This year’s alumni award recipients were Miche McKneeley and Allison Bennett. Congratulations ladies! The alumni are so grateful for the example of service that you set.
From Michelynne:
My RYLA Family,
I was truly taken back by the honor of receiving the 2009 Alumni Award. I never would have thought this would be given to me or necessarily deserving when there are so many of us that continue to serve through RYLA. To say that this is a very humbling experience for me would be an understatement and I truly thank you for finding me deserving of such an honor.
RYLA started for me at a very young age, God blessed me with an extraordinary Father who not only taught me, but showed me first hand about service above self. I was a camper in 1998 and came back to serve on activities staff until 2003 when I made the change to the “grown up” world of counselor, serving my 5th year as a counselor this summer.
RYLA has brought a lot to my life, far more than I ever expected when my junior year of high school I was being mobbed and drug out of a car in Bridgeport. It has given me the desire to do more, skills to apply in every walk of life, and more importantly friends whom I now consider my closest family.
For me in recent years RYLA has taken on a whole new meaning. I used to come to camp and see the campers as someone I once was not too long ago. But with life comes change and with the greatest honor of my life, my little man Rohan, I look at the campers in a new light. I strive to make them better leaders and the type of people who will make a change in this world. The type of people who will hopefully one day return their skills to this world and make it a better place for my son.
I want to thank each one of you from the bottom of my heart for finding me deserving of this award. I consider this the largest compliment anyone has ever paid me and I am afraid words will never express the gratitude I feel.
Thank you to each of you who have played such an important part of not only my life but to Camp RYLA.
All the best,
Michelynne
From Allison:
Fellow Alum,
As you all may well know by now, I am not the most eloquent person in the world, but here goes a try. I cannot thank everyone enough for thinking of me with the Alum Recognition Award (politically correct name). It means so much to be recognized by a group of people for whom I have the utmost respect – and would have considered each and every one for this award before myself. Anyone who saw my face knows (and I know you’re out there…) that when Mark started the introduction I just kept thinking, “this person has done a lot of the same stuff I’ve done…” and it was only once the youth exchange program in France was mentioned that I flipped out. I never thought I would receive this award, and then to receive it alongside Miche – a woman who I greatly admire – is crazy pants. To top everything off, my brother Zak was there and spoke some very kind words, also a fabulous gift. I guess what I’m trying to say in my rambling is that I love my RYLA family, and I genuinely thank each and every RYLAlum for this recognition. To be honest, I’m surprised I didn’t receive a bucket of cheese balls in lieu of an envelope :)
Merci encore,
Allison
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Allison, Alumni Award 2009, Miche
