What today's youth are really like beyond the hype.

In 410 BC, Socrates was famously quoted as describing the youth of his day as insolent upstarts who didn’t know their place and had little regard for tradition, manners or their elders. It seems that very little has changed! In our modern day, the media describe young people in words very similar to those of Socrates!

Generation Y (those born from the 1980s-late 1990s) have received a fair bit of criticism in recent years in the popular media. But how much this has been fair? Are young people as different and ‘bad’ as the newspapers would have us believe? Having spent much of the last 7 years researching and working with over 80,000 young people around the world, I believe that much of what we have been told about today’s youth is inaccurate and sensationalist.

I would argue that there are 7 very common myths about Gen Y which need to be dispelled:

Myth # 1: They are self-centered

Although Gen Y may be the most cool-obsessed and brand conscious generation the world has ever seen, it may surprise you that this group are not as self-centered and shallow as it would appear. On the contrary, Gen Ys a remarkably strong sense of civic duty and community mindedness. Indicative of this positive trend are figures released in 2006 which showed that 81% of young people aged 13-25 volunteered in the previous 12 months and 69% considered a company’s social and environmental commitment when deciding where to shop. For Gen Y it has become cool to care!

Link to full article by Michael McQueen.

 The 7 Biggest Myths About Generation Y 2011-08-24 10:15:18 365.01 Kb

Each year, the District Executive Team makes awards to clubs within the district in a number of categories.  These have changed slightly over the years - but are mainly designed to recognise excellence or innovation to forward the objectives of Rotary across the Beds, Herts and Bucks area -- or beyond!

You will find here a list of the past winners of awards - in some instances together with some information on what the awards recognised.  This page will grow as each year goes on, and backwards into history as we unearth old records...

Planning to go Down Under for Rugby World Cup 2011? 

MESSAGE FROM DG HOWARD TONG D9940 – NEW ZEALAND

Greetings from New Zealand. 

The Rotary Clubs of New Zealand are inviting Rotarians from your District to take advantage of home hosting during this event. They can provide accommodation during the event for travelling Rotarians or Rotarian couples for NZ$150 per night, and the proceeds will go to the “End Polio Now” campaign for The Rotary Foundation.

Thursday 1st July  was a wonderful night. It was warm and dry but most of all it was the night of our induction dinner in Luton. Sandy Aked-Walker ended her year making a speech in which she talked about the wonderful time she and David had meeting all the members in their clubs and attending some terrific events.

After presiding over the district awards (details below) Sandy handed over to Amanda Watkin and immediately the very well represented Hitchin Tilehouse club stood with a lovely home made welcome message for Amanda.