General Questions
Are Rotarians children or relatives eligible to attend RYLA?
Yes!
Where should my club mail the Space Reservation form and payment?
Complete instructions, including the Treasurer’s address, is on the eZ Space Reservation Form.
What happens if my club pays for 4 students, but we can only find 3 students or one of our students does not register by the deadline? Can our club get a refund?
A student from the alternate pool will be invited to attend. Unfortunately, no refund will be issued. However, we hope that your club will be pleased to know that you made a difference in a young person’s life by sponsoring them to attend RYLA.
Why must Alternates go to the effort of completing Online Registration, even though they might not attend RYLA?
All Alternates must be correctly and fully registered, and their signed paperwork must be submitted to the Registrar by the deadline, just as if they were a selected Attendee. This ensures that their paperwork is all in place and we can slot students in at the last moment, or anytime that an opening becomes available.
How many Alternates may my club send?
You may send one Alternate for every student that you paid to sponsor, i.e. if you reserved and paid for four students, you may identify, name and register four Alternates.
How does an Alternate get placed?
If a student selected for RYLA is unable to attend, that student’s sponsoring Rotary club may send one of their designated Alternates in place of the original student.
If the sponsoring club cannot send an Alternate (either because the club did not designate any Alternates, or their designated Alternates are unable to attend the RYLA weekend), then the club should alert the District RYLA Chair. An Alternate will then be selected by means of a lottery among all Alternates submitted by all participating clubs in the district. The District RYLA Chair will notify the lottery-selected student’s sponsor club that their Alternate was selected to attend RYLA. The club should IMMEDIATELY notify their student about the opportunity, verify the student’s interest and availability to attend RYLA, and report back to the District RYLA Chair confirming the student’s participation.
Does the sponsor club of a lottery-selected Alternate have the right to promote a different Alternate of theirs, if the specific lottery-selected person cannot attend, or if they feel the lottery-selected one is not the best candidate?
No. If the specific lottery-selected Alternate is unable to attend, the District RYLA Chair will select another name from the lottery.
Who pays for a lottery-selected Alternate?
No further payment is needed for Alternates. A lottery-selected Alternate is simply filling a pre-paid slot that opened up because an originally-selected student could not attend RYLA.
Who is the official "Sponsor Club" of a lottery-selected Alternate?
A lottery-selected Alternate is considered to be “sponsored” by the club who originally submitted their name, even though their participation in RYLA may be paid for by a different club.
Why is the RYLA Conference being held before my school year ends?
The RYLA conference is always held on the last full weekend in June. Setting a standardized date allows the committee to adequately plan. Coordinating RYLA is a complex process that begins several years ahead of the actual event including the not-insignificant challenge of finding and securing an appropriate venue, producing training materials, and coordinating three days of meals and activities for 600 or more people (students, student leaders, facilitators and volunteers).
Usually, most schools are done at that point. However, there are some years when the last full weekend in June falls on a calendar date prior to a school’s summer recess.
What should my CLUB do if the “school-out date” for one or more of our selected students falls during or after RYLA? … And how will we know?
Students are required to specify the date their school gets out, when they register online. If there is a potential conflict, the Registrar will contact the student directly and/or the sponsoring club’s RYLA Chair.
The sponsoring club should contact the student immediately to discuss the matter, to make sure the student will be able to attend RYLA. Sometimes students don’t realize they MUST be present for the ALL assigned RYLA sessions, from Friday morning through Sunday afternoon. It’s always best to double-check a potential school-out-date conflict, even if the student has already said they will be able to attend RYLA.
What should A STUDENT do if their “school-out date” falls DURING or AFTER the RYLA Conference?
We suggest:
1) Ask your school/teachers if you can miss that day (with a note from a parent).
2) If you are scheduled for an exam, ask if you can take the exam in advance.
If the school is unable to accommodate these requests, the prospective student should contact the District 7910 RYLA Committee Chair to discuss other possible solutions.