Program Committee Meeting

12/28/11

In attendance: Jim Hoops, Kevin Farrell, June Boon, Dave Boon, Patricia Fiskes, Murph Widdowfield, Heather Amen, Doug Armbrust, and Junior Weed-Ziegler

Objectives of the program committee:

1) Identify the objectives of RYLA and Young RYLA.

2) Ensure the conference leadership understands the purpose of the conferences.

3) Provide institutional knowledge and a forum for discussion for program components.

4) Assist in the communication between RYLA and Young RYLA.

History:

In the 1990’s (Doug recalls this from his year, 1997) there was a program committee made up of interested SC’s, past SC’s, Chairman, past Chairman, etc. The committee would meet 5-6 times a year. Most Chairs served on the program committee prior to becoming Chair (they were also elected a year in advance to be able to shadow the current Chair). Some members of the program committee were there for 8-9 years, able to give opinions based on historical knowledge. Together, the group would arrange the program each year for RYLA.

Young RYLA began with the entire counselor team being part of the program committee. Whoever was interested was invited to participate in the creation of the program. It became difficult to involve everyone once Young RYLA expanded, and slowly Young RYLA has gone away from that process.

In 2006, for a variety of reasons, another program committee was put in place at RYLA, with the objective of assisting the Chair and Head JCs in putting together the program. There were 9 meetings deciding the objectives of RYLA and forming the program. The committee was able to see the minutes of those meetings.

Heather – the 2006 committee was great because we had a forum in which to discuss our desired changes, and we were challenged to make sure we were still accomplishing the objectives.

The Big Question:

What is the end result? What do we want them to learn?

Patricia – There are 92 different definitions of leadership. During her year as Chair of Young RYLA, there was a large focus on service leadership.

Murph – When RYLA started the objective was to change the attitude of a young leader. Adolescents are still living in a play world, and the objective of RYLA was to show them how to lead in the real world. For example, when groups of kids are together, usually 1-2 will emerge as the leaders. They will lead the group to either blow up mailboxes, or help their neighbors fix their mailboxes. To them it is the same, as they are still at play. RYLA gives real world context to show how leadership choices affect their world, and gives them examples of good leadership choices.

Doug – In the ABCs of Rotary, RYLA is listed as a conference of discussion and leadership training that enhances personal development, leadership skills, and good citizenship. One thing RYLA is lacking in now is citizenship. In the early days, RYLA would always bring in speakers on citizenship, and the conferees would feel very proud of their country.

Murph – They are missing a feeling of belonging to this nation.

Doug – Truth, justice, and the American way.

Murph – Freedom, citizenship, and free enterprise.

Patricia – These days the students are more focused on global citizenship, not necessarily a focus on citizenship of the US.

The agreed definition of citizenship is belonging, while a patriot is being proud of your country.

Heather – In 2006, the overarching themes of the conference were “personal, compassionate, and real-world leadership”. Every activity and speaker chosen that year accomplished at least one of those three objectives. I still believe they are great objectives for RYLA and Young RYLA. The focus can shift each year to maybe focus more on one than the other, but all three are always present.

Jim – I am very impressed with Stan, head JC for one of the Young RYLAs, in his update to the board he stressed the importance of the conferees knowing exactly why they do each activity at Young RYLA.

Doug – The Power of One was the original theme of Young RYLA, and we loved it! Big RYLA has a more global focus, “if it is to be, it is up to me”.

June – Reading through the applications for JCs from those who attended RYLA last year, they were asked “what is the purpose of RYLA” and very few answered “leadership”. Most answered “tolerance”, “acceptance”, etc.

Patricia – The consequence of applications coming in not knowing about leadership is that they have to be retrained to be JCs.

Kevin – Everyone should read Karen Loeb’s “Connecting the Dots” paper to help realize what we do at RYLA, and how to make sure that is accomplished well.

The Manual:

Murph – We used to put together a leadership notebook, full of inspirational stories and quotes to inspire the conferees after they left. The conferees would use it for years afterwards to help extend the RYLA experience. A lot of it was what there was not time for in their groups, but was still very useful information. At the beginning there were 40-50 little stories etc. The last time I saw a manual it was down to 4 or 5.

Kevin – The book was not handed out until the last day, which is why the program sheet was created. This recognized that the true value of RYLA was typically not realized for months, or even years after the conference. The focus was on foundational leadership, giving them the tools to become an effective leader.

Doug – A leader is one who compels others to action by the power of their own positive action.

Dave – There should be a process around the manual each year to make it more consistent. There may be a purpose for various components that is not understood by the current leadership and therefore will be left out.

Patricia – This brings up the point that it’s important to tell people why RYLA and Young RYLA do each thing.

The Role of the Program Committee:

Jim – Currently there is no accountability to the board. This is a vehicle to support and guide the Chairs and head JCs.

Doug – Overview of communication with the goal of continuity.

Dave – The committee could aid in setting timelines and deliverables for the Chair to help them stay on track.

Jim – Up to this point, Young RYLA has been very detailed about what has been going on and changing, RYLA does not do that well.

Murph – I do not believe that RYLA teaches quality leadership anymore, it needs to be updated.

Junior – We need a way to involve the SCs more in the formation of the conferences so they can learn and be invested. The program committee could be a great vehicle to do so.

What We Learned:

June – We learned we need to define leadership and put together the why.

Dave – We need structure for the Chair around deliverables and support them. There should be reasons for everything the conferees do at RYLA or Young RYLA. Someone should be the point person for everything.

Junior – There needs to be an examination of how to involve Rotarians more in the process of RYLA and Young RYLA, maybe through the program committee.

Patricia – Collaboration and communication.

Murph – There is open conversation, and I love the involvement.

Doug – There is a lack of communication up until now, we’re fixing that! What is the purpose of RYLA and Young RYLA?

Kevin – There is a consensus that RYLA needs to be redefined. Once that is done, let’s document the process and how to dots are connected. We need trainable leaders.

Patricia – The largest part of getting Rotarians involved is inviting them!

Kevin – Counselors used to be invited to the program committee and board meeting.

Jim – You can’t teach someone to be a great SC or JC in 2 days! In order to develop a program we need an evaluation process; what is the outcome and how do we measure it? The appropriate question isn’t “did you like the speaker” it’s “what did you learn from the speaker?”

Other Thoughts:

Murph – The JCs have taken on too much responsibility. The SCs have quite a bit of wisdom and should be more plugged into RYLA. The SCs need much better training to be able to accomplish this. The JCs are great leaders, but could still learn a lot from their SCs.

June – I believe that the maturity of the counselors is affecting the quality of RYLA. For Young RYLA the counselors are several years older and serve as great role models for the conferees. Older counselors could do better at RYLA as they have more experience and wisdom to impart. We can teach them to be good counselors, but we need older students.

Doug – I began bringing in the younger counselors (not in college) because we had trouble with college students committing. It worked great!

Next Meeting: will take place January 14^th directly after the board meeting

1) Objectives of RYLA and evaluation

2) Framework for the ideas of the Chair and Head JCs along with deliverable outcomes and job descriptions.

3) What is the role of the JC and SC?

4) Goal of including more people currently involved in RYLA.