Four local students receive scholarships to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Retreat

Pictured, left to right: Olivia Veyna, Grant Mauch, Rotarian Rick Robbins, Kaedyn Rushton, Rotary President Meagan Hillman, Rotarian Judy Turpin, and Dayzri Quintana

Four incoming high school juniors were sponsored by the Lamar Rotary Club to attend a recent Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) retreat.  The Lamar Rotary Club has participated in the program since 1993.  For several years, the leadership conference was held in Lamar at Lamar Community College.  It has now relocated to various areas in and around the western slope where more outdoor activities are available for attendees. This year’s conference was held in Monument from June 6 to June 9.

Rotary believes in developing the next generation of leaders and this program helps younger leaders build leadership skills, expand education and learn the value of service while having fun and networking with other students.  Participants must be nominated by a local Rotary club and are chosen based on leadership potential, be in good academic standing, possess the ability to do public speaking and be of high moral character.  The local Rotary clubs cover all expenses for these students to attend the conferences.

At a luncheon event held July 10 at Tavern 1301 in Lamar, the four area students received certificates of participation and spoke to the Rotary club about their experiences at the conference.  The following students represented our area at the conference:

Olivia Veyna – daughter of Dr. Emma and Fred Veyna, Jr. Olivia attends Lamar High School and was nominated by Braxen Shelton (a previous RYLA participant).

Kaedyn Rushton – daughter of Kerstin and Ty Rushton.  Kaedyn attends Holly High School and was nominated by Debbie May Davis.

Dayzri Quintana – daughter of Denise and TJ Quintana.  Dayzri attends Granada High School and was nominated by Traegon Marquez (a previous RYLA participant).

Grant Mauch – son of Ginnifer and Neil Mauch.  Grant attends Wiley High School and was nominated by Mark Grasmick.

By: Barbara Crimond