, I completed an exhaustive application. I couldn’t believe it, ME, Robin, 
I was chosen, when that club only accepts two each year.

Before I applied, I was not the least bit hesitant. While I filled out the application and even as I interviewed, I was confident in 
myself but I had never really thought about physically going to the camp. I never began to imagine having to make new friends, 
be on my own sleeping in a dorm with five other girls, and away from my mom for six days and nights. 

All of my thoughts about the camp kind of fell to the wayside and out of sight-out of mind, for a couple months, while I 
focused on school. As the camp date grew closer I began to convince myself that I didn’t want to go. I truly believed the Rotary
 didn’t mean to choose me and that I did not deserve to go. I hadn’t heard anything about the camp and tried to read all I could 
about it but it seemed like a well kept secret and as I later found out that the camp wanted everything that happened to be a 
surprise until campers experienced it for themselves. 

A couple weeks before camp started, I found out that my mom was leaving for a two-week vacation the day that I got back from
 camp, meaning I would have to be without her for three weeks. Many might assume that this would not be a big deal for a 
fifteen year old, but one must understand I rely  on my mom to support me and hear about my problems. My dad is hardly ever 
home and when he is, he doesn’t have time for my jibber jabber about boys and school and other things important to me. My 
brothers didn’t understand my paranoia and worries over what all of the other teens would think of me at camp.

On the Sunday that the camp started my mom drove me up to Estes Park so we could have lunch together before our 
separation. I begged her to just take me home and that I was going to have no fun and it was going to be all her fault. Against my
 will she drove me to the camp and walked me through the chaotic halls to my room. 

The halls are filled with over twenty junior counselors (high school and college students) and over twenty senior counselors 
(rotations) jumping all over. Other than just the excited and yes, some nervous teenagers filling the halls, the counselors were 
everywhere trying to gather up their teams, greet people, and organize themselves for the week. Needless to say, I was in over 
my head. 

My mom and I stepped into my new room and looked around. She has always seen me as the good kid, advanced, strong, and 
independent. Yet, little did she know how much I was going to miss her. She even tells everyone to this day about how she 
thought that I didn’t need her anymore until I began to cry. Just the two of us stood there in the room hugging for three whole 
minutes. Finally when I gathered up the strength to wipe my tears and say good-bye, I stepped back to see a look on her face I 
had never seen before. It was an expression at shock of my breakdown, love, even her sadness for me but I also saw the 
confusion for me, of where I would put my bag. It wasn’t long after that moment that I found out: I was the last girl to check 
into my room and everyone had already claimed their bed and place on the floor for their bag. 

My mom and I parted and I grabbed a pen and headed to the meeting room. Feeling left out and misplaced already, I was off to 
meet my team. Because everyone had arrived before me, as I stepped in the room all eyes were on me. Feeling a alien in my 
new surroundings, I sat down in the circle and kept quiet, listening intently, which if you know me is incredibly strange. 

We played all of the names games and made all the “who likes what” riddles making the already awkward moment even more 
so. 

Every night each group met up in one of the dorm rooms and was supposed to have a wrap session. The sessions were for us to 
express what we thought about the activities of the day, but on the first night we all shared either three personal 
accomplishments or three things we thought the group should know about us. I should say everyone else except me expressed 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 39 of 71
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to the group these important facts of their life. We ran out of time and in my own group of only 12, I was feeling left out. That 
night in our wrap session our junior counselor, told us that this camp would change 3/4ths of the conferencee’s lives and all of
 us would cry at least once during the week. While I listened to her, I rolled my eyes while no one was looking, (keeping the 
pessimistic attitude I had previously set for the camp) and thought to myself that I knew I wouldn’t cry. 

Soon enough, all the girls were laughing and getting ready for bed together and I just sat on my bed feeling like the outsider. 
These girls already knew so much about each other but none of them knew me. I wanted to tell someone besides the other girls
 in my room, that I was feeling like a stranger. Because all of the counselors had previously expressed their commitment and 
willingness to listen to us, I knew that whomever I went to, I would be heard. 

I stepped out of the room and looked down the hall for a junior counselor. One junior counselor saw me and almost rudely 
asked me why I was out of my room; I quickly replied that I was looking for Dave (my senior counselor). She told me she 
would look for him but she must have got distracted because I didn’t hear from her or Dave. After a good five minutes I looked
 out the door again, and found Dave walking by my door headed outside and I asked him if we could go talk for few a minutes. It
 must have been destiny because he saw the pain in my eyes and put his arm around me and we walked outside. Just as soon as 
we stepped out the door and under the starry night sky, once again, I began to bawl. I gulped pine-scented thin mountain air and 
turned as I buried my face into Dave’s chest. My face was buried in his chest and I couldn’t quite tell if the smell was the 
mountain plants or just Dave’s cologne. There was no reason behind my tears but for some reason I just couldn’t stop. We 
walked down the hill a short way and sat down in the tall weeds and grass. He asked me what was wrong. I wasn’t sure how to 
respond, miles away from anyone who knows me, my friends and my life, I decided it was safe to express myself. I began to 
tell him my whole life. I told him how I didn’t feel accepted by the other girls at dinner or at all for that matter and even felt 
like I did not deserve to be accepted into the camp. I told him about my poor relationship with “my father” who was never there
 for me and how I am so stressed out with work. I even told this man, whom I had met less than four hours ago, about my 
problems with cutting myself. 

Dave was about my parent’s age but he didn’t understand or even know what cutting was. I started to inform him about how it 
was a way for me to turn my emotional pain and suffering into physical pain and a step to suicide because I am often 
conflicting with that idea. I had once told my boyfriend, at the time, about it and he did nothing to comfort me. It felt as if my 
boyfriend was telling me I didn’t have a problem and that I was fine. I then told Dave that night about how in preparing for this 
camp I had to resist the urge to cut myself for two weeks before the camp started so that no one there would see it and so that I
 wouldn’t have to wear wristbands everyday and cause other people to wonder why. 

Dave and I sat out there huddled together for two hours and somewhere along the way he cried along with me. I knew that I had 
just made a friend for life when he told me that his brother killed himself just less than five years ago and that I had just 
become a part of his family. Dave told me that he would never let anyone else in his family leave him, ever again. 

Around 12:30, we got up and decided that in order to have enough strength for the rest of the week we should probably go to 
bed. He walked me to my room, and we shared in one more good-night hug. 

I could not tell you why but for some reason we as humans have something that tells us to seek help from others. People feel a
 need for connection to other human beings, as you can see I was feeling that need with Dave. In addition to the feeling of 
needing help, humans feel the need to help. Dave saw the need and found a way to fix it, he may not have even giving me much 
advice but applying the love to the situation and the moment where he told me I was now a part of his family was and always 
will be forever in my heart. 

I cracked the door open. To my surprise every girl in my room had kept themselves awake just to make sure I was okay. One 
girl even shouted “Oh thank god she’s alive!” and I quickly slipped into my pajamas and went to bed. We all lay together in the 
dark ,land they asked me if I was okay. I thanked them for their concern and realized that they did care about me, and they did 
accept me. 

The rest of the week flew by. My team won few of the competitions but at least it wasn’t because we didn’t get along. I found 
out that our team shared in the most bonding, love, acceptance, and fun of any of the twenty-two teams. For the first time in my
 life, I felt like I belonged! I felt as if I had found my place in life and I did not want to leave. I obviously didn’t make it the 
week without crying, and I still keep in touch with many of the amazing people that I met at RYLA. I do not want to ruin the 
RYLA secret by telling about the activities and the bonding experiences, but what I can say, is in my most vulnerable and 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 40 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
broken point in my life, I found light. I cannot say that I don’t think about wanting to cut myself. In fact, I can honestly say that 
after going to camp, I think about it even more frequently but that is because I have overcome my own fears and doubts about 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 41 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Lawrenz, Robert	Applied on	12/21/200	Born	3/26/1990	Male
	7496 Cameron Drive	School:	Regis Jesuit High School	Rotary:	Denver
	Larkspur	CO	80118	Year in school:	11th	RYLA Year	2006	Team	20
	(303) 681-3833	(303) 478-2705	rob1.10@msn.com
My name is Robert Lawrenz and I am currently a Junior at Regis Jesuit High School and was a conferee at RYLA 2006. It was 
a great experience and I would like to come back as a Junior Counselor (JC). I am able to make friends easily and I 
communicate well with others, both similar ages and adults. I am responsible and motivated to do well personally and 
academically. In addition, I am outgoing, athletic and like to help people with their needs and give back to the community. I 
really enjoyed being a conferee at RYLA 2006 and think that I would be a great leader for the 2007 conferees and RYLA 2007
 would be the best ever! 

There are many reasons why I would like to become a JC.I believe that by becoming a JC, I can help RYLA 2007 to be the best 
ever. I can take what I learned from being a conferee last summer to the next level by becoming a leader at this great camp. In 
addition, because of what I received personally from RYLA 2006 as a conferee, I truly want to give back to this wonderful 
program. If given the chance to do this, I could become a stronger person with better leadership skills. I also want to become a 
leader because this camp is a very fun and rewarding. I would really like to have another chance by coming back next year as a 
JC.

There are numerous ways that I can make our team of 2007 RYLA the best ever. I believe that I am a very steady person and 
would be a solid base for the RYLA conferees of 2007. I would take lessons learned from my experiences as a RYLA 2006 
conferee and be able to share the valuable lessons with the 2007 conferees. When I first got to RYLA 2006 it took me a while 
to fully engage in the program. However, once I engaged I got so much more out of it. I understand how much you can receive 
from RYLA by engaging and what it takes to get fully engaged. With this information, I can make sure my entire team engages 
sooner than later. Based on my personal experience I know once everybody is fully engaged, it will make our team the 
strongest team RYLA has ever had! 

I have grown in many areas of my life as a result of attending RYLA 2006. It made me feel that life is given to you and that it 
shouldn’t be taken for granted and needs to be fully cherished. Once you understand that life should be cherished, it makes you
 want to give back. You get so much more out of life by giving, and not just taking. I think that I could demonstrate this by 
becoming a JC for the next RYLA camp of 2007.

In addition, RYLA convinced me that I should continue at Regis Jesuit High school for a better education instead of changing 
to a school where my social life would become the focus. It also made me appreciate life more, because the speakers were 
very inspirational as well as the spirit from the camp. This is how RYLA helped me change/grow and I would like another 
opportunity to make RYLA the best year it’s ever had. 

I have many attributes that make me who I am. I consider myself an easy person to get to know and a good listener. This will 
help people when they need it. I care about others and will help them get through hard times. It seems like I am always standing
 up for those that don’t stand up for themselves. I believe that everyone has something to contribute. I also believe that 
everybody has something to work on that could make them a better person. There is no perfect human being. I think that we as 
a team can utilize all of our strengths and can always get more out of that effort, than independently. I truly believe this and 
will encourage my team to understand this. 

Now about me and how life passes. I am an outgoing kid that can have a good time. I work really hard in school and try the best 
of my ability. I have been on the honor roll award my whole career as a student. I enjoy playing many sports and hanging out 
with my buddies. I play football, lacrosse, golf, and I like to go up snowboarding as much as I can with my father. I also like to 
lift weights to keep me in good condition and as healthy as I can be. I went to Spain with my Spanish class last spring break and 
I am going to Costa Rica this spring break with them. I am a team leader on my sport teams and with school mates by 
motivation, encouraging and leading by example. I am a self leader at school and at home by staying focused and organized. I 
have the capacity to be a leader and have had many instances where I have lead without the title. I think by becoming a JC for 
Ryla 2007 I can gain the title as a good leader with great leadership skills. This is why I would like the opportunity to become a
 JC at RYLA 2007.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 42 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Lease, Alyxa	Applied on	12/25/200	Born	6/7/1987	Female
	3009 S. Holly Pl.	School:	Rotary:
	Denver	CO	80222	Year in school:	Sophmore at 	RYLA Year	2004	Team
	(303) 782-0502	(303) 588-8297	aclease@syr.edu
Alyxa Lease
Young Ryla Junior Counselor Application
December 25, 2006

I want to be a junior counselor at young RYLA because I have been a junior counselor at RYLA, and want to continue growing 
and teaching through RYLA, while still challenging myself and learning from others while they learn from me. Young RYLA 
would be a good challenge for me, in strengthening my leadership skills, and adapting to younger more vulnerable adolescents.
  Through my junior counselor experiences at RYLA, I have found that being a junior counselor is an intangible value that 
contributes to the way one sees others, and the initiative they take to help and lead others as well.  I would be honored to once 
again have this opportunity, but only with a younger age group.

