Special to The Dorchester Banner/Hubert Wright
From left: Rotarian Phil Reed; Dave Bromwell, principal, Cambridge-South Dorchester High School; Jinece Dixon, Bassey Arikpo, Jonathan Rodriguez, Ben Cornwell, and Daniel VanRiel RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award delegates; and Linda Mullen, interact advisor and C-SDHS Science teacher. Absent from photo was Jacob Mullen.[/caption] CAMBRIDGE — The Rotary Club of Cambridge recently sponsored five students from C-SDHS and one Parkside sophomore, Jacob Mullen, son of Linda Mullen, a C-SDHS teacher and Interact advisor, to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Conference at the Carousel Hotel in Ocean City. One hundred twenty high school students from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware attended the event over President’s Day weekend. Bassey Arikpo, Ben Cornwell, Jinece Dixon, Jonathan Rodriguez and Daniel VanRiel, students from Cambridge-South Dorchester High School, recently spoke to the Rotary Club of Cambridge about their experience at RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) over President’s Day weekend. A sixth student, Jacob Mullen, a sophomore at Parkside High School, was unable to attend the presentation. The Club sponsored the six students who spent the weekend learning leadership skills, learning to work with other people they have met and learning problem solving techniques. The students talked about the group projects they designed, speakers who spoke to them and the other activities in which they participated.  Speakers spoke to the delegates about Polio eradication, well drilling in Africa and leadership styles and skills. This was the third year that Rotary District 7630, covering Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, has held their own RYLA conference. One hundred and twenty students arrived, at the Carousel Hotel in Ocean City, Friday evening with the weekend culminating Sunday afternoon as the delegates present to families and friends. After getting registered and putting their belongings in their rooms, the delegates and the 12 college Rotoractors, (college-based youth Rotary affiliated Club), met to begin their first group activity. The students participated in a “Stop Hunger Now” project filling over 10000 food packets, each containing 6 nutritionally value meals. Other group activities they discussed included an egg drop, which required them to build a capsule to hold an egg to be dropped from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors, a community service project, a dilemma skit using the Rotary 4-Way Test and their own group designed flag. Four of the students, also, spoke about the great benefit the weekend gave them in helping to be more comfortable working with others and speaking to groups.  All five said they thoroughly enjoyed the experience, would like to go again and recommended it to others. Joining the five students was CSDHS Biology teacher, Rotary Interact Advisor (and mother of RYLA delegate Jacob), Linda Mullen. Ms. Mullen helps to select students she feels would and could benefit from the leadership program.