Judy Wahlander, Nicole Delgadillo, and John Cogswell. Photo Gary Irwin

Campolindo High School seniors Nicole Delgadillo and John Cogswell spoke to the Rotary Club of Moraga recently, each giving a brief summary of their week in late summer with about 140 other high school seniors from northern California at Camp Royal, the Rotary Leadership Camp located near Weaverville that has operated since 1980. Judy Wahlender, a former counselor at Campolindo, also was a guest of Rotary.

Cogswell and Delgadillo described their experience at Camp Royal as "life-changing," "emotionally very open," and "a family." Camp Royal stresses leadership and teamwork through field exercises, group problems, and motivational and vocational speakers. One exercise required students to use teamwork to climb over a 13' high wall. The wall was also used to represent a student's most difficult and emotionally-charged problem, and scaling the wall was symbolic of conquering this problem. Students were encouraged to speak openly of conquering the problem and to respond to encouragement from the others.

The Campolindo students received scholarships from Moraga Rotary, which has been providing Camp Royal scholarships to two Campolindo incoming seniors each year for 31 years. Judy Wahlander, who retired from Campolindo this past summer, has worked for the past 20 years with Moraga Rotary Chairman Angelo Costanza to select well-qualified students for the experience. Moraga Rotary also awards a $1,000 scholarship to a graduating Campolindo senior each year, with the candidates proposed by the Campolindo counseling office.

Moraga Rotary is a local service club within Rotary International that meets most Tuesdays at noon at St. Mary's College. For information, please call Gary Irwin of Moraga Rotary at 925-376-7688.