The meeting was youth-focussed with two inspirational young speakers: Andrew Douglass and Ashley Hall.
We welcomed Sasha and Katya Mouchta, guests of Terry Thornton; Genevieve Mullen, guest of Stan Deans; Andrew Douglass, guest of Chris Adam; Ashley Hall, guest of Jenny Acopian; and Jann Curry, guest of Sue Hill; and our old friend and esteemed past member of our Club (and current Friend of Rotary) Peter Dale.
Reflections on the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) experience by Andrew Douglass
Andrew has been associated with Geelong East Rotary since 2014 when he was our outgoing exchange student to Switzerland.
He is currently studying Law at Deakin University.
Andrew explained that he attended the Maryborough District Assembly where he first heard about RYLA and was encouraged to attend.
RYLA is a leadership program for 18 to 25 year olds who are sponsored by their local Rotary Club.
In April this year Andrew journeyed to Kangaroobie, a residential camp in western Victoria where he met 40 other young people of diverse backgrounds who would spend six days together.
RYLA changed his life.
Before attending Andrew thought he had it all, unaware of the baggage he was carrying.
As a result of the six days of reflection and introspection Andrew has thrown off the negative things he had collected over his lifetime, knows who he is and is now better and stronger.
Andrew is a passionate advocate for RYLA and encouraged the young people present to take full advantage of the program, and urged Geelong East Rotary to continue to support this life-affirming Rotary initiative.
Life before and after receiving the Club’s 2018 Gordon Scholarship, by Ashley Hall
Ashley Hall is well known to our Club as she was the recipient of Geelong East’s Trainee of the Year Award in 2016, and went on to win the Victorian Trainee of the Year Award.
Ashley thanked us for the 2018 Geelong East Rotary Scholarship (valued at $1,000) she received in the final year of her studies at The Gordon.
At the award ceremony last year, Ashley was chosen to speak on behalf of all scholarship recipients.
It was an emotional event for her as her father, whom she had nursed at home for an extended time, died earlier in the year. Ashley said it was the one of the hardest years of her life, and she often felt lost, confused and overwhelmed with emotions that she never knew existed.It was a time of heart break, intense grief and shock, and disbelief. Hearing the news that she had been successful in her application for the Rotary scholarship was the silver lining that kept her going. It pushed her to stay in her studies and gave her a sense that someone believed in her.
Ashley graduated with her Diploma of Community Services in March this year and is now working in child protection with McKillop Family Services. She works directly with vulnerable young people living in residential care, a difficult job that Ashley finds demanding and risky, but enjoyable as she is making a positive difference in their lives.
Recently Ashley has been invited to be a mentor for a young person undertaking the Kokoda Track Challenge. Roles have been reversed as several years ago Ashley was one of the young people chosen to take on Kokoda.
In a Rotary year where the theme is ‘Be an Inspiration’ we were blessed to hear from two remarkable young people who are living out that theme.
