Camp Highlight Film | RYLA District 6250
A week that's hard to describe to parents
RYLA has a recruiting problem that isn't really a recruiting problem. The week genuinely changes kids, and there's no way to say that out loud without sounding like a brochure. Sophomores show up not knowing anybody and leave with a group. That's the entire thing, and it only reads if you can see it. So we shot it as it happened. No staged setups, no interviews pulling a kid out of the experience to say something quotable. Sessions, downtime, the goofing around, and the small moments where somebody visibly stops being nervous. Drone gives the film its sense of place, because the woods and the water at Camp Upham Woods are half of why the week works at all. Everything else stays with faces.
Who is
RYLA 6250
RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, is Rotary's leadership training program for young people. District 6250 brings sophomores from across the district to Camp Upham Woods in Wisconsin Dells to learn about Rotary and Interact, build real connections, and grow as leaders.
Showing it instead of pitching it
The film gave RYLA something to put in front of schools, parents, and Rotary clubs that shows the week rather than explaining it, which is the hard part of recruiting for a program whose value only lands once you're already there. Shot documentary style, it also works as a record for the students who lived it.
