Attendance: 24 Members: 20 (of 47) 43% Guests: 4
Speaker: Ivy Sheng and Sarah Mapleson Topic: RYLA and the UN Youth Program
Two inspiring young leaders shared their experiences at the club meeting on March 24th, highlighting the impact of Rotary-supported and aligned youth programs. Ivy Sheng reflected on her participation in the UN Youth Diplomats Tour, offering insights into global cooperation, cultural exchange and the value of international perspective. Sarah Mapleson spoke about her journey from Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) participant to facilitator, illustrating the lasting personal and leadership growth the program fosters. Together, their stories demonstrate the powerful role these opportunities play in shaping confident, community-minded young people.
National UN Youth Diplomats Tour – Ivy Sheng
Ivy Sheng is a Year 11 student at MLC. In December 2025 Ivy attended the National UN Youth Diplomats Tour in Europe.
The tour is a program that gives 16 students around Australia the chance to learn about diplomacy, history and global cooperation. Travelling through Europe they met international organisations, political leaders and grassroots groups while visiting some of the world’s most significant historical sites.
Ivy particularly enjoyed, Istanbul, Greece & Amsterdam. She also made a lovely group of friends.
Ivy believes her experience will be of benefit over the choices she has to make at the end of VCE.
RYLA Candidate – Sarah Mapleson
The next speaker of the night was Sarah Mapleson, who was sponsored by our Rotary club, to attend the one-week RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) camp at Axedale, near Bendigo, in December 2024.
The program aims at focusing on personal growth, leadership development and community. Sarah enjoyed the camp especially as it enabled her to use knowledge that she learnt in her studies.
Sarah has just completed her course of study in Psychology at Deakin University and is now studying for her master’s degree in psychology.
Sarah enjoyed her experience at RYLA very much and she explained the types of activities that participants were involved in. She especially highlighted how the Camp was beneficial for the attendees. Among other things importantly candidates made a number of new friends.
Because Sarah enjoyed her experience so much at RYLA in 2024, she applied to become a trained facilitator for the following year 2025 and was successful.
As a trained facilitator candidates assist in running the camp and provide a safe space in which the young participants are encouraged to move outside of their comfort zone and experience what they might not otherwise ever think about or do. This can cause positive changes in their growth and development.
She said she found being a facilitator such a rewarding experience that she intends to apply again.