Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment - RYPEN

The Concept

RYPEN has as its principal aim, to communicate to young people taking part in the program, a series of ideas, problems and social experiences which will assist them in forming their own values and moral standards and allow them to broaden their horizons culturally, socially and academically. Nothing is forced upon the young people - they are free to discuss and interpret what they experience and above all, they are not patronised by the Rotarians or Leaders who are involved in running the seminar.

The RYPEN seminar will be conducted by a Rotarian experienced in youth work and leadership camps and will be assisted by a team of youth leaders (female/male) who are or have been involved in other Youth Training Programs (ie. Rotaract, RYLA, Youth Work).  The Kinglake Forest Adventures Camp provides very good facilities for students and leaders and has dormitory style sleeping quarters for female/male attendees.

RYPEN is designed to provide an enriching program for young people in the age groups covered by Years 9 & 10. It is centred on a weekend residential seminar where the young people are involved in an intense learning and social experience. The program is challenging to young people as it is focused on activities that will increase their self-esteem and leadership skills as well as allowing opportunities for them to think about understanding themselves and how they relate to others. Those attending should have a basic level of physical fitness, as parts of the program that the participants will become involved in, will include outdoor sessions that require them to work as a group, as well as being individually challenged.

To facilitate the learning at a RYPEN seminar, a balance is struck between work and play, between formal learning situations and social activities. Everything done at the seminar is closely planned to contribute, in a positive way, to the total experience.

A very important part of the concept is that those chosen to participate should be prepared to strive for and attempt all activities that will be offered to them at the seminar. To accept the offer to participate in the seminar is the commencement of the positive nature of the seminar. RYPEN seeks to help those who, with guidance and encouragement, can achieve their latent potential. Rotary is striving to build on the qualities that the young people selected for the seminar have already shown, i.e. perseverance, steadfastness, honesty and decency in order that they can benefit from this experience.

The job of selecting the seminar participants is up to each Secondary College invited to participate and a Rotary Club then sponsors those selected. The College's Student Welfare Teacher/Year 9 & 10 Coordinator's should be able to ensure that the student/s selected are within the guidelines and will benefit from the experience. The seminar is restricted to 40 students on a first come basis. Application forms are available from: https://rotary9790.org.au/50201/Page/ShowSitePage?ClassCode=SitePage&Slug=rypen-rotary-youth-program-of-enrichment   

The basic philosophy of RYPEN is that stimulus and individual enrichment, comes from the group ethos developed by the seminar team, which causes a sense of pride and unity to be developed in the participants, thus achieving the aims of the program.

This year the seminar will be held on the 31^st March, 1^st and 2^nd of April at Kinglake Forest Adventures Camp, 1419 Yea Road, Kinglake West.

The closing date for applications will be 17th March, 2023.

Contact:        

Meredith Miegel at miegelpm@bigpond.com  or 0417 246 546

 Rotary Club of Corowa