By Junior – Young RYLA Chair
What a wonderful week!
Registration: I was told that the nurse needed to be
located near an electrical outlet because she would be using the computer to
impute the Medical information for our Conferees. So we tried to accommodate that request by
rearranging our registration tables, etc.
As it turned out, she did not use the electricity at all. The medical line was very slow and not very
private for parents and the nurse to communicate with one another. That needs to be changed. Name tags and binders were slow as well. I appreciate the needed communication those
manning that table were giving to the parents, but it needed to move along more
quickly. Because of both of these
concerns, we were utilizing only a fraction of the space in Allison and that
was not good. The previous years it went
much better. I greatly appreciated all
of the JC’s and SC’s and the incredible work they did in getting the
registration done and done well. Though it is open to improvement. From what I observed, the ice breakers and
welcoming events for the Conferees went smoothly and everyone seemed to be
having fun.
Circle of Support:
Once again, I find it such a grand first event….I know that Conferees don’t
think it will be successful and when it is (even though it takes usually 3
tries…again this year) it amazes them.
It is also valuable because it breaks down walls of inhibition and
insecurity. Touching begins early and to
find out that is “ok” is good. Jim
always does an incredibly good job with it and in relating it back to their
lives at home.
BrainWise:
I think it was the best we have ever done. I think it was carried throughout the week in
many dialogues. I believe that the binders should
have had a sheet for the Conferees to write on to keep the
I have heard that Reflection
Time went very well and is valued. I
think it is a good transition between what we have done all day and then
exploring it in discussion at Twilight Time.
Those 15 minutes must be honored.
We were scheduled to
have one Twilight Time right after dinner. That was to be Thursday before the
dance. A second one became necessary
because Corey could not change his schedule at DU and speak to us as scheduled
at
Morning Activities: They seemed to be run extremely well.
Word of Focus: This year I thought they were the BEST. The words seemed to almost fit the day or the
activities that followed. The JC’s did a
magnificent job. I do regret not having
video taped them…..they would be an excellent teaching tool for up coming 1st
year JC’s….at both RYLAs. And to show others just what Word of Focus is
and how poignant it can be to our program.
Monday Matrix: Dave Boon, in all of his enthusiasm, once
again hit a home run with My Life List.
Perhaps a few more s/heros who are not super
successful athletes would be good to add to his many successful people. But it was well received. Jim Hoops did a superb job at Towers and
Newspaper Shelters. I liked his
altering the teams for Towers by breaking them in half….…much better
participation and involvement on everyone’s part because of it. There seemed to be some serious competition
happening in the gym this year. Swept
Away is such an important tool to give these Conferees. The JC’s did a wonderful job…..even those who
had not had My Life List first….thanks 2nd year JC’s. I was not pleased with the fact that in that
station, some did not have tape and attempted to put the sticky notes on a
sheet of paper that was on the floor.
The sheets should have been taped up and have extra wall space to spread
out. One group very effectively used the
windows and that provided great space.
Corey Ciocchetti: Once
again, very effective and good. This
year, I was taking notes and he seemed somewhat scattered. “There are 3 things you should write down”….
He then gave one and never returned to that topic. He is entertaining and easy to listen to but
this year some of his talk was lost I think.
Maybe it was because he had to dismiss his college class early and drive
so late down to Ponderosa. He has asked
that we schedule him again early so he can arrange his schedule. (Though I scheduled him in
October of 2010 so he had plenty of time to fix his schedule. He is a very busy man….in great demand.)
