Four Columbia Falls students were recognized last week by the Columbia Falls Rotary Club for completing the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy.

The Academy is a week-long camp held in Luccock Park Camp near Livingston.

Eleanor Smiley and Kira Shanks of the Class of 2026 went through the summer program a couple of years ago. They’ll receive $500 scholarships after their first semester as they head to college this years.

Torin Moran, a sophomore and Chloe Kinsella, a junior, went through the leadership academy this summer and will receive their scholarships when they attend college in a few years.

Smiley noted the leadership training was a lot of fun and rewarding to work with youths in a like-minded environment on leadership skills. Everyone was welcoming and accepting of different ideas at the event, they agreed.

“Everyone was kind,” Kinsella said. “Just because they wanted to be.”

Moran and Kinsella are working on forming a Rotary Club called Interact at the high school level. The idea is to form a leadership club that is inclusive of students who might not make National Honor Society or student council. 

The group would also do community service projects and would be supported by the local Rotary club, which has about 15 members currently.

Rotarian Mick Holm interviewed and selected the four for the leadership training.

“They’re good people. They represent the community, school and themselves well,” he noted.