Two sixth form Bangor Students have been selected as regional winners of the prestigious Rotary Youth Leadership Development Competition.
Calvin Cousins from Bangor Grammar School and Erin Watkins from Glenlola Collegiate School battled their way through a gruelling interview process to capture the prize and win themselves an all-expenses paid trip to Strasbourg.
The competition, which is one of Rotary Ireland’s longest running youth projects, rewards young people with clear leadership potential based on their extra-curricular activities. It is run in conjunction with the EU Parliament office in Dublin and Euroscola in Strasbourg. The local clubs participating were the Rotary Clubs of Bangor, Comber, Donaghadee and Newtownabbey.
The students were quizzed about current affairs and their experience of leadership. Both impressed the judges with their knowledge of what makes a good leader and the impact of good leadership in areas of government as well as their articulate and fluent presentation.
Calvin won his place in the Zone Final after coming top of the Bangor Rotary Club’s round of the competition, while Erin was the winner at Donaghadee Rotary Club.
Erin and Calvin will now enjoy a trip to Strasbourg, Belfast and Dublin in the coming months with fellow zone winners from all around Ireland.
Presenting them with their awards the President of Bangor Rotary Club, Bill Aiken , congratulated them on their wonderful achievement and praised all the students who had reached the final and all those who had entered this year’s competition. “The standard of presentations was excellent this year and great credit is due to all our finalists and indeed everyone who took part in earlier rounds. We hope everyone enjoyed the experience and benefited from taking part. The competition is continuing to go from strength to strength but of course this would not be possible without the invaluable support which teachers and parents give to students. Sincere thanks for that support”
The Rotary Youth Leadership Development Competition is open to 16-to 17-year-old students who are living on the island of Ireland. For more information go to: Rotary Youth Leadership Development Competition – Rotary in Ireland (rotary-ribi.org)
Winners of the Rotary Youth Leadership Competition along with the President of Bangor Rotary Club and the judges. From left Louise Togneri, Erin Watkins (Glenlola Collegiate) Bill Aiken, (President), Calvin Cousins (Bangor Grammar) John Rollins and Andrew McCormack.