Service is a major necessity in our world. With the amount of people in need, any individual efforts of volunteering can help lead to positive change. Through promoting service as a community people are able to contribute even more to those in need, as well as encourage those who may not be familiar with acts of service to become involved. In Louisville, one of these organizations that works to promote service in the community is the Louisville Rotary Club.
The Rotary organization is one of the largest service organizations in the world, and they provide service through clubs in different places all over the world. Recently, the Louisville Rotary Club has hosted the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) at the Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center. This specific event brought together about fifty high school students to participate in events to develop leadership through acts of service. Among these fifty, one was Saint Xavier sophomore, Jacob Early.
Early has been involved in KYA since last year and KUNA since seventh grade and he was asked to attend this event by his counselor. The fifty attendees were split into multiple teams and the teams participated in service oriented events. The specific events of this RYLA consisted of things such as packaging ready to eat meals for those in need, as well as stuffing stuffed bears for children who aren’t able to have one. After all events concluded, awards were given out to the person who displayed the most leadership in each group. Jacob was one of the recipients of this award.
“This experience allowed me to develop leadership skills with new people that will help me be a better leader in my everyday life,” Early said.
Early spoke with great passion about this event and seemed to truly enjoy the opportunity he was given. Events like these bring to light just how much individuals can help others through doing service while also developing their own character.
