Reminiscing the Youth Leadership Adventure

Celine Shih (’25) Feb. 13, 2023

“There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t met.”

On February 4-5 2023, I had the honor to attend RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards). RYLA was a two-day camp focusing on team building and leadership with lots of students from different local schools in Taichung attending. They mixed the students from different schools to create 8 teams so we can meet and bond with new people, from strangers to friends.

Last year, I also attended RYLA but I didn’t make an effort to be great friends with anybody. That left me in isolation, and trust me, it’s not something you want to experience. I remembered worrying about whether I’d make friends so I wouldn’t be lonely. Loneliness in an unfamiliar environment was one of the worst feelings I don’t ever want to experience again. This year, I told myself I wouldn’t repeat that mistake. To me, friendship was everything when it comes to camps, or anything, honestly. I attended with one of my close friends, but no one would be careless enough to put the two of us

together, because we’d just stick to each other like glue.

As the camp started and we got seated in our teams, we did a bonding activity. The chance to meet new people was presented in front of me, and I didn’t hesitate to take a hold of that opportunity. I talked to anyone on my team and made connections, trying to find a potential friend.

Throughout my experience, something I’ve discovered about making friends is you don’t really know when you both start getting close. It just happens so naturally and without realizing it, I’ve gotten myself a new friend that eventually became my best friend during these two days. We stayed by each other’s side, got each other’s Instagram, waited for each other in the bathroom, and all the stuff friends do.

There was something else that bonded our connections even deeper. During the evening party, which jaded my friend and me out with the blasting music that could probably be heard all the way in Africa. We wanted to escape. We saw two other boys from our group also sitting out and tired from the ear-wrecking music. Together, the four of us snuck out into the night and found a place to sit and chat. During our conversation, I felt like they’d been my friends all along. We even decided to sneak out after 12 and walked to the Sun Moon Lake pier.

As the two days flew by and came to an end, I was devastated to leave my new friends. In fact, my friend and I were so close to the two other boys we snuck out with, we’re going to hang out tomorrow. This week, my friend and I texted long messages to each other and it shocked me how close I’ve gotten with these people over the course of 48 hours. 48 hours is not a lot of time to get to know anyone, but I’m glad our paths crossed and I hope to cherish this special connection forever.