A little rain and cold Oct. 1-3 didn’t keep Union High School juniors Emily Smith and Lauren Krueger from reaping life-changing benefits of youth leadership camp.

They are, after all, outgoing sporty coupes.

A personality analysis which categorizes traits in terms of vehicle styles is but one component of the weekend of team-building trust with strangers, motivating others and problem-solving skills that provide lifelong benefit.

Emily wants to be a nurse.

Lauren is interested in civil engineering.

They were inducted together Oct. 17 into the DUHS National Honor Society.

Since 1989, when it started supporting RYLA, which stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Award, Dowagiac Rotary Club sent 42 students to leadership camp at a cost of $8,400, according to Rotarian Doug Stickney.

“They’re going to be leaders and talk with other students and the community. They’re going to interact with their churches and other organizations. They’re going to have an impact. They’re the leaders of tomorrow,” Stickney said Thursday noon at Elks Lodge 889.

“They were exceptional before they went. Now they’re even more exceptional,” which will only help the sporty coupes “when they have to deal with minivans like me. Eventually you have to communicate with people who aren’t the same as you and you have to know how to do that,” Stickney said.

“Thank you for sponsoring me for this camp,” Emily said. “It was a really great experience, I had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people.”

Car styles come out in a presentation by a past district governor.

“I’d never done a personality test or anything like that,” Emily said. “It was scary how real it was to who you really are. Sporty coupes always want to be the center of attention and always want to be in charge — my way or the highway.”

The 48 campers divide into four groups with a dozen each of all personality types, including minivans and sedans.

“My group couldn’t solve it because we thought every one of us was right,” Emily said. “We realized you need every personality trait to figure something out and work out problems. I learned a lot about myself. You have to let others take charge sometimes.”

Second, Emily’s group tackled a low-ropes course outdoors.

“We had to get over a 10-foot wall just using each other. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, how am I going to do this?’ ”

Emily is afraid of heights.

“Even though it was 10 feet, it was really scary,” she said. “We let the brave people help us over. We got really close as a group.”

Campers heard about Rotary’s effort to send filters to other countries such as Haiti so they can enjoy clean water.

“It’s amazing,” Emily said, “because it’s so simple, yet it changes the whole country. Wow! It’s so cool it inspires me to want to do something like that and get involved with something. In the future, I want to be a nurse and go to Africa.

“We did the rock wall, but it was cold and rainy. Our group had some foreign exchange students and they could climb walls like monkeys. We encouraged each other to stay focus so everyone could get through it. I would love to do a foreign exchange program. One of the girls in my group from America went to Thailand. She said it changed her life.”

Conflict management is another lesson  taken away from RYLA camp.

“I learned how to take control of something without being bossy,” Emily said, “We had a (interfaith) church service, which I liked because I go to church. He made it good for people if they didn’t believe.”

Lauren said, “It was such a wonderful experience it was overwhelming. It has changed my life. A really big part of the camp is friendships. I met people from around the area and will probably be friends for a while. We’re on Facebook and we talk. I actually have plans to meet up with a couple of kids next weekend to just hang out. I know a lot of people from my school, but now I’m finally getting to know people from other towns, which is really cool.”

Lauren said her group’s counselor “got super sick” and had to go home.

“We kind of got a replacement counselor,” Lauren said, “but she wasn’t with us all the time because she was there for something else, so our group bonded so closely.”

She became such fast friends with one of the girls that the other campers thought they knew each other from home.

“The friendship-building was a wonderful thing,” Lauren said. “We did learn about leadership. Car styles reveal how people think. Some focus on data and the details. Like Emily, I’m a sporty coupe, so I’m more outgoing. It was weird to understand that all people don’t think like I do. They don’t do the same things I do, or they don’t do it the same way I do because that’s not how they think. It was the first time I ever thought about that.

“It made it easier for me to learn how to deal with people in everyday life, from school projects to my career. I’m going to have to be working with people, side by side all the time, so I think I really will use the car styles for now and forever. They made me understand how I tend to relate to people, how I can get along with them and how I can get things accomplished.”

Car clashes drove home to Lauren the importance of flexibility.

“Flexibility is key when working with people,” she said. “If you’re going to be butting heads the whole time, you’re not going to get much accomplished. Now I meet people and think, ‘Hmm, what are they?’ It’s definitely changed how I view people. One of the biggest things of conflict management is communication. If there is a conflict, the only way you’re going to get over it is communication. Only 7 percent of communication is words. Everything else is body language, tone and attitude.”

Like Emily, water filters struck Lauren as “remarkable.”

“I wish I could think of something so small that would achieve so much,” she said. “I don’t know what I can do to help big groups of people and make the world a better place. I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s in the back of my mind.”

Lauren said of the rock wall, “It was very hard because you just met these people and you have to trust them. If the people controlling the ropes don’t do their job, you fall to the ground. If you get stuck, they’ll encourage you. Just a little bit of encouragement to anyone can help them along their way and make their day.”

One exercise stretches ropes between two trees to resemble a spider web, then campers must pick their way through without touching the strands.

“We had three big guys,” she said. “It was so cool because we ended up having to lift up one of the bigger guys” and squeeze him through the opening to others who caught him.

“We can do this!” Lauren recalled. “We were so excited. We didn’t think we could do this and now we know we can. Our days went from 7 to 12 with guest speakers and activities.”

When it came time to leave for home, Lauren said, they formed a circle and grasped a rope, which no one wanted to release when the last adult leader spoke.

“We all stood there because we knew once we let go of that rope, the bond would be broken,” Lauren said.

So how did they resolve that problem?

“We counted to three and let go all together.

“We became so close in three days. It’s a great experience I recommend to anyone wondering if they should go. It’s a wonderful life-changing experience. It was an eye-opener that definitely changed how I see things, so thanks again.”

Visiting from Arizona was former Dowagiac dentist Dr. George Schuster.