Karori Rotarians were treated to some youthful snap, crackle and pop at our meeting on 11 April. Three young people who had received Rotary assistance reported back on their experiences and a candidate for the RYLA spoke of his background and of his hopes for the future.
 
 
First up were Neakiry Kivi and Sariya McGrath, year 13 science students at Marsden. They attended together with Gabriel Gunn, the Head Of Department for science at the college. Rotary has assisted both girls to attend National Science Forums, Neakiry at Canberra and Sariya at Auckland.
 
Gabriel Gunn with Neakiry Kivi and Sariya McGrath

Both girls gave lively accounts of their experiences. It was clear from their presentations that they had been exposed to a wide range of topics. Also apparent was that the forums were not for nerds and that the social side had not been forgotten!
 
Marsden encourages their students to take up these opportunites and to act to encourage other students to do likewise.
 
An experience of a quite different nature was had by Kayden Cherian on the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA). As might be expected a course of this nature encourages the participants to examine their own true nature as well as to learn the skills needed to interact with and to lead others. Kayden's presentation gave ample evidence of this and it was clear that it had been a life changing experience for him.
 
Lindi and Kayden Sheridan
 
Finally we heard from Dion Blackmore. Dion is a first year accountancy student at Victoria University. He was accompanied at the meeting by his grandfather David Edwards a member of the Kapiti Rotary Club. Dion spoke of his hopes for the future and why he would like to be considered for the RYLA.
 
Dion Blackmore addressing the meeting.
 
It was a great pleasure to hear from 4 of our best and brightest young people.