The Lima Rotary Club was honored to host the graduation ceremony for the 2021 Allen Lima Leadership Youth Class.
Thirty two students from ten local high schools participated in the Allen Lima Leadership Youth Leadership Program in 2021. Allen Lima Youth Leadership is sponsored by the Lima Rotary Foundation and Lima Memorial Health System. It actively involves, educates and challenges youth to reach their fullest potential as leaders. High school sophomores and juniors learn about their wider community, discover and develop their own leadership styles and practice team building and communication skills. This year's class created the We Hear You Project to help spread awareness about mental health and make sure people are heard. The students told us that they decided to focus on mental health because 1 in 10 young people experience a period of major depression, half of mental health conditions start by the age of 14, and suicide is the third leading cause of death in 15-19 year olds. The We Hear You Project can be abbreviated to three letters: W, H and Y. They told us that a lot of people who are struggling with mental health lose their “why” in life. By reaching out over social media and other platforms, they hope to help people know that they are being heard and that they can find their “why”. The students will be posting two positive and motivational messages on their Twitter account every day. You can follow them at @WeHearYou21. They also have yard signs, T-shirts, wristbands and stickers. Thank you, ALL Youth Class of 2021, for caring and we wish you well in your future!
Also, congratulations to Jeff Fitzgerald for achieving Paul Harris Fellowship!
