Board Members 2006-07

Here are the 2006-2007 Pioneer Interact Board of Directors.

President: Jeany Zhang
Vice President: Helen Li
Treasurer: Remi Lam
Secretary: Lubin Zhaung
Comm. Council: Shirley Wang and Shirley Chen
Web Designer: Jessica Chang
Marketing: Ignatius Chen


Dan and Dave are our new Rotary Club of Ann Arbor Liaisons.

Mary's Experience at RYLA

Going to RYLA was sort of a last minute decision for me. I only began to consider going when many of the people who were supposed to go ended up backing out and Jeany, our Interact president, became visibly distressed. I had also planned a few other things that weekend that I didn't want to miss; my old middle school's annual play and two horse shows on Saturday and Sunday. But after a good deal of thought and discussion with my respective adults (and a few huffs from Deedee about it being "just a play") I decided not to pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Departing from school, with trusty Helen to see us off, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Upon hearing that we would be rooming with complete strangers, I was a little uneasy. But underneath that distress, a feeling of excited anticipation was stirring at the prospect of meeting new people. As it turns out, I met dozens of wonderful people from Michigan, Canada and all over the world. I met Pear, from Thailand, and girls from Germany, France, and Columbia. I got to hear an authentic Italian accent from an authentic Italian ladies man and I even met a girl who said she was from "all over". I was quite impressed and at the same time a little confused until I realized, upon hearing her say it again, that she was in fact from "Moldova".

RYLA leadership was a given quality as opposed to other camps and conferences I've been to where it was merely encouraged. They did not tell you to lead, but rather pointed you in the direction in which to lead. I realized that my voice counted and what I had to say was important to other people in my group. I found that once I stepped outside my comfort zone, every task involved became much easier. The speaker there talked about how you can either play victim in your situation or take it as a opportunity to make a change. That message resonated very strongly with me.

The values and skills that RYLA reinforced in me will hopefully prepare me for next year, being a senior at band camp, being an equestrian team captain, and being an overall "ultimate upperclassmen". What I took away from RYLA was more than anything I could have gotten from a horse show or "any old play". I am so very glad I went.

Mary Armbruster

Deedee's Experience at RYLA

I didn't know how I got there, I didn't know why I got there. Mostly, I was pushed/forced by my friends to go to this leadership conference thing. Yes, "thing". I didn't even know what it was about. Still, I went to this place in Canada (I only know that I was in Ontario) where brick building stood as dormatories and green grass were growing just like Ann Arbor. Now having returned from this trip, I can say, I know why I was there and I know where I was. I was there to boost my confidence and enlarge my view toward the world. And I was in a whole different universe where people simply cared about others. Junior year, especially made me self centered and this leadership conference "changed my life".

Right after coming back to Ann Arbor, I was stunned that it was only Monday. It felt like I was in Canada for at least two weeks because I learned and took in so much information and life skills during those 3 days.

Right after coming back to Ann Arbor, I had hard time fitting back in with Pioneer environment. I felt like an exchange student and didn't feel like I was in my classes at all.

Right after coming back to Ann Arbor, I scared myself. I did not, I repeat, I did not really care about the chemistry final that I was about to fail.

That most memorable thing I learned in RYLA was that "you don't have to have a glorious title like "president" or have a respectful reputation to be a good leader. In order to be a leader, first thing you have to be able to do is to care. If you begin to care, you will begin to get more involved in your community and widen your view. Leaders are every where and you can be a leader too." (paraphrased Andy Thibodeau's speech)

I didn't know a person could change so fast in 3 days... If I were to have a choice whether if I go to the conference or not, I would choose my own life and voluntarily go to Canada. Not be forced by my friends like this year.

p.s. Thanks to my friends you convinced me and made me go to this conference. I am really glad I went.

