The Power of Saying 'Yes': Our Journey with Rota NEXTGEN

When the Membership Development Avenue directors first approached us to chair a project, neither of us was ready to say yes.

We were both are first-year students who had just completed our very first semester. Shervin's immediate response was polite but firm "no." Pavan was caught on the fence, thinking, "I can do this, but I don't have any experience." Both of us had doubts. Could we really lead a project? Did we have enough experience? Are we ready?

But as we would learn, our project was built entirely around breaking those exact myths.

Rota NEXTGEN is a leadership and recruitment initiative organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa to encourage members of the newest intake to take their first steps towards leadership within the club. The core message was simple: you don't need prior experience or an extroverted personality to lead; you just need a willingness to learn and contribute.

Realizing this, we eventually pushed our hesitations and accepted the role, stepping into the Co-Chairperson positions together as batchmates.

Building the Campaign

Our primary goal was to run a seven-week recruitment campaign to identify and onboard passionate students as Project Co-Chairpersons for the 2026/27 Rotaract year. We quickly learned that managing a campaign of this scale requires coordination. To get started, we formed dedicated Design and Editorial committees to bring our vision to life.

Working alongside with talented committee members, we designed a structured social media strategy. We created a weekly flyer series aimed at addressing common objections that prospective applicants had, such as a lack of experience, time constraints, introversion, or simply being a first-year student.

Through a series of engaging promotional flyers, the campaign highlighted the experiences and skills that can be gained through leading Rotaract projects. One of our favorite parts of this initiative was our "Lessons Beyond Leadership" series, where we shared insights and their testimonials served as the perfect social proof, reinforcing that anyone from any quotes from former Co-chairs who had once been in the same uncertain shoes we were in. background could succeed in a leadership role.

The Results

Initially, we set our target at 80 applications and quietly hoped to reach 100. The response we received blew us away. By the end of our campaign, we had successfully generated more than 150 completed applications from students across all target faculties, exceeding what we had aimed for. It was a proof that the message had landed, that students were ready to say yes, even if they didn't feel entirely ready.

What We Learned

This project taught us far more than we expected. We learned how to coordinate a creative team, communicate a vision, and how to manage responsibilities. We also picked up new skills in flyer designing and caption writing along the way. And together, we learned that you don't have to feel entirely ready to start.

Ultimately, Rota NEXTGEN aims to inspire the next generation of Rotaract leaders by showing that leadership is not something to wait for, but an opportunity that can be embraced from the very beginning of one's journey.

Looking back, we are incredibly glad that we changed our initial hesitation to a "yes." It proved to us in firsthand that sometimes, all it takes is saying yes and discovering what you're capable of.