Add Germany to the list of countries Nick Rackers has visited as part of Missouri's RYLA program.
RYLA stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, a three-day academy sponsored by Rotary clubs.
Rackers has traveled to Australia, Canada and recently Germany to attend the Rotary International Convention. There, he meets others involved with RYLA, learning how they run their programs, and shares how it's done in Missouri.
Germany was Rackers' fourth convention and his first time as a presenter representing Missouri RYLA.
"It really recharges your Rotary batteries," Rackers said. "You get to meet people from all over that are doing the same kind of stuff, and it's a really good networking opportunity."
In Missouri, there are two RYLA sessions a year; one is in June and the other in July, both hosted in Fulton.
Children from all over Missouri attend the academy, where they are put into teams to create a service project they present at the end. The project includes a plan to put it into action, including a media plan and a budget.
When Rackers first joined the Jefferson City Evening Rotary Club, he was approached about being a Rotarian counselor for RYLA.
"There's no way that we could ever pay back what Rotary has given to us, so we're just going to pay it forward," he said.
At RYLA, Rackers assists the teams and offers his own experience.
"We give short little testimonials on projects that we have done or have ideas about so that these groups know where to start," he said.
Often after the academy, Rackers said, local Rotary clubs fund the service projects created during the academy.
The program has grown in popularity, and last year, Rotary groups from around the world were following what they were doing at the academy through Twitter.
"This year, we're going to livestream all the presentations that the groups are doing, and we're inviting all the Rotarians in all three districts to come watch," he said.
Rackers said he loves how he can sit back and watch the children work together to come up with ideas sometimes he had never thought of. Generally, all of the children go into the academy not knowing each other and bond over the three days.
"It's amazing how strong of a friendship these students make in those three and a half days, they don't want to leave by the time it's over," Rackers said.
The first session was June 23-26 and the second is July 7-10, both held at William Woods University in Fulton.