Youth Programs

LINK CREW PROGRAM (Ygnacio Valley High)

Activity:  July 2019 through October 2019

    • Link Crew is a year-long orientation and transition-to-high school program that guides freshmen toward both academic and social success.  With Link Crew, students help students succeed by using members of junior and senior classes as Link Crew leaders, who have been extensively trained to be positive role models, motivators and teachers who guide freshmen to discover what it takes to be successful in high school.
    • Objective:  Provide funding for Link Crew leader t-shirts (imprinted with Rotary Club of Concord logo), snacks for leader training and orientation, supplies for freshmen “Trunk and Treat” program, registration and transportation for Link Crew Leader Training Conference.
    • Rotarian Involvement:  Come and observe Link Crew trainings on campus that take place in early August, as well as any events on campus conducted by Link Crew members with freshmen.  Provide transportation to Rotary club meeting and return to school of visiting Link Crew leader students.

INTERACT CLUB (Ygnacio Valley High Interact)

Activity:  Monthly from July through June

    • Interact is a Rotary-sponsored service club program for students ages 14-18.  Our Rotary club, which provides guidance, mentorship and funding, has sponsored Ygnacio Valley High Interact since it was first instituted in 2001 by fellow club member Dr. Richard Kops.  Memory Woodard became the Rotary Club Adviser that same year.
    • Objective:  Like Rotary, have fun through fellowship, community service and leadership development.
    • Rotary Involvement:  Be an Interact club meeting presenter, volunteer with Interactors on major community service projects at school, i.e., campus bench painting project and serve as drivers for planned outings and other activities that require drivers—include Interactors in Rotary activities.

SERVICE SCHOLARSHIP

Activity:  February through July

    • Two $8,000 Service Scholarships will be provided to qualified high school seniors.  The selected recipients will be awarded a $2,000-a-year scholarship, renewable each year for four years or until completion of a terminal degree, whichever comes first (for a total of $8,000).
    • Objective:  Provide students monetary means to offset costs associated with attending college or university.  In addition, the Concord Rotary’s purpose to pay out in four installments allows the club to follow the educational path of the scholarship recipients to the pay-out conclusion.
    • Rotarian Involvement:  A minimum of 2-3 Rotarians is needed to review submitted applications and interview the prospective recipients.
    • The two Service Scholarship recipients will each be presented a Certificate of Award at the school’s Senior Awards Night program held in May.  The two recipients will be invited to attend a Rotary meeting later in May to be introduced to the club, make presentations based on their Service Scholarship essays and receive the first of four $2,000 annual installments.

ROTARY CLUB ATTENDANCE OF YOUTH AND ADULTS

Activity:  July 2019 through June 2020

    • Attendance at Rotary Club meetings by students, guests and adults from club-sponsored youth programs will be promoted as appropriate to the occasion, i.e., Camp Royal and Camp Venture campers, Interact members, Youth Exchange student, host family members, ‘Link Crewers’ and Link Crew Advisors and Scholarship recipients.
    • Objective:  For students and adults to make the connection between programs in which they are associated with Concord Rotarians who make the programs possible.<l/i>
    • Rotarian involvement:  Provide transportation when needed to pick up visiting students from school and transport them to the Rotary Club meeting and return same back to school at meeting’s conclusion.

SERVICE SCHOLARSHIP

Activity:  February through July

    • Two $8,000 Service Scholarships will be provided to qualified high school seniors.  The selected recipients will be awarded a $2,000-a-year scholarship, renewable each year for four years or until completion of a terminal degree, whichever comes first (for a total of $8,000).
    • Objective:  Provide students monetary means to offset costs associated with attending college or university.  In addition, the Concord Rotary’s purpose to pay out in four installments allows the club to follow the educational path of the scholarship recipients to the pay-out conclusion.
    • Rotarian Involvement:  A minimum of 2-3 Rotarians is needed to review submitted applications and interview the prospective recipients.
    • The two Service Scholarship recipients will each be presented a Certificate of Award at the school’s Senior Awards Night program held in May.  The two recipients will be invited to attend a Rotary meeting later in May to be introduced to the club, make presentations based on their Service Scholarship essays and receive the first of four $2,000 annual installments.

INTERACT CLUB (Ygnacio Valley High Interact)

Activity:  Monthly from July through June

    • Interact is a Rotary-sponsored service club program for students ages 14-18.  Our Rotary club, which provides guidance, mentorship and funding, has sponsored Ygnacio Valley High Interact since it was first instituted in 2001 by fellow club member Dr. Richard Kops.  Memory Woodard became the Rotary Club Adviser that same year.
    • Objective:  Like Rotary, have fun through fellowship, community service and leadership development.
    • Rotary Involvement:  Be an Interact club meeting presenter, volunteer with Interactors on major community service projects at school, i.e., campus bench painting project and serve as drivers for planned outings and other activities that require drivers—include Interactors in Rotary activities.

YOUTH EXCHANGE

Activity:  Monthly from August to mid June following year

    • Sponsor-Host Inbound Youth Exchange student from August to mid June the following year.   Historically the Exchange Student has attended Ygnacio Valley High as a senior.  A minimum of two host families is required for the school year.  Host family members are vetted well in advance of the student’s arrival here.  If at least the first host family has not been identified within six weeks prior to the student’s scheduled arrival, the student’s exchange would need to be cancelled.  Host families can be Rotarians or non-Rotarians.
    • Outbound Youth Exchange:  Our club is required to sponsor an Outbound Youth Exchange student for the same period, whether we identify the Outbound or it has been done through the District Youth Exchange Program.
    • Objective:  “Promote World Peace, one student at a time”
    • Rotarian Involvement:  “It takes a village.”  In addition to the student’s host family, other Rotarians can share themselves and their families with the student.  The student is here to get to know our culture(s).  Individuals and families are each a different culture.  Invite the YEX student to do something—for a morning, afternoon, evening or all day.  Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner.  Show the YEX student sights in the Bay Area and beyond in Northern California.

CAMP ROYAL

Activity:  November through June

    • Camp Royal is District 5160’s vehicle for RI’s Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) Conference and has been held each June in the remote mountains in northern California since 1979.  Up to 135 juniors can attend.
    • Objective:  Sponsor four high school juniors to attend (Interact Club members given preference at Ygnacio Valley High; Mt. Diablo High to establish its own criteria for preference).  The November through June timeframe shown above considers that the District requires early commitments from Rotary clubs for the 135 camper slots.  In most instances our club may not have identified the students by name who might attend.  Historically our club has sought to reserve four camper slots.  Nine times out of ten we have been able to send four campers.
    • Rotarian Involvement:  Serve on a 3-4 member Rotarian Interview and Judging Panel to identify and select the students to attend Camp Royal.

CAMP VENTURE

Activity:  December to July

    • Camp Venture is a five-day intensive training and motivational summer camp for qualified juniors or highly-motivated sophomores or seniors, where it has either been held on the campus of St. Mary’s College in Moraga or the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo.  Up to 40 campers can attend Camp Venture.
    • Objective:  Sponsor four high school students to attend—two from Ygnacio Valley High and two from Mt. Diablo High (Interact Club members given preference at Ygnacio Valley High.  Mt. Diablo High to establish its own criteria for selection).
    • Rotarian Involvement:  Serve as a member of a 3-4 Rotarian Member Interview and Judging panel to identify the four high school students to attend Camp Venture.