Shirley's Experience at RYLA

RYLA was a lot of fun. I met people from cities/towns in Michigan that I've never heard of. For example, in my group (number 10) there was a Japanese exchange student named Kao. Our group name was "Hieu's Jyu" because Hieu was one of our group leaders (the other was Jenny An) and Jyu means 10 in Japanese. Every group did their own cheers and my group cheer seemed to confuse everybody. All the groups had to do a 5 minute skit on a world problem and what students could do about it. We did ours on pollution. Though we didn't win, it was still pretty good. lol We had 5 Asians out of 11 people in our group, Hieu, who was also an Asian called it the "Asian Invasion." We had 3 speakers; my favorite was SunJay. He was so funny; I've never laughed so hard during a motivational speech. We should invite him to make a speech at Pioneer. The food was also great. Unfortunately, I was always thirsty because the water in Canada is nothing like our water in Ann Arbor. I strongly encourage people to go next year. You will learn a lot and have fun at the same time and meet people from all over the world.

Jeany's Experience at RYLA

The entire RYLA was much more exciting and educational than I had ever expected. Although all the leaders proclaimed that this weekend would be one of the most fun weekends in our life, I did not expect their proclamations to be entirely true. By the end of our stay, I finally came to that realization. Our busy days were 18 hours long and we ate what seemed like 5 meals a day. We were each assigned to 1 of 10 groups, who became our closest friends. In these groups we learned and practiced leadership and collaborative skills while teaching everyone about a specific world problem. Even though RYLA was educational, the best part of the RYLA experience was the different people we met; they made the weekend fun and forever memorable.

Jeany Zhang

Meeting Minutes--5/11/06

Meeting Minutes for Thursday, May 11, 2006

*WE'RE HAVING BOARD ELECTIONS NEXT WEEK!! Nominations begin Monday, May 15th, and last until Wednesday, May 17th. On Thursday right after that, people who want to run will be able to get up and tell everyone about the position they are running for, just so everyone will know exactly what everyone's running for. No big speech necessary, but splurge that way if you would like to. *Actual elections start from Friday, May 19th, and last until May 26th (the following Friday).*

*No other real information, except that Jeany had a chat with RYLA folks who were leaving the next day.

*We're winding down for the school year, and we'll pick up the PBBUDS thing next year, although we'll have a much better idea of what exactly we will be doing next year with Tappan kids...

*By the way, Jeany and Remi won't be at next Thursday's meeting, but they would like to run for president and treasurer, respectively.

As always, thanks a bunch!
Helen

RYLA '06

The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Conference 2006 in Ridgetown, Ontario, Canada was an weekend that could never be forgotten. Leaving approximately at 11am from Pioneer on Friday, May 12, 2006 on a AATA bus, 7 Pioneer Interact members left for Canada. Here are a few pictures to highlight.


Here above is a picture taken by Helen Li (she waved us goodbye *smiles*). The 7 of us were waiting to depart as some Dexter High students got on the bus too.


We all hundled in Mary's room to play cards right before the dance. We didn't 'just' play around though; we got to listen to fantasic speakers (I laughed so much that the muscles around my mouth hurt), used their ideas of what a leader is through different activites, and ate A LOT of food!


Here is one of the student exchange students standing next to Priya. The Student Exchange students introduced this program, which allows students from all over the world to travel to a new country and stay there for an entire year. Those students spoke with great enthusiasm about their experiences here in Michigan or Canada and strongly encouraged all those interested to go to a new country.


Yes, we did attend a semi-formal banquet on Saturday night! The food was exquisite (the dessert was unbelievable!!) and everyone looked so elegant.


All of waking up Sunday morning at the breakfast table. The empty spot with the food tray was where I sat. :)


After the last speaker spoke, and some reflections were made, everyone headed over to the Cafeteria for the last lunch at RYLA on Sunday at noon. Here we have more Student Exchange Students, and others.


Here we last stood before heading back to the dorms, turning in our keys, and heading over to the buses back home. We arrived back at Huron High School around 6:07pm. Though the Conference is over, what I got from it will never be taken away from me. What I learned on how to be a leader will remain prominent in my memories that will not fade.

Check out other Rylaians' experience below.
Jeany Zhang
Shirley Wang
Deedee Min
Mary Armbruster