I will contribute to my Young RYLA 2007 team by initiating positivity and good moral as core goals and necessities in life and
 growth into adulthood. I will give my whole heart towards helping console and have fun with these 7th graders. While I think 
growth and leadership are important in leading a group, fun and compassion are equally as important. I will provide this 
compassion and fun to these children, in hopes to compel them as I have been compel to help and guide others towards 
greatness and leadership.  Most of all I will provide these children with a facilitated goal of fun and togetherness, to grow and 
learn with and from each other, and hopefully do both with me as well. 

By attending RYLA and being a junior counselor I have grown in a number of ways.  One very significant change and growth as 
a result of RYLA, I am currently experiencing in this chapter of my life.  This is the gift and challenge of knowing which 
relationships and friendships are important. I do not mean knowing who to hang around or what people are right for me, I mean 
to say that RYLA has helped me recognize that friends are not those that you are around all the time, or the people that know 
the most about you, friends are those that care for you unconditionally, not matter how far you are in proximity or emotion.  
RYLA has given me the ability to know that the people I have met and the people I will meet can be my lifelong friends and 
companions with just an honest word, and unconditional love with and for one another.  I have also recognized and used to my 
advantage the knowledge of complete and utter upfront honesty with everyone gives an instantaneous bond and love for another
 person, not because you can trust this person, but because the feeling of being completely honest gives opportunity to a 
continuously growing and nurturing relationship.  This may be very easy to say, and write on paper, but to initiate this and 
provide relationships in this way, is one of the hardest things I have learn and still continue to struggle with. Many people 
recognize these necessities within relationships, but never utilize them within their own relationships. I have been give the 
challenge and opportunity to always use this knowledge of friendships and relationships to further my emotion health, and 
open my heart to infinite amounts of love for every person I meet. 

Leadership roles I have had include my past two years as a junior counselor at RYLA, and currently I hold a leadership role in 
my sorority as the vice president of development. In this position I am responsible for creating and initiating fun activities in 
which sisters can bond and growth together. I am also responsible for the discipline area in the sorority. Included in this 
category are attendance and the role of putting sanctions on individual member whom do not adhere to the rules and moral of 
our constitution.  Although I did not have many leadership roles before RYLA, I have learned through these roles my potential 
and future growth as a leader. I believe that RYLA brought out the natural born leader that I already had in my. Not to sound 
cliché, but RYLA gave me the chance to know I had something to give to others and the ability to be the special person meant 
to do great things in life.  I am very proud of my accomplishments, especially my new position as a vice president. I believe 
that I have proved to myself and others the extent of my determination. I am a very persistent person, always reaching forward 
towards my dreams.  Actually my persistence is the reason I was able to become a junior counselor in the first place, because I
 was originally chosen as an alternate, but my continuing passion and goal to be a counselor proved to get me the position and 
help me succeed in future years as well.  As required in being a junior counselor for RYLA, I am a VERY passionate person, 
and I believe that passion and love for everything you do in life is necessary to be happy and make the people around you 
happy.  To Young RYLA of 2007 I will bring a warm and open heart, ready to steady new challenges and embrace new people 
with my most honest and genuine self.  I would be honored and grateful if I were chosen for the position of junior counselor 
for Young RYLA 2007.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to apply.

With all my passionate RYLA love,
 Alyxa Lease
Extra questions:
1.	In a few brief sentences describe what your locker, backpack or bedroom looks like? (Is it organized, color-coated, you 
don’t know where it is?) 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 43 of 71
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My room at school is shared with three other people. I have a nook that holds my bed and then my five feet radius around it for 
my bed and clothes. All of my books are in boxes that go underneath my bed with my shoes. My desk is covered with to do 
lists, and reminders that keep me goal oriented in my day to day life.  I am by no mean organized and neat, but I do know where 
everything is and quite clean despite the order of my room.  On part of my room that is very organized is by my bed with all my
 necessary objects (i.e. pillows, radio, phone, and stuffed animals).  

2.	Your teacher assigns a 5 page English paper on the novel you just read in class, the first thing you do is: 
?Write the due date down and go back to listening to the teacher discussing what you had read the night before.
3.	In group situations it is more important to: 
?To lead the group so that everyone will be satisfied. I have also found that if you are not leading that group, assisting the 
leader is just as effective as leading and directing the group. It is important that the entire group is working together to create 
the best possible result.
      
4.	List the top five ways you spend your time outside of school and the percent of your time is spent on each of these 
activities. 
1)	My sorority: I give about 50 percent of my time outside of school to planning, organizing, attending, and helping with 
event held by my sorority. 
2)	Attending campus events: I give about 15 percent of my outside school time to being involved in the campus life and 
meeting new people.
3)	Community service: I give another 15 percent of my time to helping build the community around my university; I meet 
weekly with a big brother big sister group at an elementary school. 
4)	Running: I give running and exercise 10 percent of my time outside of school, always attempting to stay in good health, 
and keeping up with the high paced lifestyle of college.
5)	Fun: I give 10 percent of my time to connecting with my friends and having a good time with the ones I care about, this 
relates with my sorority because a lot of the people I care about are in my sorority.  

5.	If you could describe yourself in ONE word, what would that word be and why? Would others agree with your choice of 
word? Why? 
Genuine. I would use the word genuine to describe my self because there is nothing I do that does not have the most honest and
 wholehearted intentions. Being genuine is a quality that gives a person a gentle, trusting spirit that others seek comfort and 
compassion in.  My friends and people that are close to me would agree with the word genuine to describe me because I am 
always looking for a way to make someone happy, and giving the most honest and kind response and result in a situation.  I 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 44 of 71
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	Lemmon, Chelsi	Applied on	12/29/200	Born	9/23/1989	Female
	P O Box 52	School:	Torrington High School	Rotary:	Torrington
	Torrington	WY	82240	Year in school:	Junior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	19
	(307) 532-2779	(307) 575-1995	sportygrl_008@hotmail.com
Dear RYLA Committee,
  I thank you for accepting me to come to RYLA 2006 as a conferee this past summer.  It was one of the most amazing 
experiences of my life, and the day I got home I could do nothing but tell all of my friends about it, a few even asked where 
they could get an application to attend next summer.  After RYLA I felt like a completely different person, I felt like if I 
wanted something changed in my life that I could, and if I wanted it to happen then I would have to do it myself; after all “if it is
 to be, it is up to me.”  I honestly believe that this is true in all aspects of life, if you want something done you have to do it 
yourself, you can’t wait around for someone else to do it for you or it may never happen.  
  This is part of the reason that I believe I would make a good JC, I know how hard it can be to take charge and be a leader, 
because trust me before RYLA I never had that guts to stand up in front of people and stick up for what I believe in, but after 
RYLA I realized how much I admire all of the JC’s and SC’s that I met, and I admire them because they weren’t afraid to stand 
up in front of hundreds of kids and talk about their lives, and the things that they believe in.  I knew that one day I wanted be up 
there doing the same thing, telling people how lucky they are to be at RYLA and that by the end of the week they aren’t going 
to want to leave these amazing people they were meeting.  I know that when I first got there I wanted to go home, all these way 
to happy people hugging me and being goofy I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into.  Looking back now I hope that I can 
be the “way to happy person” hugging random people laughing and telling them that they better get ready for the most amazing 
week of there life while they are giving me this scared look not knowing what kind of camp they had come to with all these 
wild people running around.
  Bur not only did I have a great time learning to be a good leader and speak my mind, but I met some of the most amazing 
people ever!  I thought that the worst part about going to RYLA was that I didn’t know anyone, and that it was going to be 
extremely awkward.  Little did I know that these people that I was so afraid to get to know were not only going to become my 
best friends but become a part of my family!  I still have contact with every single person that was in my group, and a few that 
were not.  I am so thankful that I have each and every one of them in my life.  This summer, after RYLA there was a fight 
between my mom and my step dad about me, and I didn’t know what to do I couldn’t stay there.  I didn’t have any friends here 
that would understand what was going on.  So I called one of my best friends from RYLA who was in the same town that my 
mom lives in.  I told her that I needed someone to talk to, she asked me where I was and without even asking her within a half 
hour she was there to pick me up.  She didn’t ask questions or anything, she was just there to comfort me and listen.  I have 
never had a friend who would be there like that for me the way she was and it made me realize the kind of people I needed to be
 surrounding myself with.  So I started hanging out with people who I knew were going to be true friends and that I could trust.  
This was the start of a new beginning for me, and so far everything is still going great for me.  Basketball season just started 
and I was chosen along with one of my other teammates to be captain, I was caught completely off guard.  But my friends 
believed in me, they knew that I was going to be a good leader for our team, and it was such an honor for me that I know I won’t
 let them down.  I am ready to be the captain of my team because I know that people look up to me because I am no longer 
afraid to speak my mind, I’m no longer afraid to stand up for a friend who is being picked on, and I am NOT afraid to be myself.
  I owe all of this to the people that I met at RYLA and the speakers that I listened to, because without them I would never have 
thought it was possible for people to like me for simply being me.
  To sum it up for those of you on the RYLA committee I hope this letter finds you looking at amazing applicants who will 
make great JC’s, along with this I also hope that my letter catches your eye, and that I will be one of those people, and that I 
will be back there this summer, making new friends and changing peoples lives as mine was changed in the summer of 2006 in 
just the one week that I was there.

Sincerely, Chelsi Lemmon

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 45 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Leslie, Scott	Applied on	12/3/2006	Born	10/2/1989	Male
	100 waldorf Place	School:	Clear Creek High School	Rotary:	Mountain Foothills
	Idaho Springs	CO	80452	Year in school:	11th	RYLA Year	2006	Team	20
	(303) 567-0566	(303) 304-7959	Avenging_warriors@hotmail.com
Dear members of the RYLA Committee,

I am very honored to be selected as a candidate for the RYLA Junior Counselor program.  My name is Scott K. Leslie, and I 
am currently a junior at Clear Creek High School.  When I went to RYLA I saw how much the Junior Counselors at RYLA 
connected to each other and with the attendees, and how they were able to share their experiences and words of advice with 
everybody at RYLA and I would like to be able to feel that connection, and share my advice with the future leaders of the 
world. 

Being in a leadership position is something that I greatly enjoy.  In the past I have been the president of my school’s writers 
club, and my freshman year I was chosen to attend a Leadership Academy at my school.  This academy had about twenty to 
thirty students and we were all exposed to situations where we were able to use leadership qualities.  At the end of this course 
the instructor held a conference to show people what it was that he did, and he selected two students from all of the schools 
that he had attended to represent his course and help him with it.  I was asked to be one of the two students to attend this 
conference.  I am also founder and leader of a small group in my community that learns about nature, and also helps students 
who are having difficulty in school.

I have also attended a group over the summer for singing barbershop.  Through this group the students who attended had to 
learn to come together, not only through their voices, but in their feeling as well.  On the last day of the camp, I had lost my 
voice and could no longer sing, so for fun, a couple of my friends and I went on top of a large rock and I conducted them in 
singing.  As time went by, more and more of the singers joined us and I conducted them all.  As we left the rock, our conductor
 was at the bottom and he applauded me for doing such a good job at bringing the singers together, and leading them so well.

Another experience in my past that aided me in building self-strength, and a strong mindset, is when I was nine years old, my 
family and I left on a four-year trip to travel around the world on a forty-two foot sailboat.  I had live on this boat my entire life
 before hand, and on this trip my family and I visited forty-two countries.  When we returned, my family moved here to 
Colorado.  This trip taught me a great deal of worldly knowledge which I would greatly enjoy sharing with the young leaders 
that attend RYLA.

