The Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment (RYPEN) is a hugely successful youth programme that more clubs should consider participating in.
Secondary students sponsored by Rotary clubs on the North Shore of Auckland and Rotary Bay of Islands took part in last weekend's Winter RYPEN 2024 for neighbouring Rotary Districts 9910 and 9920. Special thanks to Rotarian Ainie Kwok for her outstanding youth leadership, RYLArian (from 2022) Caitlin Lorigan for the RYPEN video, and the other volunteer young leaders who are keen to return to Rotary Youth programmes. The next RYPEN for our District is in August 2025, so it would be great to have more District 9910 clubs and schools participate!
Winter RYPEN was an amazing experience for all the students and volunteers, as illustrated by the following article about the exciting weekend by RYLArian (from 2018) Kevin Choi:
On Friday the 23rd of August 2024, 44 high school students from 22 schools as far afield as the Bay of Islands to South Auckland descended upon The Y Shakespeare Lodge in Whangaparaoa, shattering the tranquility. Neither the students nor the 26 volunteers knew that the following 48 hours would be truly life changing.
The entirety of the weekend camp, aptly named the Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (or RYPEN for those in the know), was organised and run by these 26 volunteer leaders, past and present graduates of District 9920’s RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) program. The 44 students were chosen by their schools as youth with leadership promise, to develop their leadership under the mentorship of their volunteer stewards.
At first, the students were meek, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, in an unfamiliar place; but by the end of the camp, the students behaved as if they had known each other a lifetime, spurred by the deep camaraderie they had developed in such a short time. The weekend consisted of pre-sunrise wake-ups, physical boot camps, group competitions, and leadership seminars, all with a healthy dose of competition. The students were challenged, and through adversity tapped into their latent potential.
Winter RYPEN 2024 was a huge success by every metric, described by many students as “life-changing”. Truly a testament to the youth leadership programs of District 9920 and the leaders of tomorrow.
Thank you to all those who supported RYPEN 2024 in any capacity, and a very special thank you to our food sponsors: KiwiHarvest and Sanitarium for their invaluable and generous support.