Tuesday/Wednesday
Matrix: Wow, it is fun and active
for everyone. Peter’s Finding
Your Voice was magnificent. I see it
as such a wonderful addition to YRYLA…especially for those who are not very
“athletic” and who thrive on some academia, the expression of writing. He really does an incredible job in getting
Conferees to express themselves. The All
Aboard, Maui/Kauai station seemed well received. The young women from Cherry Creek HS were
creative and I observed good debriefs. I
am very sorry the Trust Fall was not preceeded
by “Wind in the Willows” to help build confidence and trust with the team. Though I think it is extremely important to
do ….. most were very successful. The Trust Walk was handled well by
Alex and Emily. I definitely wish that
when we were doing it as a large group on Saturday at Ponderosa, we would have
been more blatant and thorough on how important SAFETY is!!!! There was some carelessness there. I also wonder about some lack of good
judgment. Tighten this UP for sure!!!! I
do not think that 2 groups should have been in the same location to do the Service
Project. And both groups should have
adequate supplies. For the most part, I
think all groups enjoyed the new game of RYLA Ball. Lots of creativity went into the new “rules”. I was not satisfied with the debriefing that
I have been told about by some Ponderosa staff at the Challenge Course. A group mentioned some negative communication
about them failing to succeed. Impeccable
words are so important. Choices
and Core Values were well done.
Once again, Ebola, is such an effective
Global Stations: This was a new addition for us and it went
over very well. It was done well by the
JC’s. But it should not be done in
Allison as a total group. It was hot and
much too loud and difficult to hear.
Minor tweaking of it next year should make it better. Conferees seemed to enjoy the games from
other countries as well.
Hike: This year we did not have Wally talk to us
before departing about safety and even proper way to hike. My fault….though I was at the nurse with two conferees
or I might have asked him on the spot to do it.
In the past it has made a big difference in safety and well being of all
Conferees. I think everyone has a
responsibility to monitor safety and ask Conferees to watch what they are doing
and to stay within certain boundaries.
Lloyd certainly did do this. We
were somewhat lax up there. This needs
tightening up!
Take a Look Around: The very best. Michelle and Jessica handled this
superbly! Their mannerism and lack of
emotion I think set a very good example of what we expected. It was a good experience for Conferees. The music following it was also
terrific. We must learn the titles of
the 3 songs we used afterwards. It was
uplifting. I liked the dance break and
energy raising that occurred afterwards, before Twilight Time.
Wally’s Youth for
Biodiversity went very well. He does
emulate having passion to action in everything he does. It seemed a little too long on all of his
mentors (except his last 2!) It helped
us transition Call to Action with being passionate about what you are doing. Call
to Action was much improved this year. The suggested steps for taking ACTION when you return to your
school, community, etc. were excellent and a good tool for them to use. Some minor tweaking will need to make it even
better.
For the most part, I
felt that Thursday was too passive and that all of the activities, except Goofy
Olympics, were too much sitting and almost too academic. I wonder if some of it couldn’t be on Monday
or Wednesday afternoon. Worth a good
look I think.
I liked the team
photos as part of Goofy Olympics. I
liked the amount of G.O. that we did and using 10 minutes per station of it.
Dance: The music was excellent. The kids seemed to really enjoy it this
year. More total participation on
everyone’s part. I think we danced more
this year all week and had more and successful energy raising
than in the past. It was terrific this
year. Because we did more of it all
week, it allowed Conferees to do it at the dance as well. JC’s were terrific up on stage!
I thought the closing
day, Friday was good. I am very much in favor
of having team time on that morning! It
was just too short and once again the supplies to each team were not
ready. Bummer. River Crossing certainly was a success and it
was nice not to be competing with wind and rain as in the past. Circle of Friends, some said was too short,
and that we need to go longer than 4 people in rotation. I wish there would be something for the
parents who come so early to do ….. that caused us
some stress. But we did finish the
program right on time at
One of the biggest
problems we encountered this year was not being on top of the inventory. I think I lacked having a BIG PICTURE of just
how large this problem can be. We needed
to provide writing instruments for every Conferee….therefore “a lot of Pens”
isn’t enough…..we needed 150 minimum!
And etc. Part of the problem was
that half of our inventory did not arrive at Camp until Sunday morning…..it
But I loved the year
of planning with the very BEST Head JC’s.
They worked endlessly, cooperatively and successfully. I’ve never experienced such good
communication and energy. I chose them
Junior