I know that if I were selected to be a RYLA Junior Counselor I would be able to use these past experiences to strengthen my 
RYLA team, and help them grow in the time that we would have together.  I also know that I would be able to bring my team 
together, no matter what our differences, to create a very strong team.  I am very good with people, both younger and older 
then myself, and this would contribute to what I could bring to RYLA.

Since my experience in RYLA, I have been able to teach, both in my group and community, how to be a strong leader.  I like to 
think that I am bringing a sort of small RYLA to my fellow students who were unable to go to RYLA.
I thank you again for considering me to be a RYLA Junior Counselor, and I hope that I am chosen to be so.
Sincerely,
Scott K. Leslie

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 46 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Martinez, Adrianne	Applied on	12/2/2006	Born	9/18/2006	Female
	1371 Riverbend	School:	Douglas High School	Rotary:	Douglas
	Douglas	82633	Year in school:	RYLA Year	2006	Team	17
	(307) 358-4956	adrianne_leigh_martinez@hotmail.com
Dear RYLA Committee, 

My name is Adrianne Martinez and I attended RYLA in July of 2006 and I am a junior in the 2006 school year. First off I 
would like to thank you guys for making RYLA one of the best things that I have ever been to. RYLA was a life changing 
experience for me and I never realized who I actually was until the amazing week of RYLA came to an end. I never could 
imagine getting so close to people that I only new for such a short time. I learned so much about myself and leadership in the 
week I was at RYLA. I hope that my letter will help you to see that I can actually make a difference in RYLA 2007.

First off I would like to tell you who I am and what some of the things are that I do. I believe that I will help RYLA 07 be the 
best ever because I am outgoing easy to get along with, a leader and most of all I am not afraid to stand up for what I believe in. 
I actually enjoy school…I don’t have straight A’s but I try my hardest and get through it with A’s and B’s. I like going to church 
and youth group I even help teach a second grade youth group class right after school on Wednesdays. I have two jobs and am 
involved in a group at school called Bearcat BEAT. BEAT stands for Bearcat Educational Awareness Team. What we do is go 
around to the younger grades and talk to them about drugs and alcohol and we do activities with them every month to make sure
 we make a difference. I am also a DARE Role Model. This is kind of the same type of group except we aren’t as involved as 
we should be. I intern at a kindergarten class during school and I love it. It is giving me a lot of experience with little kids since
 I want to be a teacher when I get out of college. 

I would like to be a Junior Counselor because I think that I can really help kids find out who they are. Most of the conferees 
will be my age or close to it but I think I can still make a difference. Before I attended RYLA I thought I was a person who 
liked to be in big crowds and I was a definite people pleaser. After RYLA I figured out that I am more extrovert than introvert. I
 always thought I was the kind of person that liked being home and doing nothing. I always stayed home and read or listened to 
my music, when people would ask me to hang out I would hesitate and decline the offer. After being at RYLA and being with 
my team I realized I like being outgoing and having fun. I like doing embarrassing things and then not even thinking about them.
 I like people laughing and joking around with me and knowing that I know they are joking. I just like laughing so hard until I 
feel I am going to wet my self or cry. I just like being that outgoing person that nobody thought I could be. After I got home it 
took a little while for my friends to get used to the new side of me but they now love it. I am hoping that if I get chosen to be a 
JC that I will be able to help my team figure out whom they are while still showing them what RYLA is all about. Jeff Trefz was
 my JC and while he still showed us all about RYLA and the fun it can be he helped us find who we were and come closer 
together. 

When I arrived at RYLA the first day I was kind of nervous. I wanted to go home immediately and not ever go back. I saw all of 
these people running around and hugging each other and screaming and I didn’t want to join in. I was scared and couldn’t 
imagine even spending a day there, and I had a full week ahead of me. I didn’t know anyone and I couldn’t imagine finding any 
friends. After meeting my awesome roommates I figured that I could possibly survive a week, and then I met my team realized 
that surviving may not be the easiest thing. I saw one of the boys and I saw how he looked and I just new that there was no way 
we would get along. He was WAY different that any of my friends or any of the people I would ever hang out with. After 
spending a couple of days around him I saw who he actually was, he was an AMAZING person. I still talk to him and e-mail him
 because he changed me for the better. I hope that I can be that person, the person that helps another conferee realize that they 
just need someone different to see who they are. I want to be the person that makes a difference. I want to be the person that 
helps someone through there tough times and their fun times. I want to be the person that when we RYLA is over that they still 
want to be close with. I want to make a difference. 

My mailing address is PO Box 1253 Douglas Wy 82633, my house phone number is (307)358-4956, and e mail address is 
Adrianne_Leigh_Martinez@hotmail.com.  

Thank you all for giving me the chance to apply for this amazing position. I hope that my letter has really told you who I am and
 why I want to be a Junior Counselor for RYLA 2007 so badly. 

Adrianne Martinez

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 47 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Mast, Lauren	Applied on	12/29/200	Born	1/21/1990	Female
	850 Detroit Street	School:	East High School	Rotary:	Denver
	Denver	CO	80206	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	18
	(303) 377-5967	(303) 547-7625	darlene@rotary-denver31.org
    I attended RYLA just last summer, and I left the house kicking and screaming.  My mom wanted me to go and said that I 
would have a great time, but I didn’t really believe her.  When I arrived, twenty JC’s had greeted me at my car door screaming 
with joy about how much fun I was going to have over the next five days.  I had been to camps before, but never any quite like 
this one.  Through those next five days, I made life-long friends and I learned how to really step into the world with open arms 
and a great attitude.  It was the most fun I had had in a long time, and it was all thanks to my JC Jenni and my amazing SC Bill.  
However, at the end of my journey, I learned that I couldn’t come back to be a camper again next year, but I could come back as
 a JC, and let me tell you, I was ecstatic!  
	
    Attending RYLA really showed me how to care for and love everyone! I learned how to be a leader and a positive influence 
to the people around me.  I’m not sure if it was the many speakers that I sat and listened to, or the group building activities such
 as the RYLA Olympics, which were so much fun.  I would love nothing more than to be up in Estes again around some of the 
most “can do” people in the world.  To share my experiences with other people and to continue to keep an open mind to the 
many things that I still have to learn.  

    I want to help other people to have a fabulous and life changing experience just as I had this last summer.  I feel I would be a 
great JC because I have a bubbly personality and I really know how to include everyone and help everyone to have a great time 
and a learning experience.  

    I want to learn new things about the people who would be in my group and to teach them things about me and my life.  When 
I went to my first Rap Session with my group “The Penguins”, I was shocked with how much information my JC and SC had 
shared with us all and how open they were.  It was a spectacular feeling to know that someone I had only just met trusted me 
with so much of his and her personal information.  It was such a rewarding experience.  

    I feel so strongly that RYLA, the JC’s, the SC’s and the people there have changed my life.  I embraced the love and 
affection that was shown to me as a camper at RYLA.  There was never a time when I felt belittled by anyone there.  I had so 
much fun, discovering, observing, and experiencing life at RYLA!  I want to make a difference and I want to be able to say that I
 helped RYLA to change someone else’s life.  I want to share my life stories during Rap sessions with my group, and I want to 
share in the amazing experience that the RYLA campers of 2007 are going to have!  I would love nothing more than to spend 
my summer with people who mean the world good.  “If it is to be, it is up to me!”

Love webs all around.
Love,
Lauren Mast

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 48 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Moreno, Rebecca	Applied on	1/13/2007	Born	3/27/1989	Female
	11394 E. Cimmarron Drive	School:	Cherry Creek High 	Rotary:	Denver Southeast
	Englewood	CO	80111	Year in school:	RYLA Year	2006	Team	18
	(303) 290-6615	(720) 635-9049	bex327@aol.com
To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Rebecca Moreno.  I am a senior at Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, Colorado.  I was fortunate to be 
selected in RYLA 2006. I would really like to be a Junior Counselor in RYLA 2007.

When I went up to RYLA I had no idea what to expect.  I had received a letter from my JC a couple weeks before and it made 
me feel better about going up to Estes Park but I was still unsure about going up.  As soon as I arrived to Estes Park I was 
greeted by all the Junior Counselors and realized that the week was going to be an amazing experience.  I went up to RYLA the 
summer after my junior year and my senior year is going really well.  I attribute most of my success and happiness this year to 
what I learned at RYLA.  At RYLA I learned that I could be myself and people would like me for who I am.  I go to a high 
school where people judge you instantly.  I learned that while I was at RYLA I could start fresh and get to know a lot of 
different people.  My parents and teachers have also seen the difference in my self-confidence since attending RYLA.

I would love to attend RYLA as a JC because I could recreate the experience that I had for others, while building on all of the 
leadership qualities that I have been working on for myself.

The first speaker I heard said the people that I would meet at RYLA would be my friends forever. At first I did not believe that 
it would be possible to establish relationships because I was only going to be in Estes Park for a week, however this speaker 
was right, not only have I made friends with my group members but also my JC.   She was so enthusiastic about RYLA that it 
made my experience wonderful.  I had never spent time in a camp and RYLA was the best camp ever.  When I came back home 
I could not really explain why RYLA was so awesome.  I just realized that it had made me a better person.

I would love to go back to RYLA as a JC because I think that I could contribute to making RYLA great.  I learned how to be a 
great leader while I was at RYLA.  I feel that what I learned at RYLA will contribute to my success personally and 
professionally in the future.

I was selected to be a peer ambassador at the end of last year at my school.  It was a competitive process and there are only 18 
of us.  A peer ambassador is an extension of the counseling office and helps new students transition into the school.  I have 
helped students to be confident during this transition and have made myself available as a good listener, a friend and a 
resource.  RYLA participation allowed me to take a leadership role by being proactive with the students, parents, faculty and 
staff.  Counselors have come to depend on me because of my openness toward strangers and willingness to help anyone no 
matter what the circumstances are.

While my friends would probably still say I am shy, I have used my RYLA skills to meet lots of new people and enrich my 
senior year.

My cell phone number is:  720 635 9049

Sincerely,
Rebecca Moreno

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 49 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Morin, Millissa	Applied on	12/30/200	Born	4/30/1989	Female
	1203 9th st	School:	Clear Creek High School	Rotary:	Mountain Foothills
	Golden	CO	80401	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	17
	(303) 279-4039	(303) 941-3248	morin.millissa@gmail.com
I really admire influential people.  It doesn’t matter if I support what they believe in or not, I still see them as great people and 
love that they are changing someone’s life for the better.  I always wondered how I could change somebody’s life.

	That was before I went to RYLA last summer.  After I attended, I realized that I was already helping and influencing people 
each day.  Everyday when I was around people, I was influencing them.  People don’t realize that a simple hug, or just saying 
“Hey” can completely change someone’s day.

	I want to be a junior counselor at RYLA so that I can help people and influence their lives as well.  I look back at all the 
junior counselors at RYLA 2006 and I remember how much I wanted to be one of them.  Now I’m getting that chance, and I’m 
so excited for it!

	I think I will be a great JC because I’m outgoing, fun, and I love meeting new people.  Any chance I get to meet new people, 
whether or not they are like me, is an awesome experience.  I have experience being a leader, and each time I am in a position 
of leadership I grow and change a little more.  I tweak my style and improve the way I interact with the people I work with to 
make myself the best that I can be.

Currently I’m a senior attending Clear Creek High School.  This year is going great, first semester just ended successfully.  In 
the fall I was a member of the cross country team for the third year.  Currently I’m in the middle of ski season as a member of 
the ski team at school.  I’m co-captain of the ski team, which places me in a leadership position of which I’m quite proud.  
Being a co-captain gives me a lot of responsibility, because I don’t just have to take care of myself, but my team as well.  I 
have to help with coaching and any other questions that my team members may have.  It is a challenge to balance being friends 
with my teammates, and still being a leader.  I enjoy this challenge, and expect that this experience has prepared me well to be 
a JC.  I also have leadership responsibilities at home.  I have a younger sister, brother, and step-sister.  Being the oldest of four
 is a great responsibility because with any action I take, I know that my siblings are watching me and learning from me.  If I do 
something in front of them they often begin to do it themselves, so I’m constantly making sure that I’m a good role model for 
them.

