RYLA 2025-26 Recap

District 5330 hosts the largest overnight RYLA in the Rotary world — and in 2025-26, more than 450 high-school juniors made the trip up to Idyllwild Pines Camp for it. They came across two sessions, one in March and one in May, and each group of students left changed in the same quiet, unmistakable way.

RYLA — the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards — isn’t a lecture about leadership. Over three days of small-group discussions, team challenges, motivational keynotes, and late-night camp traditions, students who stepped off the bus as strangers discovered who they are, how they connect with others, and the kind of leader they want to become.

A New Home at Idyllwild Pines

2025-26 also marked a milestone for District 5330 RYLA: a brand-new home. For the first time, camp was held at Idyllwild Pines Camp in the mountain town of Idyllwild, California — the beginning of a new relationship with a new venue, in a beautiful new area for the program. New trails, new gathering spaces, and new traditions waiting to be made: the first of what we hope will be many years of memories built on that mountain.

Two Sessions on the Mountain

To welcome as many students as possible, District 5330 runs RYLA across two camp sessions each spring — and 2025-26 brought students together first in March and again in May. Nominated by their schools and screened by their local Rotary clubs, more than 450 juniors from across Riverside and San Bernardino counties spent the weekend disconnecting from their screens and reconnecting with people. Walls came down, confidence grew, and students realized they were surrounded by peers facing many of the same questions about who they are and who they want to become. By the time the buses rolled back down the mountain, they carried home stronger confidence, lifelong friendships, and a belief that leadership is rooted in empathy, authenticity, service, and connection.

The Voices That Moved Them

Some of the weekend’s most powerful moments came from the keynote stage, where two very different speakers challenged students to think bigger about who they are and what they’re capable of.

Jackie G

Jackie G (Jackie G Andrews), a longtime and beloved RYLA voice, returned to share her story of self-acceptance and healing. Drawing on her own hard-won journey, she challenged students to reclaim their truth, let go of shame, and treat themselves with the same compassion they would offer a friend — a message that, year after year, leaves the room changed.

Max Dutton

Max Dutton, a decorated U.S. Marine turned motivational speaker and mindset coach, brought a message of discipline, resilience, and self-belief. He gave the students the truth straight — and left them with a line that stuck: “You were not born to break. You were born to lead.”

Powered by District 5330 Rotarians

None of it happens without Rotary. Clubs across the district nominate and sponsor the students, covering the cost so families don’t have to, while an all-volunteer staff of more than 90 Rotarians and alumni — led by RYLA Chair Mike Norkin and a Rotarian Camp Director — pours itself into every session. Each discussion-group leader stays with the same eight students all weekend, and many of those leaders are RYLA alumni themselves, back to create for the next class the same experience that once changed them. It is one of the most powerful ways District 5330 invests in the next generation of leaders.

And the impact runs both ways. Ask the Rotarians who give up a weekend to staff RYLA and most will tell you they come home as changed as the students do. Watching a quiet teenager find their voice, or an anxious one realize they belong, reminds these volunteers exactly why they joined Rotary in the first place. For many, RYLA is the highlight of their entire Rotary year — a renewal of purpose, friendship, and the simple joy of investing in someone else’s potential. The students leave the mountain stronger; so do the Rotarians who walk alongside them.