(NASHUA, NH) – Last Saturday, 50 High School students across southern New Hampshire participated in the RYLA Youth Leadership Academy held at Nashua Community College. Victory Academy and the Rotary Club of Nashua West partnered to offer this unique and inspiring leadership summit. The young students were motivated to build individual leadership plans and were challenged to create a service project that would serve their school and/or community.
Julie Boilard, a Co-Chair of RYLA, expressed her excitement about the success of the program. “Rotary Club of Nashua West has been searching for years for a great leadership program to share with local high school students through our RYLA program. This is it! It more than exceeded our expectations,” said Boilard.
The Victory Academy team delivered seven hours of captivating lessons, designed to assist and inspire the students to build their own leadership foundation. The day was filled with special guest speakers and community leaders, as well as, fresh, thought-provoking content, and several hands-on exercises. The energy was high! Inspirational guest speakers included:
- David Correia, Head of Security at Newton Wellesley Hospital
- Kimberly A. Crider, Major General, U.S. Air Force
- Eric Kirchberger, Senior Account Executive, Marriott International
- William C. Pockl, President, B&S Security Systems
- Donna Upson (Correia), Vice President, Lowell Five Cent Bank
Mike LaChance, the President Elect of Nashua Rotary West and current CEO at YMCA of Greater Nashua, is enthusiastic about the club’s continued support of youth programming. “The Rotary Club of Nashua West has a longstanding history of supporting youth programs, including Interact, Rotaract, international student exchange programs and youth leadership programs such as RYLA. By partnering with Victory Academy, we have been able to elevate our RYLA program to a new level of professionalism, with exciting new content, exceptional speakers and inspiring program leaders. We look forward to a long-term relationship with Victory Academy as we continue to develop this program to support the emerging leaders of tomorrow.”
“Every day, 10,000 baby boomers retire, taking with them 350,000 years of experience out of the workforce,” said Kristen Kjellman Marshall, Executive Director of The Victory Academy at velocityHUB. “We recognize that a leadership void is being created, and we must build a new generation of leaders. Through our Victory Academy programs like the RYLA Youth Leadership Academy, we aim to fill that void and inspire the emerging generation to become the best leaders yet.”
At velocityHUB, the company has witnessed the impact of the Victory Academy programs at highly touted academic institutions like Dartmouth College, Brown University, UMass Lowell, Rivier University, WPI and Tufts University.