I can honestly say that I am so excited for this opportunity and think that I will make a fantastic junior counselor at RYLA 
2007!

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 50 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Moulton, Jeffrey	Applied on	12/31/200	Born	3/2/1990	Male
	1258 3rd Ave.	School:	Longmont High School	Rotary:	Longmont
	Longmont	CO	80501	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	8
	(303) 772-9450	(303) 547-7068	jeffereffej@comcast.net
My name is Jeff Moulton and I would really love to be a RYLA Junior Counselor for 2007.  I attended RYLA 2006, and I am 
applying only for RYLA and not Young RYLA.  I live in Longmont, CO, and I am a junior at Longmont High School.  I am 
currently sixteen-years-old and I turn seventeen on March 2.  I think I would be an excellent JC for RYLA because I am 
responsible, unique, interesting, and enthusiastic.  After RYLA last summer, I realized I had learned a lot about myself from 
the 5-day adventure.  I learned who I really was, what my true interests, goals, and abilities were.  Instead of worrying about 
what others thought of me and being who I thought they wanted me to be, I decided to just be myself and realized that if 
someone is a true friend, then they would like me for who I am.  I also decided to try stop being as judgmental and selfish, and 
be a little more selfless.  I gained determination and a better ability to make goals and meet them.  I also broke more out of my
 shell, became more outgoing, and in turn decided that I could do anything and be anything that I wanted to.  RYLA taught me a 
lot about myself and about others, and I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.  Now, I want to be a JC so I can help 
spread that self-knowledge and confidence to others, and also so I can experience the joy and love of RYLA once again.

Last July, just the week before RYLA, I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.  I was thinking, “Well, this is only one week, and it 
will look good on my college applications, so what the heck.”  On the drive up to Estes, I was listening to my ipod and not even
 talking with my parents, an inner dread of what was to come filling me.  When i got there and the JCs started screaming at me 
and smiling all the time I panicked because I thought that I didn’t belong and would look out of place and stupid.  What I didn’t 
realize at the time, and only learned afterwards, was that the only time you don’t fit in is when you are trying too hard to fit in.  
If you just act yourself and stop worrying about what people think, then they will see who you really are and there are bound to 
be some of them that like who for who you are, even if not everyone does.  By the end of the week, my team, who had all 
become my best friends, had clearly shown me this lesson.  I just acted myself and I made several really good friends and a ton
 of acquaintances.  I think the lesson of learning to be myself was the most important lesson I learned at RYLA, because it led 
to so many other revelations.  Once I was finally able to find myself, then I was actually able to really know other people as 
well.  With my newfound understanding of myself, I was better able to understand others and their emotions, desires, and 
feelings.  I was better able to make friends and I became much more selfless, devoting more time and energy to helping others 
rather than just myself.  This lesson carried on past RYLA, as I am now much more kind and helpful to others and less 
judgmental, and I helped volunteer for the YMCA and shoveling snow and clearing fallen tree branches in the neighborhood.  
Even just a little help here and there adds up, especially if everybody would do it.  

That is partially why I want to be a JC-to teach others to be more selfless and helpful.  We don’t have to give up our own lives 
to be selfless-just a little time here and there and it adds up. I want to be a JC for two reasons: first, I want to give others the 
wonderful, enlightening kind of experience I had to help them in their lives and thereby help the world, even if just a little bit, 
and second, I want to be able to experience the joy and love of RYLA another time because it was the best week of my life in 
2006.  I will help to make my team and RYLA 2007 amazing because I will put all of my energy into that week.  I will be 
enthusiastic, helpful, and very excited to be there with other kids my age who are experiencing on of the best weeks of their 
lives.  I want to make sure everyone on my team, and also in the RYLA, gets the full benefit of RYLA in every way-socially, 
emotionally, and mentally (Titan business simulations!).  I won’t hold back any of my energy, time, or enthusiasm; I will give it
 all to RYLA in that week.  

I think I have proved in my life outside of RYLA that I am intelligent, hardworking, enthusiastic, and unique.  I am very tall (6 
feet 8 inches), and I am in good shape, although I’m not very athletic.  Regardless of my clumsiness and lack of coordination, I 
still manage to play basketball, and I run cross country.  I even tried football my freshman year, but it was too rough for me.  I 
am one of the team captains of my basketball team this year (JV), even though I’m not that talented.  I also received a Mr. 
Trojan Award for C team last year, which is kind of like a mix of a workhorse and MVP award.  My main focus, however, lies 
on academics.  I am currently number one in my class of 412, and I am very devoted to my studies and schoolwork.  I am taking
 4 AP classes this year, ranging from math to science to spanish.  I also got a 33 composite score on the ACT, 2210 on the 
SAT, and 232 on the PSAT.  My strength in life and the focus of my energy goes into academics, but I believe i am a well-
rounded person.  I may be about 60% “green” when it comes to True Colors, but I try to balance out my nature by trying new 
things and being very outgoing.  I think I would bring a unique and positive side to RYLA, because I differ from most of the 
other applicants in that I can be reserved at times, but I can also be very sociable, and I think this gives me the unique ability to 
show others who are more like I was before RYLA to bring out their own outgoing and crazy sides.  Academics doesn’t cover 
all of my life; besides sports, I also participate in MESA club and International Film Club, and I am very close with my family, 
love to ski and hike, have a tight-knit group of very close friends but also a wide variety of school friends.  I think because of 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 51 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
my wide variety of interests, I can fit in better with almost any group of people, from athletes to math geniuses to long-haired 
cross country runners and ski fanatics.  I think I am a well-rounded and balanced individual, and I would love the opportunity to 
be a junior counselor at RYLA 2007 so I can help others and maybe in the process discover even more about myself.

	Noble, Carson	Applied on	12/22/200	Born	5/23/1989	Female
	16658 E. Hialeah Ave.	School:	Smoky Hill High School	Rotary:	eClub One
	Centennial	CO	80015	Year in school:	12th	RYLA Year	2006	Team	5
	(303) 690-8841	carsonnoble@yahoo.com
As the end of 2006 is drawing near, I have been thinking about all the fun that I have had, and all the friends that I have made 
over the course of the year.  RYLA was an event that pops into my mind immediately.  Not only was it an extremely fun time, 
but I feel that more than my phone book had grown by the end of that week.  

It was amazing being in groups with people who were just as motivated and driven as I was, and by some weird phenomenon, by 
the end of the week I cared so much for these people.  I want to be a Junior Counselor so I can have a chance to experience this
 phenomenon one more time, and help others to be able to feel what I felt through that week.

My RYLA team was amazing, we were all so different, but we were all able to relate to each other.  Even today, five months 
later, I still smile when I get a message from one of them online.  If I were a JC, I would be able to provide the support that my 
JC gave me when I was an attendee.  I will be inclusive and helpful in making every person feel important and valuable to the 
team and to RYLA in general.

RYLA has given me an amazing network of people to talk to and confide in.  It is hard to get together with my team because we
 all live so far away from each other; however, I have been able to talk to all of them online or through an occasional text 
message on my cell phone.  They are able to console and encourage me when I am sad, and I do the same for them when they 
need it.  They are all supportive regardless of their own conditions.  I think overall, RYLA has allowed me to be more 
accepting of others.  There are people in my team that I would have never approached normally, but RYLA has helped to show 
me how amazing everyone is in their own way.  Despite how different everyone may seem upfront, we are all able to connect 
to others in unique ways.  I have learned to reach out to those who seem different from me, rather than shying away.  This has 
been extremely useful in my student government class.  Everyone is unique, and we have all grown up differently.  In that class 
it would be easy for me to stick to the people that I already know, but RYLA has taught me the importance of being outgoing 
and open-minded.  By venturing out of my comfort bubble and working with new people, I have been able to find new people 
that I work well with.

Although it was a small part of the week, true colors was something I was able to take away from RYLA.  It helped me 
understand the different personalities and habits of people.  Understanding true colors has helped me to cooperate with other 
personalities on my varsity cheerleading squad and be successful.  

Upon completing my senior year in May 2007, being a RLYA JC would make my summer before heading to college amazing.  
It would help me to head off to college with an optimistic attitude and the RYLA mindset. Thank you for your consideration.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 52 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	O'Brien, Kendra	Applied on	11/27/200	Born	12/3/1988	Female
	12975 W. 24th Place	School:	Golden High School	Rotary:	Golden
	Golden	CO	80401	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	8
	(303) 216-1546	kendycane88@hotmail.com
Dear RYLA Committee,
    
If you choose me as a JC for RYLA or YRYLA this coming summer, this is what you’ll get: an energetic, compassionate, and 
sensitive young woman.  I will help RYLA thrive through my enthusiasm, energy, and free hugs.  Hard work is no problem; I 
will spend my time to help make RYLA happen, whether it’s volunteer work, filling out paper work, or any other assistance you
 may need.  I also have previous experience in working with young adults.  For two years I’ve been involved in Outdoor Lab and 
the MVP program.  Because of what I’ve taken from RYLA last year I know I can help make RYLA a success this summer.

During my week at RYLA there were three girls that made the difference in my life: Lindsey, Jenni, and Jen.  Many issues that 
I did not normally deal with rose to the surface that week.  Since 8th grade I’ve had issues with my dad.  There was a wall 
between us that seemed unbreakable.  I turned to my JC, Lindsey, for a shoulder to cry on because I was frustrated and scared.  
Amazingly, Lindsey had experienced similar circumstances with her father too. Being able to relate to someone felt like a 
wonderful relief.  Lindsey was the first catalyst for change that would eventually have a heavy impact.  Jenni, however, affected
 me through her word of focus.  She spoke of how RYLA changed her judgmental personality into an outgoing, empathetic, and
 extremely bubbly one.  Again, the relation to another cool JC was exhilarating.  After talking with Jenni, there was crying also,
 I felt a new shift in my self-confidence and optimism.  Jen’s word of focus prompted me to talk to her about her father, as her 
experiences were similar to mine, although hers was more heartbreaking. These three girls had an amazing impact on me: 
Lindsey helped me open up, Jenni gave me hope that I could change into a better person, and Jen validated a major problem in 
my life.  I would not be who I am today had I not met these three astounding, fascinating girls.  Because of these girls, I 
overcame the wall between my dad and me and told him how I truly felt, and he listened.  He is the best dad and I wouldn’t trade
 him for anything.

I have learned more about myself and others at RYLA than I did during my junior year.  It is because of this change and the love
 and kindness my lovely JCs showed me that I want so dearly to be a part of RYLA.  I want to open my heart and give back what 
my JCs have given me, and hopefully make a difference in another’s life.

PS. If you are applying to Young RYLA, here are some additional questions to answer:

1.	In a few brief sentences describe what your locker, backpack or bedroom looks like? (Is it organized, color-coated, you 
don’t know where it is?) 

My locker, backpack, and bedroom are all organized.  I can find anything when I need it and everything has a specific place.

2.	Your teacher assigns a 5 page English paper on the novel you just read in class, the first thing you do is: 
?Open up your assignment notebook and plan out what date you plan to have it finished by.
XX ?Write the due date down and go back to listening to the teacher discussing what you had read the night before.
?Look to you neighbor and ask what book you were suppose to be reading and if you could borrow theirs because you lost 
yours.
 
3.	In group situations it is more important to: 
To lead the group and to get what you want.
                   XX To lead the group so that everyone will be satisfied.
To follow the leader so that everyone gets along and there aren’t any issues.
To follow the leader and work quietly so that the project will just get done.
      
4.	List the top five ways you spend your time outside of school and the percent of your time is spent on each of these 
activities. 

School related work:  35%
Family time:  30%
Hiking/skiing:  10%
Volunteering:  20%
             Talking to RYLA family:  5%
5. If you could describe yourself in ONE word, what would that word be and why? Would others agree with your choice of 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 53 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
word? Why? 
	If I could be summed up in one word, it would most definitely be genuine.  To me, a genuine person is honest, hard working, 
compassionate, loyal, and reliable in all areas of his or her life.  I am genuine because I have maintained the highest academic 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 54 of 71
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	Piche, Dominique	Applied on	12/31/200	Born	7/6/1988	Female
	4924 Bluestem Ct	School:	Rotary:
	Ft Collins	CO	80525	Year in school:	1st year at 	RYLA Year	2004	Team
	(970) 225-8096	domdom615@msn.com
I want to be junior counselor because I want to be a part of creating wonderful experiences and memories for the 2007 young 
RYLArians.  I remember what an amazing time I had at RYLA in 2004 and I really want to contribute to others' 
development/honing of leadership and teamwork skills.  I also would like to be a JC because I think that I can learn even more 
about leadership and how to apply it to different situations from the rylarians and other JCs.  

