Welcome to Iowa RYLA for students who reside outside of Iowa or Rotary districts 5970 and 6000.  We are excited that you are helping us grow Rotary's future leaders and our desire to "build better friendships" through our 25-year-long RYLA program. We are extending a limited number of invitations to both our domestic and international Rotary partners, and we are happy you or your student is interested in attending our weeklong Iowa RYLA conference.  I have personally worked met many of our RYE partners for over 10 years and am excited to explore and evolve these important programs.  Thank you for your support and interest in our week-long RYLA service leadership conference.  If at any concerns or questions, you can contact me anytime on email at greg@iowaryla.org, greg@rye6000.org or via WhatsApp.

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Please read through these important aspects of attending the Iowa RYLA conference:

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1) All students are required to contact their local sponsoring Rotary club.  Your sponsoring Rotary club must provide our Iowa RYLA team with a letter of recommendation that can be sent to greg.probst@iowaryla.org prior to completing the required applications and steps below.

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2) The sponsoring Rotary club must provide via our HEF page a sponsoring scholarship the RYLA fee for the student they are sponsoring to our Iowa RYLA conference.  The fee for attending the 2026 Iowa RYLA conference is $600 USD.  This fee covers the conference fees, lodging and meals during the conference and all associated Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) and RYLA administrative costs only.  The fee does not cover the cost of transportation, temporary lodging before and after RYLA, required CISI/Bolduc Plan D health insurance (40 day option) or USA Travel Visa or other required travel documents depending on the student's sponsoring country.  More information will be provided later on these additional costs and required information.  All costs are subject to change:

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RYLA Conference Fees (Paid for by Sponsoring Club via HEF): $600 USD

USA Travel Visa: $185

Short Term Medial Insurance (CISI Bolduc) Plan D: $134

Bed Linens and Towels for Visiting Students: $40 *

Additional Lodging Fees pre and post RYLA: $100-$200 *

Airfare: TBD and determined 

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* In some cases, these additional costs may be removed or substantially reduced depending on host family availability.

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3) Please use a Rotary Youth Exchange experienced travel agent for purchasing airfare.  If you do not have one, we recommend, but do not require, using USA-based It's Your World Travel (IYWT) for flight arrangements to and from Iowa.  The IYWT travel agency understands Rotary Youth Exchange flights, the type of tickets required that are changeable and they are equipped to help resolve any issues that might arise for travel to and from Iowa.  We do not recommend any connections through New York City.  The largest airline hubs closest to Iowa are O'Hare International (ORD) in Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul located in Minnesota (MSP).  Please be aware, should the student need to return home earlier than expected or we have an unexpected or unplanned issue arise, the student and sponsoring club will be responsible for change fees or new tickets if required.  So, please ensure the student is purchasing a changeable ticket and one oriented for Rotary Youth Exchange.  The link for IYWT can be found here: https://www.iywt.com/

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4) If a students is attending from outside the USA via one of our Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) partners, they must complete a RYE Short Term (STEP) application.  This includes all required health information.

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5) Depending on the number of accepted students and availability of host families, students may stay before and after RYLA with host families or at a hotel with Rotary oversight. The tentative schedule is to arrive in Iowa at an airport on a specific on a specific date shortly before (approximately 1-2 days before) RYLA and to return home on a specific date shortly after RYLA (approximately 1-2 days after).  For logistics reasons, the dates of arrival and return along with the airport designation are non-negotiable.  Dates and airport has yet to be determined.  If a student is able to stay with a host family, then the additional lodging fees are substantially reduced or removed.  Also, a host family may be able to provide the linens and towels required for RYLA and those costs may be removed too.

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6) All students are responsible for acquiring a USA Travel Visa.  Please contact your local Rotary Youth Exchange team for more information on obtaining the necessary travel documentation for attending Iowa RYLA.

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7) All international students must be very proficient in English.  This is unlike a typical RYE exchange where students have the opportunity to improve their English over the course of the academic year.  Students will be engaged with their peers during the entire week and they must be able to be fluent enough to participate and engage with others.

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8) All international students will be expected to participate in several Zoom sessions with team leads and other conference leaders as part of the application process.  This is to help understand an applicant's goals, service leadership experience and fluency in English.​​

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If our Rotarian partners have any questions, concerns or need additional information, please contact Greg Probst - greg.probst@iowaryla.org or via WhatsApp.

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Please ensure country contacts, parents and students use a personal e-mail address. 

Sometimes, e-mail is accidentally filtered or blocked by school and corporate e-mail protections.  You will receive a great deal of important communication via e-mail, and we do not want you to miss out on those messages and deadlines.  Please ensure your spam filtering is configured to receive email from our iowaryla.org domain or rye6000.org domains.

 

STUDENT APPLICATION

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All students will be required to complete the Iowa RYLA Application form for students.  This Google form application can be found on our application page: https://www.iowaryla.org/apply

The students will need to select "Iowa City AM Rotary" for the club.  Also, in the application please indicate the specifics on the student's home city, state and country, sponsoring Rotary club name and number, sponsoring Rotary district number.

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HELPFUL HINT: As you progress through your application Google form, please consider saving some of your longer answers in a separate document, such as a word processor or notes doc, in case you encounter a problem and need to start the form again.​