El Dorado Youth and Government Delegation Bulletin #12

“ 

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

 

-President Barrack Obama

 

Mandatory Pre-Conference Meeting This Week (11/08)! T&E 1 Conference Starts Nov 9th!

1.) Mandatory Pre-Conference Meeting November 8! All delegates are required to attend this week's meeting. Failure to do so may jeopardize your ability to attend the conference.

New Delegate Families: one member of your family must attend the meeting with your delegate. If no one is available to attend, a family member must contact me ASAP.

Returning Delegate Families: a family member is strongly encouraged to attend but not required. 

2.) Training & Elections Conference I Nov 9-11:  I really hope you've had these dates in your calendar for a good long while, but our first conference is next week! 

• Departure: 6:00pm, Friday, November 9, from the Oak Ridge High School Lower Parking Lot (next to the tennis courts)
  • There will be NO meal stop on the way down and NO food available when we arrive. Eat dinner prior to coming to the Y or bring a sack dinner with you for the bus.
  • We depart at 6:00pm. That means you need to be there by 5:30pm.
  • Delegates are seated on the bus in the order they line up. No saving spots for other delegates, it makes the process of counting everyone too complicated. If you want to guarantee you sit with someone, arrive early and together.
• Return: (estimated) 5:30-6:30pm, Sunday, November 11 to Oak Ridge
  • There will be NO meal stop on the way back. We will eat lunch at the conference in Fresno and you will be back by dinner time. 
  • We will send a Remind text to the parent group when we depart from Fresno and when we hit Stockton with our ETA.
  • PARENTS/FAMILY MUST ARRIVE ON TIME TO PICK UP THEIR DELEGATES.
• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on Saturday, and Breakfast and Lunch on Sunday will be provided. 
• Spending Money? Not required however many delegations (including ours) sell souvenirs or snacks that you have the option of buying if you wish to bring some pocket money with you. 
• Other details? Provided at this week's meeting! 

3.) Review the Code of Conduct: Please review the Code of Conduct (en español) which all delegates and parents signed as a part of the registration process. We will review this during the meeting along with our delegation rules and expectations.  

4.) Hotel Housing Note: At our Fresno conference, we'll be staying at the Comfort Suites hotel in the River Park area of Fresno. We will be taking a shuttle bus from the hotel to the conference in the morning and back again in the evening. There are a few important things to note about hotel life:

• Delegates will be housed 4-to-a-room. Hotel rooms generally have 1 King Bed or 2 Queen Beds. Some of the rooms at our hotel will also have a pull out couch. We have no control over whether the room block we are given has rooms with one bed or two beds or pull out couches. No hotel room is going to have 4 separate beds, however. Roommates should discuss with each other potential sleeping arrangements and prepare to bring sleeping bags if necessary.
  • Fresno does not have the hotel capacity, nor could we absorb the expense if it did, to house delegates two to a room. This will be the same for our second conference in Fresno and the final conference in Sacramento. 
• We will be spending very, very little time at the hotel. Once we leave in the morning (probably around 7am), no one will be able to return to the hotel until the conclusion of the conference day (around 10:30pm). You must take whatever you need with you in the morning. A backpack (allowed again at the convention center, hooray!) or tote bag is highly recommended. 
• During both Training & Elections Conferences (the Fresno Conferences), delegates are only allowed in rooms belonging to the same gender. Boys can visit other boy rooms and girls can visit other girl rooms prior to curfew. This is a privilege that can be lost, however.
• This year, new rules from YMCA of the USA have restricted roommate groupings to being within a grade of each other. Accordingly, there wasn't much choice in rooming. Rooms have been assigned. Click here to see roommate groupings. Use this opportunity to make new friends. As mentioned, you'll be spending very little time in your rooms and you'll be sleeping while in them for the most part. 

5.) Political Parties: All delegates should have received an email from CalYMCA staff indicating which political party they are in. If you have not received an email from them (check your spam folder) or click this link.

6.) Bills Advancing to Conference - Amendments: If you are in one of the five families (listed below) whose bills passed Bill Hearing Night and are advancing to conference, please make amendments/edits in your google doc bill template, listed below. All amendments will need to be made by 5pm on Tuesday, Nov 6th. After Tuesday, all bills will be considered final. If you need help, or have questions, please don't hesitate to email me.

• Adams Family: Bill Language Template 
• Arico Family: Bill Language Template
• Borg Family: Bill Language Template
• Causley Family: Bill Language Template
• Durham Family: Bill Language Template

REMINDERS:

Check the website first! In addition to our bulletin, a lot of valuable information can be found at our website. Here, you'll find all past bulletins, delegation information, a program calendar, and a link to our forms and downloads folder. Remember to check the site first - chances are you'll find answers to most of your questions!

As always, thank you for reading and I will see you on Thursday!

Derek Dolfie

Lead Advisor/Delegation Dad

El Dorado Delegation

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Mark your calendars for these key events!

November 8, 2018: Mandatory Pre-Conference Meeting

November 9-11, 2018: Training & Elections Conference I, Fresno

December 2: California International Marathon Volunteer Event

January 19-21, 2019: Training & Elections Conference II, Fresno

February 14-18, 2019: 71st Model Legislature & Court, Sacramento