I think that I have certain qualities that would make me a really great JC.  I’m a patient, responsible, individual who knows the 
balance between being a friend and being a mentor.  I think that I’m a good listener and easy to open up to.  I also think that I’m 
a good role model in terms of involvement and academics and could encourage the young rylarians to become more active 
with extracurricular activities within their respective communities and schools.  I also think that my goofiness will help make 
young RYLA even more fun and make the kids feel even more comfortable around each other.  I also believe that I can 
encourage the kids to be even more involved with their rotary clubs back home and therefore support the 'service before self' 
mindset early on in their lives. 

RYLA was one of the best experiences of my life.  I'm still a little amazed about how I could get so close to strangers from 
very different backgrounds in only a week.  I'm lucky in that I still keep in touch with 4 of my team members.  Being able to 
hear from individuals who truly demonstrate real leadership really inspired me and made me want to get out there and do even 
more.  I believe that everyone needs an experience like RYLA in order to abandon the inherent laziness that characterizes the 
majority of the population. A lot of people just seem to expect others to change the world for them and that one person can't 
make a difference. RYLA helped me to realize that if I try to change the world, I can inspire others to do the same, and then 
this wonderful chain of inspirational galvanization occurs.  I'll never forget the RYLA 2004 motto, "aspire to inspire" because 
that's how global change happens.  

Qualifications/Leadership Experience:
-President of the Fort Collins Interact Club for 2 years, participant for 4 years.
-Vice President of the Northern New Brunswick (Canada) Rotoract Club (2006-2007)
-President of Poudre High School's IB Student Council
-Elementary School Mentor
-Special Olympics ski instructor (2003-2005)
-4 years of high school musicals and plays (Poudre HS, Ft Collins)
-Garnet and Gold (musical theatre society) - Mount Allison University 2006-2007
-Music for a Cure 
- Bioscience Society
- Chemistry Advisory Council: freshman representative.
-International Baccaleaureate Diploma Recipient
- Mount Allison University Leadership Participant

Young RYLA questions
1. My room could probably be described as organized chaos.  I tend to keep everything related to school and volunteer work 
very organized but I have this awful habit of throwing clothes everywhere.  So it’d be easier for me to find biology notecards 
concerning the renal system than the pair of socks I’m looking for.  I’m not quite sure if this is a good thing.

2. I would write down the due date and go back to listening and discussing what we had read the night before.  I really like 
participating in open conversations and listening to other people’s interpretations. 

3. To lead the group so that everyone is satisfied, unless another qualified leader has stepped up.  I think that it is just as 
important to realize that a good leader allows themselves to be led sometimes.  We can learn valuable lessons about leadership
 from others, which we can then apply to ourselves. 
 
4. This would depend on the time of year but since I currently have a principle in my university’s musical, that would take up 
about 30% of my free time outside of school.  Another 30% would go to studying and homework.  20% would go towards 
hanging out with friends, 10% to Rotoract and Leadership Mt. Allison, and the remaining 10% goes towards the different 
academic societies and clubs I belong to.

5. I would probably choose ‘effervescent’ because I’m a very bubbly, passionate, enthusiastic person who really loves life.  I 
have so many different interests and love to explore and learn about new things.  Other people would probably agree with me, 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 55 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
although they might laugh at my word choice, but even that is reflective of my personality and more than occasional 
	Queen, Paul	Applied on	1/2/2007	Born	3/24/1989	Male
	2991 S Newport St	School:	Regis Jesuit High School	Rotary:	University Hills
	Denver	CO	80224	Year in school:	3.8	RYLA Year	2006	Team	8
	(303) 691-0442	jgqueen@comcast.net
RYLA is only one week in the summer, but it affects the rest of your life. It is an experience that opens your eyes to the world 
around you. You come in not knowing what to expect, and come out not knowing how you’re going to survive without it. RYLA
 creates an atmosphere that is charged with energy, enthusiasm for life, and an openness, that is seldom found elsewhere. From
 the minute you get out of your car to the minute you’re driving away, five days later, JCs and SCs are there to make RYLA all 
that it can be for you. They are so full of life and energy you wonder what they’ve experienced to make them that way. You are 
thrown into a setting where you are meeting and getting to know people, and you don’t really stop getting to know them until 
you leave. Your small group is so open and real with each other that by the end you really feel like a family. You hear speeches
 that introduce you to incredible stories and wisdom that others have experienced first hand that blow you away. You interact, 
talk, discuss, engage, cooperate, and share with kids your age constantly so that you see other points of view and beliefs that 
open you eyes to another side of life that you’ve never seen before. But its not all serious seminars, lectures, and discussions. 
You get to be outside the middle of the Rocky Mountains, play games, doing activities, having fun, and enjoying each other’s 
company. It was such an incredible experience, that I came away feeling like I had to be apart of it next year, that I wanted to 
give back all that had been given to me. To be that crazy JC that kids will never forget. To give them an experience that will 
change THEIR lives. I am going to be totally attentive to the moment and to the person I am engaged with. I am going to be the 
craziest, most enthusiastic, open and friendly JC there. I am going to inspire the kids in my group to give it all up, be open and 
real, to take advantage of this incredible opportunity, and to savor every second of the ride. I am going to lead by example, and 
by doing so, encourage my group to do the same, and make it the best team RYLA has ever seen.  

After I had returned from RYLA I had found a new confidence and wisdom that was not there before. I still remember the 
speeches we were given, and they constantly remind me of what’s really important, what I should really be focusing on, and 
what aspects of who I am that I need to be using to better the lives of those around me. I became more outgoing and confident 
in who I was, and it showed. I became the VP of the Photography Club I had been apart of for three years. I became the Team 
Captain of my Crew team. I became more involved in my church youth group and am teaching confirmation to freshmen and 
sophomores. I helped plan and lead three retreats where I gave speeches to all the attendees. I branched out and tried Cross 
Country this year and loved it and made varsity. I have become a much more well rounded, active in my community, and aware 
of myself and those around me because of my experience at RYLA. 

I am a very outgoing person that loves to be around new people. I am very amiable, easy to talk to, and get along with perfect 
strangers very well. I have a love for life and the people I meet in it, and it shows in everything I do. I have had a lot of 
experience over the past three years in leading retreats, classes, sports, and even friends. I have lead five retreats for my youth 
group, and two for my school. I have taught two different religious classes at my church and have led the youth nights for two 
years. I lead my Crew team every practice and have discovered what it takes to be a leader. I know how to work with and lead 
small groups of kids of many ages, older and younger, and have acquired a comfort for public speaking. RYLA was an 
experience that topped all others, I was inspired and challenged, encouraged and sent forth, I was taught and opened to those 
around me, I found a family at RYLA and was changed forever. I know that RYLA has done a lot for me and I believe that 
because of it I have a lot to contribute and give back to RYLA next year.   

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 56 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Rawat, Rishi	Applied on	12/26/200	Born	9/19/1990	Male
	290 Iroquois Drive	School:	Boulder High School	Rotary:	Boulder
	Boulder	CO	80303	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	19
	(720) 304-0140	(720) 305-6218	rawatenator@gmail.com
To the RYLA Committee:

After my week at RYLA, I became more confident, enthusiastic, and optimistic. I became the change. Life is a journey, and I 
am proud to say that my experience at RYLA changed my life. I want to be a JC because I believe in the RYLA mission of 
service above self. What I learned at RYLA made me less shy and more engaging. I would like to help others open up to 
discover their full potential, as I did. 

On a personal level, I discovered the wall I used to hide behind and took steps to break it down. In just a week, the strangers I 
nervously feared became some of my best friends. Being quiet and passive was not OK, anymore. It became fun to talk, to 
laugh, and to interact with new people. I learned that talking to strangers could forge new friendships. I began to love ‘the good’
 in everyone.

After camp, I fell into a cave of indecisiveness. RYLA was a bright web of love that released me into what I perceived as a dark 
reality. The “make a difference” sentiments that I had admired gave way to fear that the RYLA magic died with the end of 
RYLA. This earthward trend continued for a few days until I stopped waiting for my life to change. I climbed out from the 
shadows to participle in the Habitat for Humanity service project and then attended Advanced RYLA. The RYLA spirit was 
coming back into sight.

My RYLA experiences made me want to do something for the world. In the next few weeks, before the school year began, I 
took steps to create a community service club at my school. It took a long time to start up, but now I can see the gears in 
motion. Since our first meeting in October, our numbers have grown from about five to fifteen, and we are on track to 
becoming an Interact with the help of our sponsor Rex Van Gordon.

I want to be a JC for the same reason I started our club, Service with Spirit. Personally doing the right thing feels good. I got a 
certain feeling at RYLA, with my club at the Food Share, and at Share-a-Gift, the kind of feeling that truly warms your heart 
and fills you with joy. Our group got close at RYLA because KJ, our JC, really cared. She went out of her way to make our 
experience meaningful, and this is just what I would like to do for my team. I want to make a difference in the lives of my team
 members by helping them open up, so they too can experience the magic. 

Everyone who comes to RYLA stands out with an outstanding academic and extracurricular record. I certainly do. My 
cumulative GPA of 4.67 puts me in the top two percent in a class of 500. I also participate in Boy Scouts and have a black belt 
in Taekwondo. But before I came to RYLA, these activities were empty. The gap in my life was unknown to me, but now I am 
bridging it.

For a number of years, the word ‘leadership’ meant little to me compared to what it means today. In elementary school, 
teachers appointed leaders that told everyone else what to do. At RYLA, however, we learned the importance of understanding 
everyone. Our bond made us more effective as a team. Although an authoritarian may be necessary in emergencies, I feel like 
this power means little in other settings without a moral and emotional bond. Thus, I would like add that RYLA makes leaders 
of the heart who are acting from conscience first.

Sincerely,
Rishi Rawat
Junior
Boulder High School

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 57 of 71
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	Redfern, Maddie	Applied on	12/24/200	Born	2/16/1989	Female
	21168 Saddleback Circle	School:	Ponderosa High School	Rotary:	Parker Noon
	Parker	CO	80138	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	13
	(303) 840-0291	primaballerina12@hotmail.com
A Refinement

She sat in the car angry, staring out the window as her parents drove her through the twisting mountain roads.  She didn’t want 
to leave her boyfriend, she didn’t want to leave her bed, she didn’t want to leave her family.  Why did she have to be the pretty, 
smart one that got chosen by the Rotary to go to this leadership camp? Why?

“It’s only for eight days,” her mom reminded her.

“It won’t be that bad Brownie,” said her dad soothingly.

She sat in the car angry as her parents coaxed her to get out.  She put on her backpack and grabbed her duffle and thought I can’t
 believe my parents dragged me all the way up here to go to a leadership camp.

She put on her fake smile, constructed her walls, and took a deep breath.  There were signs everywhere: “RYLA!” “Warning: 
Future Leaders” “If it is to be, it is up to me!” “Make a Difference.”  

What in the world did I get myself into?
She met her team; she considered them as good people.  She had no idea that they would be her best friends, that they would 
provide as her confidants, that they would attribute to the catalyst for her to change not only her life, but others as well.

They had guest speakers and team leadership activities.  They had volleyball and basketball tournaments.  And they went hiking 
up one of the hardest mountains in Estes Park.  She didn’t know if she could climb it, but she knew she had to, and she did.  She
 conquered that mountain!  She told her team locked-up secrets that could not avoid the risk of freedom any longer.  
Instantaneously, she could feel the difference; her walls that she thought she had fortified so strongly came crashing down.

I have to make a difference.

She sat in the car overwhelmed with love.  She exuberated joy with an illuminating smile.  Her parents saw the metamorphosis, 
felt her warmth and could almost taste the boldness in her love.

