Miles Borne is from Rye, New Hampshire and he attended RYLA in 2023 sponsored by the Portsmouth Rotary Club.
I am a pessimist. I never believed a Google Classroom post stating how RYLA changed people’s lives. Yet RYLA changed my life. I did not wake up one day and realize the ocean had a green tint. RYLA shifted my perspective. It put me in roles I never imagined occupying, and the new perspectives changed my life.
After my camper year, I rushed to my friend’s birthday celebration, a flurry of appointments, and then I went to Israel for four weeks. In the silence on the plane, I reflected on my anxiety regarding meeting new people for four weeks, not four days. That summer, I rushed from place to place, trying to do it all. I tossed my emotions aside as I let fear of missing out control my life. Processing became a luxury. I already compartmentalized the lessons from RYLA. Instead, I raced to catch up.
With college looming, I applied to return as staff to add lines to my resume. I applied to countless one-week programs. I felt unsatisfied; something needed to change. At RYLA, I tried something new: I stopped running. Stopped joining club after club and sport after sport. I stopped doing more and more, as if every moment I raced against a clock, trying to do everything before midnight. Instead, the clock struck. I stopped rushing to turn in the project or add another activity. I lived in the moment. Smiled. Laughed. Time slipped away as the present engulfed me. RYLA lifted the weight on my shoulders. At RYLA, I feel free.
In my summer after junior year, I thrived. I threw myself into the unknown, and, with RYLA’s principles, I felt unstoppable. Then senior year hit. The world felt like my oyster. Then reality struck: I got rejected from the school I had ED’d at. My life unraveled. Pessimism took over. I failed. Everything I did felt worthless. I needed to pick myself up. Once again, I needed to change my mindset. At RYLA, I focused on what I could control instead of tormenting myself over the past. I needed to define my life by the journey, not the result. Despite that premise being my senior quote, I still struggle to do that today.
Then my parents dropped me off for my first year of college. I needed to reinvent myself. It felt overwhelming. One day, I got rejected five times—fear of failing controlled me. I struggled to put myself out there, with failure looming. Before I knew it, RYLA crept up. At RYLA, an eye staring competition turned so intense I laughed so hard I used my inhaler, and it felt impossible to be serious. I hadn’t been contagious with laughter in a long time. RYLA pushed my silly side, and curiosity took over again.
Later that summer, I realized sibling rivalry drove my actions. My brother, Sam, got into the school he ED’d to; I didn’t. He had a higher rank than I. He got the prestigious Senate Page internship, and I didn’t even get an interview. My life became a constant comparison to his. I felt a million steps behind, seeking to add another line to my resume. But, I had something he didn’t: RYLA. There, I didn’t have to feel disappointed because I had no sibling comparison. I could set my own path.
I realized that I achieved a goal I set for my camper year. Not to be known as “Mini Sam”, but instead as Miles. We have similar interests, and my identity felt tied to my brother. Everywhere I went, he carved a path for me, and I reaped the benefits. He gave me leadership positions in clubs. Pushed me to run for positions he was confident I would win. Gave me his test to use as a study guide. Attending college without a path carved out challenged me. I did not have someone to hold my hand. I knew no one. No one dragged me to clubs or sports practices. I took the initiative. Slowly but surely, step by step, text by text, I found myself. I formed a friend group, found study groups, and joined clubs. I found a community. I didn’t feel like a shadow of my brother. It took me all those years later to realize what RYLA helped me achieve.
Now, in a moment of awkward silence, I reflect on how RYLA changed me. I still wear the same t-shirts, I still binge-watch Netflix series, and I still am a pessimist. For a while, I expected the worst, as when I did, I couldn’t be disappointed. I expected to never be as good as Sam, to never get into college, to be a failure. Yet every summer at RYLA, I have stepped into a new role with no expectations. I thrived; the experience became mine to curate, with nothing and no one to compare to. This mindset became something I need to translate into life, every moment I carve my own path. RYLA flipped my worldview, and now no comparison holds me down. Yet I do have one constant: every day, I sip from my RYLA water bottle. During orientation week in college, it gave me the motivation to eat lunch with new people every day; now in sophomore year, it reminds me of my journey.