Day Two of RYLA was just as unique and humorous as the first, and we enjoyed every second of it. The activities that encompassed our day was the Olympics, College 101, Invention Convention, Team Dynamics, and the RYLA News Broadcast.
College 101
College 101 was a unique experience, like everything in RYLA, in which we were able to meet a panel of both incoming and seasoned college students, along with the admissions counselor of MSMC. We then asked them any questions we had about college and their own personal experience. The panel members later moved into different corners and conferees were allowed to directly ask them any lingering questions they may have had.
Olympics
The Olympics were an exciting experience that offered physical and mental challenges for the RYLA groups. Two groups would face off in games which included Three Ball Soccer, Spot the Difference, Captain’s Watch, Who Am I, and Actionary. They definitely brought out the competitive edge in all of the conferees but no matter who won, everyone maintained a positive attitude and good sportsmanship. Although we were put in competition with each other we maintained a friendly atmosphere and focused more on having fun although victory was still in the back off our minds.
Invention Convention
The invention convention involves the conferees being randomly selected into groups with people they may not know, which may have placed conferees out of their comfort zone. They then put their heads together to create their own invention out of random materials. Soon after, the groups proceeded to put together their own commercial and jingle to promote their creative invention, and finally presented it on stage. Some of the astonishing inventions the conferees came up with were the Snack Pack, Para-Plummet, and Helping Ear.
Team Dynamics
Team Dynamics is a reflective activity to help the conferees see what their roles were in the invention convention. It consists of randomly selected groups to give conferees chances to meet a variety of new people, where each person receives a role in a scenario. Once they play their role in the scenario, they reflect back on the situation and see which position they relate to, and how they can improve.
RYLA News Broadcast
The RYLA News Broadcast was an informative broadcast held in Hudson Hall where conferees from the Nightly News shared highlights from the previous day which included lots of laughs, information about the weather, and tips that were given to the conferees about the RYLA experience. They also showed a comical cooking show, where they made guacamole and shared it with the Junior Counselors and conferees.