I don’t want to make a difference, I have to.  I cannot waste the leadership skills given to me by this experience by sitting 
around waiting for the world to change.  I am strong, bold, and passionate; I am the catalyst for the change in this world.  I wish 
that everyone could feel the love I felt that week, the joy that screamed forth from me, and have the unbinding friendships I do. 
 I wish that the hate in this world would end.  The hate girls have towards their bodies, the hate religions hold against one 
another, and the hate people hold against that one person in their lives.  The flame of hate must be  extinguished and be 
replaced with love.  The fire of love is just as easily spread as the fire of hate, and my mission is to let my fire light others’ so 
we all can make a difference in this world.

By the RYLA organization granting me a spot as a Junior Counselor, I will be applying the reminisces from RYLA XX to the 
upcoming RYLA in 2007, hence strengthening my leadership skills and allowing me to spread the fire of love to my own team.
  I want to make a difference because I know if humanity takes the chance and risks their love, we can all learn, we can all love, 
feel, change, grow and live.

Through my past experience as a RYLARIAN--aka "studette"-- dedication to inspiring others, and my interest in spreading the 
flame of love, I will encourage my team to come out of their shells, while strengthening their leadership skills and having a 
blast, and realize the potential they have to make a difference in their life and the lives of others.  Getting my team to belive in 
themselves and giving them the power to pervade the flame of love, hence making my team the best team of RYLA XXI.

It is clearly seen that after RYLA, I was empowered to make a difference in my community.  As a result, I have taken the 
leadership roll of President of DECA in my high school chapter, I have become a teacher and mentor at a local dance studio, 
and at my other job working in retail I was promoted to "Shine Leader," or the one who hosts all of the birthday parties in the 
store.  As president of DECA, I implemented a Cancer Awareness Week in honor of a kindergarten age girl living with 
Luekemia.  The money raised throughout the week was donated to Cancer League of Colorado, and I have two more upcoming 
projects to raise money for her treatment.  

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 58 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I can only hope that after seeing my refinement through RYLA, that I can hearten my team and help them discover their 
potential in this world, hence extinguishing the flame of hate and spreading the flame of love.
	Repola, Kady	Applied on	12/30/200	Born	9/16/1988	Female
	1020 Scott Ave	School:	Rotary:	Estes Park
	Estes Park	CO	80517	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2005	Team
	(970) 586-8153	(970) 443-1260	karepola@charter.net
2007 RYLA Staff,
There are many reasons that I want to be a RYLA counselor, and it seems as if there are so many important ones. I believe that 
RYLA changed my life in many ways. It could be how it helped me get over an eating disorder, or how it gave me so many life 
long friends, or perhaps the way it taught me to be a leader and yet also how to follow. 
I was a JC at YRYLA last year, and I had an amazing time. I learned so much about myself, but also how to interact with other 
kids. I cannot tell you how many times my patience or understanding level was tested by so many 8th graders, but I can 
honestly say that I have been changed and made into a better leader because of my experience at YRYLA.  
I was very upset last year when i was chosen for YRYLA instead of RYLA, but I was told that it was maybe an age thing and I 
would be a better counselor, a better leader to the younger teens at YRYLA. I think that that was true, but maybe now I am 
ready for the challenge of senior RYLA.  I guess I am kind of applying for both, hoping that you will put me in the right spot.
Thank you so much, and please consider me, Kady Repola as a canidate for a JC at RYLA the summer of 2007.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 59 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Rice, Amanda	Applied on	12/30/200	Born	3/23/1990	Female
	15273 E. Progress Pl.	School:	Smoky Hill High School	Rotary:	Aurora
	Aurora	CO	80015	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	18
	(303) 617-8022	(303) 349-6331	colorices@aol.com
Name: Amanda Rice
Current Year in School: Junior at Smoky Hill High School
Address: 15273 E. Progress Place Aurora, CO 80015
E-mail Address: colorices@aol.com
Phone Numbers: Home- (303)617-8022
		      Cell- (303)349-6331

	RYLA, this was not only a leadership camp it was a time in my life that I will never forget.  I was introduced to RYLA 
through my grandfather who wished that I would fill out the application, and I did just that.  When I filled out the application I 
never thought that I could be chosen and therefore I was filling out the application simply to please my grandfather and parents.
  When I arrived in Estes Park I was greeted with open arms and lots of hugs and huge smiles.  I was excited to be apart of such 
an amazing and joyous group of people.  Throughout the week I didn’t completely understand why this camp was referred to as 
a leadership camp; I thought it was a time to spend with new people and to enjoy yourself.  The moment I got into my car to 
leave I realized what RYLA did to me.  I learned to accept and work with different types of people.  Most importantly I learned 
that I am who I am and people will accept for that; therefore I am more outgoing and not as fearful of public speaking and 
meeting new people.  I have learned to take the leadership role when in a group of people who need guidance.  RYLA made me 
a better person who is more observant of others rather than worrying about what others think of me.
	Becoming a junior counselor for RYLA would be another learning experience for me.  I would learn, even more, to work 
with new people in different atmospheres.  Most importantly I want to ensure that future rylarians learn what RYLA is really 
about and that they are able to take their knowledge and experiences into the real world and better themselves and the world 
around them.  I know what RYLA can do for people and I want to make sure that every person who enters comes out with 
memories that will last forever.  The RYLA team of 2007 would be the best team ever because I would be able to contribute 
my willingness to help others and to bring together everyone in the group.  I would be able to be there to listen when someone 
needs to talk and I will be right next to them creating fun, humorous memories.
	Throughout my high school career I have maintained a 4.0 GPA, been involved in several clubs and outside activities.   The 
clubs that I am apart of are Key Club, FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), Spanish Club, NHS (National Honor Society), 
and YAB (Youth Advisory Board).  Other activities that I am involved in are soccer and choir.  One of the activities, sponsored 
be NHS, is tutoring at a nearby elementary school, Independence Elementary School.  I have also volunteered at Shots for 
Tots, Light Rail, and other schools and events.  Last year I was the captain of the Freshmen-Sophomore soccer team.  I enjoyed
 this because it was a time to lead others and excite them.  I would love to be considered for either RYLA or YRYLA.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 60 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Schafer, Andrew	Applied on	12/29/200	Born	7/12/1990	Male
	PO Box 540	School:	Gilpin County RE-1	Rotary:	Peak to Peak
	Black Hawk	CO	80422	Year in school:	RYLA Year	2006	Team	2
	(303) 582-9596	schafer@hughes.net
To whom it may concern on the JC Committee,

I, Andy Schafer, feel that I would and can make an excellent Junior Counselor for RYLA. I attended the 2006 RYLA camp in 
Estes Park, CO. Alongside RYLA I have also participated in other leadership organizations and are going to attend another in 
the near future. In June 2006 I attended a trip to Australia through a Student Ambassador program called People To People 
International. In June 2007 I am attending a Lead America program in Oklahoma City. Besides the fact that I have been 
involved with and are currently involved with youth leadership programs I also am involved with the Interact group at my high 
school. I have been in Interact for two years. This year I am head of our National Project Committee. I also participated in the 
Denver Health Center Holiday Party. This event is a Christmas part for the less fortunate of Denver. I have also helped with 
community service around our school and county. 

After attending RYLA in the summer of 06 I also attended Habitat for Humanity up in Greeley. In school I participate in sports
 year round. In the late summer and fall I play football. In the winter I play basketball and snowboard. In the spring I play 
baseball. Also after attending the RYLA it encouraged me to change the way I see family and friends and life. My family and I 
were never very close but while I attended RYLA my JC and group helped me figure out how important my family was for me. 
I called up everyone in my family and told them right there how much they meant to me. I would like nothing more than to have
 the ability to be there and help someone or many people as a JC at the 2007 RYLA camp.

Sincerely,
Andy Schafer

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 61 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Schavietello, Sydney	Applied on	12/10/200	Born	10/31/1988	Female
	22334 N. Turkey Creek Rd.	School:	Rotary:
	Morrison	CO	80465	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2005	Team
	(303) 697-1910	(303) 324-2693	schavski34@tello4.com
December 2nd, 2006
To whom it may concern,	
	I would like to be a Junior Counselor because the YRYLA conference last year was, without doubt, was one of the most 
incredible experiences of my entire life. I love the things RYLA teaches and I want to do everything I can to continue to the 
teaching of those things to others.
	I will contribute to making my team and RYLA 2007 the best ever by utilizing my positive attitude and my ability to adapt to 
unusual situations. I also plan to use the knowledge I gained as a JC at the 2006 YRYLA conference to not only improve my 
personal performance, but also to try and advance the camp as a whole. 
	I personally have changed a lot since my first RYLA experience in 2003. Each RYLA has taught me something different, 
each one being incredibly useful in my everyday life. Young RYLA 2003 taught me how to not only lead effectively, but also 
how to follow and the value of teamwork. Senior RYLA 2005 taught me that I have the power to go virtually wherever I want to
 go, and that I essentially have control of my destiny. I learned not to be so quick to pass judgment, and that sometimes  you'd 
be surprised what kinds of people wind up staying in your heart. As a JC at YRYLA 2006 I discovered that I actually had the 
power to affect change in the world through the 10 stunning individuals in my team, the rest of the incredible kids at the 
conference, and my fellow JC's who I love and respect with all my heart. I learned how to work though strenuous, stressful 
situations and I felt as though I actually made a difference in the lives of at least a handful of kids. RYLA has transformed me 
into an entirely different person, and I am thankful every day for that. 
	I am currently the Senior class Vice-President at Conifer High School, and have been a part of our Student Government for 
the entirety of my high school career. I am a Co-Captain on our Varsity basketball team and have been a part of the team for 2 
years. I am also a member of our Varsity soccer team and have been since my sophomore year. I have previously held a 
position on Conifer High School's leadership council, a group of parents, students, staff, and administrators that meet and 
discuss issues at the school. I am enrolled in AP literature and am among the top 10% of students in my class. 
	I sincerely hope you consider me for a returning position as a JC at Young RYLA. I look forward to your response.
									Sincerely,
									Sydney Schavietello

PS
Here are the required questions for YRYLA. 
In a few brief sentences describe what your locker, backpack or bedroom looks like? (Is it organized, color-coated, you don’t 
know where it is?)
 My bedroom is a total wreck. There are papers, books, cd's, clothing, and sports equipment strewn about it so violently my 
Father refers to it as a war zone. The beauty in all this chaos is that I know exactly where everything is, because it is inevitably 
on the floor, right where I left it, and thus I never have to bother wondering "where did I put that". My closet, however is color 
coordinated, because it makes getting dressed simpler and leaves me a few extra minutes to sleep in.
Your teacher assigns a 5 page English paper on the novel you just read in class, the first thing you do is:
· Open up your assignment notebook and plan out what date you plan to have it finished by.
·  Write the due date down and go back to listening to the teacher discussing what you had read the night before.
· Look to you neighbor and ask what book you were suppose to be reading and if you could borrow theirs because you lost 
yours.
 I would write down the due date and get back to the discussion, because obviously the essay will be very difficult to write if I 
don't understand the book I am to write about.

In group situations it is more important to:
· To lead the group and to get what you want.
· To lead the group so that everyone will be satisfied.
· To follow the leader so that everyone gets along and there aren’t any issues.
·To follow the leader and work quietly so that the project will just get done.

This question is unmistakably tricky, though I'm going to have to say it is more important to follow a leader and do my best to 
ensure that everything goes along with limited to no conflict, although sometimes in group situations the conflict is what 
causes the groups growth and understanding of one another, creating an irreplaceable component of a successful group. 
      
