Fifty high school juniors and seniors, including four from Mathews High School, gathered at Prince William Forest Park from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 to learn aspects of leadership for use in home, school, workplace, community and internationally at an event sponsored by Rotary International.

Known throughout the world as the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), the program provides education and training for young people with outstanding leadership potential, a Mathews Rotary Club release stated.

The four MHS students—Rebecca Mullins, Mickenzie Sadler, Jacob Dietz and Prissy Pelfrey—heard presentations and participated in activities, such as team building, goal-setting activities, fundamentals of leadership, ethics of leadership, time management, conflict resolution, and community service.

RYLA participants received training from professionals with special emphasis on the importance of ethics and community service. Each of the four MHS students is already participating in one of the leadership clubs now offered at Mathews High: Chick-fil-A Academy, Future Business Leaders of America and Rotary’s Interact. They plan to bring the knowledge learned at RYLA to these clubs throughout this year, the release said.