The Rotary Club of Lowestoft East Point sponsored two East Coast College students to be part of a special programme.

Students Aidan Watling and Jade Snowden embarked on the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) scheme, which was held at Grafham Water Centre in Cambridgeshire from September 1 to September 8.

The RYLA scheme is an intensive seven day fully residential programme which takes young people aged 18-26 out of their comfort zones by challenging established beliefs and boundaries. The course gives them an opportunity to develop leadership qualities, increase their self-confidence and gain new skills whilst developing existing ones.

After being placed into small teams they embarked on a night hike to get to know other participants and over the following days, Aidan and Jade completed various team building exercises. These included building a raft and paddling it between two points on the water and developing a business idea and pitching it to a panel of experts.

Both students were enthusiastic about the RYLA programme and agreed that they had both gained greater self-belief, and improved their listening, communication and presentation skills.

They were able to use some of these qualities when they attended a Lowestoft East Point Rotary Club meeting to give an in depth insight into their week of activities after which they were presented with a Certificate of Attendance and a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) certificate detailing the course and hours spent on each discipline.

The candidates expressed thanks to their sponsors, course tutors and external agencies including Suffolk Fire and Rescue, Border Force, British Army and Rotary for organising the event.

The East Point Rotary Club hopes that the RYLA scheme will help both candidates to achieve their ambitions in the workplace.