List the top five ways you spend your time outside of school and the percent of your time is spent on each of these activities.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 62 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
1) Sports (Varsity Basketball and Soccer)- This takes up a good 70% of my free time
2) Spending time with friends- This tends to overlap with sports, since my friends often participate with me, so giving it a good
 30% means about 20% of that 30% goes on during sporting events, and the other 10% happens outside of athletics, putting 
me at a total of  80%
3) Choir- I'm going to give this about a 5%, because it doesn't require much time out of school, but occasionally it does. I am 
now at 85%.
4)Spending time with my family- 12% I love them very much, they make my life lovely. (total 97%)
5) Homework- approximately 3%...I'm a Senior, and as such I am taking classes that leave me with minimal to no homework. 
It's a beautiful thing.  This makes 100%
 
If you could describe yourself in ONE word, what would that word be and why? Would others agree with your choice of word? 
Why? 
 The one word description of myself would be energy. I expend it, I demand it of others, I occasionally exude it, I sometimes 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 63 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Shields, Natalie	Applied on	12/30/200	Born	12/8/1989	Female
	770 Holmes Place	School:	Berthoud High School	Rotary:	Loveland/Thompson 
	Berthoud	CO	80513	Year in school:	junior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	19
	(970) 532-5621	scottishchick12@hotmail.com
I want to be a junior counselor at RYLA 2007 because I want to give the young adults the same experience that I had when I 
was there. I am a fun-loving, free spirit, that loves people and is always up for new challenges. I am a very good listener and I 
like meeting new people and making friends. When I was at RYLA, I did things that I had never really tried before. Like I 
climbed Eagle's Cliff! I didn't make to the top, heck I didn't even make it half way but I made it farther than I thought I could and
 a lot of it was me, but my senior couselor, Bob Eatman, stuck with me and just encouraged me to keep going. And if it wasn't 
for him or for the support from my junior counselor, KJ Buckingham, I don't think I would have made it at all. So the next day I
 did the sunrise hike and made it all the way to the top of Bible Point and I used the encouragement from the day before and 
pushed myself and I was able to make it. That right there was enough to help me realize that I wanted to be a counselor at 
RYLA. My experience has helped me so much that I thought it was only fitting to come back and help others grow and learn 
more about themselves. Since RYLA I have gotten more involved in the community, I was a bell-ringer this year at Christmas 
time, and with my JROTC battalion we are doing the Adopt-a- Highway clean up. With the things I learned at RYLA, I am more 
out-going and have a variety of really close friends that I made at RYLA and they are the greatest people on Earth. 

I am very involved in my JROTC class and this year I am holding staff positions. This semester I am the S7 finance officer and 
I have reached the rank of Captain. By being the finance officer, I am in charge of organizing and running all battalion 
fundraisers, keeping track of the amount of money that goes in and out of the cadets' accounts, and our Annual Military Ball. I 
am also the color guard commander for Berthoud High School. I am responsible for preparing all color guards for all home 
footbal games, some basketball games, parades, various pep rallies, and competitions throught-out the school year. As the 
commander I am responsible for keeping a full attendance log for all practices and events, all personal at the events, and the 
equipment that we use during practices and at the events. This year the Loveland High School band invited four of us, myself 
included to participate in their marching band show. The theme was Shadow of Rememberance, for the lost men and women of 
our armed forces. With the band we traveld to San Antonio, Texas to perform in the Super Regional Finals, where we 
performed in the Alamo Dome and took class 2A champions. This school year I was also given the opportunity to attend the 
National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intelligence, and Diplomacy in Washington D.C. for six days. I was the only 
student from Northern Colorado and one of only three from the entire state. Myself along with 300 of my peers visited the 
Capital Building and spoke with various Congress persons, I also met several high ranking military personnel and during the 
government simulation that we did during that week, I ran for "President of the United States", and although I was beaten by two
 votes, I still ran and I think RYLA kind of gave me the courage to do it. I am a commissioner on the Youth Advisory 
Comission for the City of Loveland, particiapting in several activites throughout the community. I am also on the steering 
committee for Journey: A Young Women's Conference, which is a conference dedicated to showing the young ladies in the 
Loveland/Berthoud areas their options after high school, how to deal with self-image and the media, and various other 
problems that young girls can face throughout their lives. With Journey I am also the youth chair person for the Fundraising 
sub-committee. The committee is made up of two adults and six young ladies and our responsiblity is to raise money for the 
scholarshps that you can recieve as a senior on the committee, we are also in charge of getting the door-prizes that we give 
away donated to us by various businesses.

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 64 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Spears, Shannell	Applied on	12/2/2006	Born	6/2/1990	Female
	3511 MilwaukeeSt	School:	Career Education Center	Rotary:	Denver
	Denver	CO	80205	Year in school:	11th	RYLA Year	2006	Team	2
	(720) 277-3191	(720) 338-0753	Carmel_luv_303@yahoo.com
Dear my fellow junior counselors, and senior counselors,
First of all I want to thank you for inviting me to come back for RYLA of 2007! It really is an honor to have attended RYLA 
2006! It was really a once in a lifetime experience! (But I guess I got lucky, because you guys are inviting me back!).

I want to be a junior counselor because I want to be able to share with others the magic that I received at RYLA! It’s actually 
really hard to describe what I received at RYLA 2006 to others, because it’s one of those experiences that you just have to be 
there to understand! I want to be able to share all the love that I received from RYLA to others.  Before RYLA, I didn’t really 
like associating with others. After I left RYLA, I became a more open person! I began to start trusting people. During RYLA, I 
learned so much about life, leadership, love, caring, taking responsibility, trials and tribulations, and most of all how to enjoy 
life to the fullest! RYLA taught me how to become a better leader than I already am today. RYLA also enhanced my ability to 
adapt to people that are different from me and like I mentioned earlier, build a trust relationship with others. Attending RYLA 
also taught me little things about business that I never imagined I would be learning at a camp. Now that I look back on when I 
attended RYLA, I realize that all those people that I met from Wyoming, Nebraska, and other parts of Colorado, are no longer 
considered “other people”, they are now considered family, and that’s what RYLA is all about creating that magical bond.

I can truly say that when I got chosen to attend RYLA, I thought it was going to be really boring. I cried and begged my mom 
not to make me go. But once it was time to go home I was crying for a whole different reason. I had experienced one of the 
most beautiful things man could have ever created! My face was full of tears of joy because I didn’t want to leave my “new 
loved ones”. 
I promise you that if you choose me to be a junior counselor for RYLA 2007, you won’t be disappointed. I guarantee that I will
 show all the love and magic that was shown to me and even more. By me being a JC, I know that I can accomplish RYLA’s 
motto: “I make a difference”. I know that I have a way of getting others to open up their hearts and experience the MAGIC!!
 
So I ask you former Junior and Senior counselors and other staff members of RYLA, please choose yours truly, Shannell 
Spears, who is know a junior at East High school, who has always been on Academic Achievement, who is a simply unique 
leader, to be a JC for RYLA 2007!

Signing with magic love, *Shannell Spears*

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 65 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Stewart, Neil	Applied on	12/30/200	Born	5/19/1989	Male
	264 Blue Spruce Dr.	School:	Clear Creek High School	Rotary:	Mountain Foothills
	Evergreen	CO	80439	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	11
	(303) 674-3066	stewart.neil@gmail.com
I knew that RYLA would be special.  On the way up to Estes Park, my friend asked me what I hoped I would get out of RYLA.  
My response was that I hoped that RYLA would have an effect on me that was unlike anything else I had ever experienced.  It 
did.

Being at RYLA had a huge influence on how I view life and the kind of person I want to be.  Such an influence that in one of my
 college essays which asked “Write about a character defining moment”, I chose to talk about a proudest achievement that a 
girl in my group discussed during a rap session.  Her story made me realize just how lucky I am and how I need to take 
advantage of that and work to see that peers in my generation and generation after me will not waste their lives and truly make a
 difference somehow.  That is what I choose as a way to make a difference, to help others realize their own potential to make a 
difference.  Since then, I have tried to emphasize the importance of working together as a key to making a difference.  This 
year, I am tutoring a foreign exchange student from Macedonia in American History.  He has trouble getting into it because he 
says that our history is so short compared to Europe and that nothing is that important.  My response was that may be true, but 
look at how America’s history is full of people who made a difference throughout the world.  I talked about Thomas Jefferson 
and his Declaration of Independence and how they were used as inspiration for the French Revolution and how almost every 
new Democracy is modeled after James Madison’s Constitution.  I then said that in a country like his, who has just achieved 
independence and where political unrest is prevalent, it will take people who work together to make a difference and he has to 
be one of them.  Before RYLA I would have never thought about other people and how they could make a difference, only 
about how I could make a difference.  Since RYLA, though, I have grown and now not only make a difference myself, but help 
others make a difference.  

This is why I want to be a Junior Counselor, to fulfill the theme of my year at RYLA and to have the effect on the conferees 
that my JC and SC had on me.  I feel that the best way for me to make a change is to be a leader and to make my team just as 
amazing as Steph did me when I was on her team.  I will use my ability to connect with almost every kind of person to bring the
 team together and to show them that to make a difference you have to be accepting. To lead discussions, keep order, and make
 sure that everyone has a chance to say something, I will use skills acquired from being Senior Class Vice Presidents.  The 
Senior Counselor will be a key part of this, as I will call upon his or her wisdom and the knowledge that they have acquired to 
help inspire the members of my team.  Most importantly though, I will make sure that people who aren’t on my team wish they 
were on my team by making sure that everyone on my team has a good time and cries on their way home at the end of the 
week.     

What RYLA did to me was it defined within me the person I wanted to be.  I learned what it took to make a difference and I 
figured out how I was going to make a difference.  I want to take this growth and pass it on to a new group of conferees who 
will have the same effect on the people around them that I did.  This is why I want to return to RYLA as a Junior Counselor.  
RYLA is the best, I am not going to lie, and I really do hope that I can be a JC in 2007 and make that RYLA the best one yet!

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 66 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Travis, Brian	Applied on	12/29/200	Born	6/17/1989	Male
	1548 Daphne Street	School:	Broomfield High 	Rotary:	Broomfield Crossings
	Broomfield	CO	80020	Year in school:	12	RYLA Year	2006	Team	11
	(303) 466-3344	(303) 466-3344	futurflyer@comcast.net
I greatly desire to be a RYLA JC for a few reasons.  I feel that I can make solid contributions to RYLA as a JC and I would 
really like to give back to RYLA since it has had a great impact on my life.  I don’t think that RYLA “turned” my life around as 
it did for some of my fellow conferees, instead I think RYLA was the kind of life changing event that has made me more 
appreciative, more focused, and overall a more fun loving person.  Things were going very well for me heading into RYLA 
2006 but when I made the trip out of Estes Park that July day I began to realize that I have been given a great deal of 
opportunities in my life and now is the time to be thankful and show appreciation as well as live life to its fullest every day.  
RYLA hasn’t changed the pe rson that I am it has enabled me to become a better version of my self, a better brother, a much 
better friend, and a better teammate.  This year has been one of the most stressful years in school for me so far.  But RYLA 
has provided me friends and things that can help me escape from my sometimes overwhelming schedule, whether it is sending 
an email (or myspace comment) to an old team member or glancing back at some warm-fuzzies. 

I’d really like to join the RYLA 2007 JC staff because I truly believe I can contribute to making it the best ever.  I’m sure all 
the applicants are well organized, enthusiastic, and great team members, otherwise they wouldn’t be applying to be JC’s and I 
feel that I am no different.  What does make me different is my desire to help future conferees get as much meaning out of 
RYLA, as many new friendships, as many lasting memories, and the focus that RYLA provides as I did.  I want to be the JC that 
conferees remember for the funny moments as well as the JC that everyone remembers for an inspirational word of focus and 
great nightly team sessions.  I feel I can contribute to RYLA 07 as a communicator, a friend, and a co operative JC that 
everyone can depend on. 

I’m now a Senior in high school at Broomfield High School.  I play varsity basketball and stay consistently busy between 
school, basketball, and my family.  I’m also involved in National Honors Society and Future Business Leaders of America at 
my school.  I’ve recently applied to 5 colleges: University of Denver, Pepperdine University, University of Southern 
California, Colorado State University, and Hillsdale College.  I really feel like being a JC at RYLA 07 would give me a great 
opportunity to continue to develop leadership skills and to learn more about myself in a great, yet new, situation that this 
opportunity would provide me.  I hope you give me the honor of becoming a Junior Counselor.

Sincerely,
Brian Travis

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 67 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Turner, Geanece	Applied on	12/5/2006	Born	8/4/1990	Female
	2970 Niagara	School:	Denver School of 	Rotary:	Lakewood
	Denver	CO	80207	Year in school:	11th	RYLA Year	2006	Team	15
	(303) 388-8355	(303) 525-6656	Geanece@msn.com
I want to be a junior counselor because I want to go back and experience RYLA again. I want to be able to feel the joy that my 
own JC's felt. The love that they gave me during the week I was there was amazing to me. A junior conselor to me is someone 
that the new RYLA kids can go to for help. I want to be able to have that joy of helping another teenager in anyway I can. 
Having someone there with you through life expericenes can make things a lot easier. 
The way I will contribute to maing my team and RYLA 2007 the best I can is by being myself. I know that in my heart I am a 
good person. RYLA is something that you have to have a open-mind to. I am a person who loves to talk, and doesnt mind 
interacting with other adults and kids my age. I will bring leadership to my team, trying to make them the best team possible. I 
want to be able to help myself, and others in anyway I can. My own friends come to me for advice when they are having a 
problem. This is a qualitly that I very much value in my life. I want to bring some on my positive energy on to the RYLA team. I
 have changed so much from going to RYLA last summer. At first I did not want to go, I was basically made to go. When I got 
there, there were people screaming and yelling at me. At that point I was ready to get back in the car and go home. Well of 
course I was left there for those 5 days. And I can still say this today that those 5 days were the best days of my life so far. I 
learned so much about myself during those days. My grandpa had just passed away about 3 months ago, and RYLA help me get 
through those tough times. The people who were there cared so much about me and the others. I meet so many people that I 
can say I love them, and still talk to them to this day. I remember having a very emontional breakdown the last day of the 
conference. This breakdown bought so much to the light to me. I dont like crying in front of people, but at that point I was 
comfortable I didnt care. No one up there jugded me at all. I didnt want to come back home to the world that I have always 
known. I did make a promise to myself before I left was to bring everything I learned at RYLA back home. And thank God I did 
keep that promise to myself and others. In my school I am a leader, when something is needed to be done I am the one teachers
 come to and this feels good to me. I want to be a leader to everyone I come across, and I know that I am not perfect, but I try 
my hardest to do the right thing. One of my accomplishments so far this year was making varsity basketball. This was 
something that I wanted and yes I did have some set backs, but I made sure I worked my butt off to get my spot on that time. I 
just want to be able to expericence what a JC goes through. I want to be able to open up more to people that I may have nto 
known very long. I really do want to be a JC because I want to be able to go back to RYLA for the last time, and I want to be 
able to touch someone elses life like all the JC's did to me. 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 68 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Veilleux, Ben	Applied on	11/20/200	Born	11/13/1989	Male
	2624 18th Avenue	School:	Frontier Academy	Rotary:	Greeley
	Greeley	CO	80631	Year in school:	11	RYLA Year	2006	Team	7
	(970) 352-6120	(970) 405-1630	baveilleux@yahoo.com
Dear Bill,

First I would like to extend my gratitude for considering me to be a JC, but I would also like get right into the letter.  I am a 
junior.  My RYLA story actually started off differently than some of the other kids' stories because I was actually excited for 
RYLA.  I was also very nervous because I did not know what to expect.  I honestly was under the impression it was going to be 
a lecture-oriented camp where we had to take notes on how to be a better leader.  So you can imagine my surprise to see all of 
the JCs jumping and shouting and dancing to disco music. 
After I got settled in by putting my pack in my room, I went to the ice-breaker room.  It was then that I decided to become the 
Ben Veilleux I wanted to be, one who was outgoing and personable.  That situation actually jump started my RYLA experience. 
 I became a better me, one who was courageous and strong in my convictions.  I was able to develop convidence in myself, 
even if I was alone in my beliefs.  I could accept who I was, and like it.  
I want to be a junior counselor, because I think a junior counselor should be loving and able to relate to people, both of which I
 do extremely well.  I am an intelligent young man who appreciates everybody for who they are, which is what RYLA is all 
about.  I am also very supportive of others, another trait a JC should have.
To contribute to making RYLA 2007 a success, I will be strong in every aspect so that I can help everybody at RYLA, 
especially the administrators, not become overwhelmed by the lack of sleep.  I will also nuture my team into the most majestic
 group of individuals they can be, and teach by example how to lead a group that shares so many differing sides.
Here are some other things to know about me.
-I am a very tolerable person to be around, I hardly ever am in a bad mood, and I can assure you that I will never be grumpy at 
RYLA, there is just no way I can be.
-I give amazing RYLA hugs.
-I am really good listener. 
-I evaluate problems well, and give the best solution to fix conflicts.
-I am a good administrator.  I give directions well and I am very authoritative and I will make sure the conferees will not be 
disruptive after YMCA's hours.
I hope you consider me as a JC for RYLA 2007, and again thank you for consideration.  Devin Jackson was my JC at RYLA 
2006, and he should have my recommendation in soon after you recieve this, if it does not arrive soon, I will have DJ 
Robertson send one as well.
Thanks,
Ben Veilleux

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 69 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Wang, Susanna	Applied on	12/2/2006	Born	6/14/1990	Female
	6208 Tilden Street	School:	Poudre High School	Rotary:	Fort Collins Breakfast
	Fort Collins	CO	80528	Year in school:	Junior - 11th	RYLA Year	2006	Team	8
	(970) 980-9666	(970) 213-9368	destinyviolet@gmail.com
To: The RYLA Committee

Hi! My name is Susanna Wang and I am applying to be a Junior Counselor in RYLA 2007 as a junior at Poudre High School.  I 
attended RYLA XX in 2006 and before then I’d never attended any kind of leadership conference or even summer camp.  
Coming in, I was like a wide-eyed freshman, somewhat closed off and apprehensive of the week to come.  But with no warning 
whatsoever, I found myself immersed in the goings-on of a new family.  Never in my life had I felt so welcome in a group of 
such different people.  To other people what might be interpreted as group composed of a jock, cheerleader, nerd, band geek, 
choirgirl, dancer, etc., was to me a second family.  In that week, I learned more than I’d ever learned in any other week in my 
life.  Not necessarily factual knowledge but knowledge of leadership, of support, and of love.  And now I want to spread what 
I’ve learned to the world, starting by attending RYLA ’07 as a JC.  I want to not only show others the love which others have 
shown to me but also prove myself as being capable of leading a group of peers that I’ve never seen in my life.  I want to form 
connections that can never and will never be broken.

I see my RYLA group as being very special.  Every crack in the road we would meet together as a team to figure out a way to 
overcome it.  Every time one of us cried, others would circle around and provide physical and spiritual support.  It seemed like
 every one of us had a connection to the others.  We may not have known much about each others backgrounds, but we knew 
each others personalities better than some of our closest friends.  I want to bring this kind of feeling and atmosphere to my 
team at RYLA.  I want to contribute to the tightly-weaved web of my team and make each of my team members come away 
from RYLA with a feeling of awe and an itch to make a footprint on the world.  

I was always shy and somewhat introverted and sometimes still am but RYLA brought me out of my shell, made it alright for 
me to become my true self around my teammates and friends.  I want to encourage all my new teammates to be able to feel 
safe enough around the others to abandon all layers, facades, and interact with each other the way that children would with their
 new best friends on the playground.

After RYLA, I found myself more capable of being a leader to my classmates.  I am now Treasurer of my school’s National 
Honor Society, Secretary/Treasurer of Junior Class Council, Secretary/Treasurer of IB Student Council, Vice President of 
Asian Culture Club, and a member of the Youth Leaders Club in my community.  RYLA helped me overcome any 
apprehensiveness of becoming established in school and propelled me into leadership positions.  I’m a member of All-State 
Choir this year as a junior and I’ve also been playing piano for more than 11 years and received various awards.  I’ve also 
started giving lessons to younger elementary school students in piano.  This year is also the first year I tried out and made it 
into the musical at my school.  While participating in these extra-curricular activities, I’ve maintained a 4.0 GPA in school 
while also participating in the International Baccalaureate Program and various Advanced Placement classes, which is a fact 
I’m very proud of.  I think that RYLA has motivated me to become the best that I can be and I want to bring mindset to those 
that attend RYLA next year.

Thank you for your time and consideration and I really hope you will give me the opportunity to prove myself at next year’s 
RYLA.

Sincerely,
Susanna Wang

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 70 of 71
	______________________________________________________________________________________________________
	Yurash, Melissa	Applied on	12/29/200	Born	2/7/1990	Female
	2920 Waterstone Court	School:	Fort Collins High 	Rotary:	Fort Collins Foothills
	Fort Collins	CO	80525	Year in school:	Junior	RYLA Year	2006	Team	12
	(970) 226-4248	(970) 231-3687	melissayurash@yahoo.com
Dear RYLA committee, 

Last year I attended RYLA 2006 and I had a blast! I would like to apply to be a junior counselor for Young RYLA 2007 so that 
I can share that experience and contribute to the experience of other conferees. I want to continue my relations with this 
outstanding and valuable program in the hopes that I can contribute to keeping it so great. I will make this experience the best 
ever by being over-extremely enthusiastic! In the short amount of time that we have at RYLA, it is important that all the 
activities are stressed as a ton of fun! The quote, “some pursue happiness, others create it” describes this situation because as a
 counselor, you can’t just look for fun and a good time, you have to be able to create it in everything that you do. This has to 
start right away, so the most important first thing is that the people in my group will know each others names so they can start 
making friendships with each other to create some good times. 
When I came back from RYLA, I realized that I was a much more confident person. This was true in how bold I was when 
making new friends. At RYLA the people in my group were very different people. But before the end of the week, we were all 
great friends. I realized that even with people’s differences; you can always find something in common and enjoy your time 
together. Differences make a friendship more interesting. With this understanding, it was easier to be bold in talking to new 
people. As a junior I am the president of the Interact Club at my high school and when I came back from RYLA I had new-
found confidence as a leader. At RYLA I learned a lot about taking initiative and how to be a leader. In Interact, which was 
brought to Fort Collins High School this school year, I have been able to acquire about ten regular members, and just in this 
first semester of school I have organized seven successful volunteer projects including trail-clean-ups and collecting non-
perishables for the Food Bank. 

1. In a few brief sentences describe what your locker, backpack or bedroom looks like? (Is it organized, color-coded, you 
don’t know where it is?) 
My bedroom is pretty organized. My favorite and most-worn shirts are hung up in my closet, divided by tank-top, t-shirt, and 
long-sleeve shirts, and then my fancy shirts, but I don’t bother to worry about color or anything else. On my desk are my 
computer and text books. Next to my desk are two file bins with all the work from my classes since freshman year. 
Considering that a lot of the time spent in my room is for doing homework, I keep my room very colorful. I have two framed 
oil-painting posters, a O’Keefe and a Kandinsky. I also have six hanging wind-chimes and mobiles each with a story from 
friend or family. 

2. Your teacher assigns a 5 page English paper on the novel you just read in class, the first thing you do: Write the due date 
down and go back to listening to the teacher discussing what you had read the night before.
Such a long paper should include topics discussed in class and therefore it is essential that I know what was discussed in class, 
and participate in that discussion to make sure I understand. 

3. In group situations it is more important to: To lead the group so that everyone will be satisfied.
The purpose of leading a group is to cater to the needs of the participants. If leading becomes selfish, it is then dictatorial 
instead of compromising. 
      
4. List the top five ways you spend your time outside of school and the percent of your time is spent on each of these 
activities. 
Debate club: 35%
Interact Club: 25%
Hanging out with friends: 20%
Tap (dance): 15%
Running at Miramont: 5%

5. If you could describe yourself in ONE word, what would that word be and why? Would others agree with your choice of 
word? Why? 
Optimistic: Even in the most disappointing circumstances, I am able to see something positive about it and make the most of 
what has happened. Everything can be made fun, even if it’s just by understanding that everything can be a learning and growing 
experience. In the big picture, the small downers don’t deserve the attention that some people give them; it is important to 
appreciate that the small downers make us modest and grateful. If you can look back and laugh that’s great, but if you can also 
be in the moment and laugh, then that’s twice as much laughter. 

	Wednesday, January 24, 2007	Page 71 of 71
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