11/11/08

 The first planning meeting for Convo 2010 was held November 11, 2008 at St. Stanislaus Cathedral in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Everyone met for lunch at noon and the meeting began shortly after with a prayer by Father Mludzik, Central Diocesan Youth Chaplain. Bishop Anthony Mikovsky, Bishop of the Central Diocese, welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Election of officers for the Convo Committee was then held. Dylan Hughes ran unopposed for Chairman. Vice Chairmen are Jamie Kotula (first) with John Forkin and Brian Hill tying for second and third Vice Chairmen. Alex McIlwee was voted in as Secretary and ran against Amanda Maciag. Amanda Maciag, Josh Carey, and Zack Stankowski ran for Treasurer and Amanda Maciag won the vote. Zack Stankowski won for Financial Secretary and ran against Josh Carey and Stephanie Kotula. Fr. Jason Soltysiak then suggested that we have a Convo 2010 web site and Josh Carey was named to be in charge of that. After elections there was congratulation to all officers.

We then discussed leftover funds from the 2008 Convo which is estimated to be $4,000. A final report from the 2008 Committee should be received prior to our next meeting. The Convo secretary would write a letter to the Central Diocese Budget and Finance Committee to request a grant to help offset the cost of Convo. It was also discussed about asking the parish in Long Island for a donation because of their positive financial situation.

We then discussed possible locations where Convo could be held. Several colleges and universities mentioned for consideration were Rutgers and Princeton in New Jersey, Albright and Alvernia, which are located nearby Reading, PA. Rutgers mailed in a form of what we need and what is available (i.e. air conditioning, price-range, etc.) Other locations such as Ramapo in New Jersey near New York City were discussed. Softan, Lehigh, Mulenberg, Cedar Crest, and Kutztown were some other possible colleges. Possible dates included July 26^th-30^th 2010 (Monday-Friday), or July 19^th-23^rd (Monday-Friday).

The next topic we talked about was a theme and it was mentioned to keep in mind themes from previous years (i.e., Behind the Faith, Powered by the Son, Don’t Fight Naked, Do You Believe?, etc.). It was also mentioned that there was a list of possible names from previous convos that we could look at and help us to brainstorm. Everyone was asked to think of possible themes and bring ideas to the next meeting.

Fundraiser ideas were brought up which included five gallon jugs for spare change after mass with 25 cent guessing cards for how much money the jugs contained. The profit inside the jug would be split with the winning guess and we would obtain the jugs through a donation. Other fundraisers were a competition throughout the parishes to raise money, the priest of the losing parish must get a pie in the face, kiss a pig, get slimed, etc. This could also happen at Convo which would make it more challenging. Car washes, band shows/concerts, a Sunday for second collection across the diocese, basketball/baseball game played clergy vs. youth, Red Robin offers a 10% donation to an organization just by eating there, or a slave auction which consisted of the parishioners paying a Youth Group member to do chores, go on a date, clean church windows, etc.

The next meeting will be held on January 24, 2009, in West Patterson, New Jersey. (Snow date will be January 31^st

 A five minute break took place and then photos of the officers and attendees were taken. The Convo 2010 Officers were then sworn in by Bishop Anthony Mikovsky. The meeting was then adjourned. 

1/24/09

 Our second 2010 Convo Meeting was held on January 24, 2009 in West Patterson, New Jersey. We started the meeting at 12:45 with pizza, and other snacks. Father Stan opened with a prayer and we read the minutes of the last meeting. There were no problems or corrections to the minutes and Stephanie Kashuba motioned to accept the reading while Anthony Shumlas second the motion. Bishop Anthony Mikovski stated there was no treasury report for this meeting but that we have a new convo account with 4,256 dollars and 36 cents. Bishop signed for the account but we need Father Mludzik to sign and also the chairman to sign in and have a picture ID. He gave Amanda Maciag (our treasurer) the information for the report and also received the letter from secretary for the funds and stated there was no meeting yet to allocate funds but is forthcoming on a report.  Seed money from the National Church needed to be sent by request.

 Site Information was discussed next. Rutgers and Patterson Universities were mentioned. $25-$30 was the general range for a person/day/dorm/and food. Patterson said they could not commit to 2010 yet. Stalkdon University was mentioned but is far from transportation. Ramapo was interested and has A/C but there was no price known yet. Monmouth was used to holding conferences, they faxed an application price range is from $25-$32 with a variety of meal plans and a nice common area. Alvernia and Albright were talked about. Both interested but did not present a fee yet. Alvernia was contacted through a member of the church and Albright held a Convo in the past. Both are in Reading, PA.

 Lehigh, Mulenburg, and Kutztown were still being considered but we did not receive price information yet. We looked into the University of Scranton for price information sake but it was not really an ideal location. Felician college was mentioned as a nice college and would be contacted through a member of the church. Father Stan also stated he would look into Sienna College. We can visit 4-5 colleges and we narrow it down to one in each area and each price. We next discussed the rough idea of the coast. The fee last year was $255 and it included everything. Once the seed money is obtained it will be easy to refer to. $50-$60 a day for a person was the estimated range. Montare University was discussed. 2 Parishioners are teachers, they have nice conference rooms and beautiful views, but it may be overcrowded with year-round classes. Princeton University would be beautiful but the price may be high and the athlete facility may bring in too many sports camps to hold our convocation as well. Stevens in Hoboken is a private University which would be easier to work with and is smaller. We narrowed some colleges down to Rutgers and Monmouth which we would definitely like to visit. The locations for fieldtrips were discussed such as a cruise around Manhattan, a day in NYC, the beach, there was enough money for New England to hold a day at the beach and a cruise so we may be able to as well.

 The cruise would leave from Queens in NYC and six flags was mentioned because of its location near Rutgers. We need to incorporate what people from other diocese would like to do. Meeting was called back into order after a short break about locations and distances. New York definitely needs to be taken into consideration because not many people from other states have that opportunity. Consideration for each activity cost and availability was needed. We next discussed who would get the information from each college we were looking at more closely (in example, Monmouth, Rutgers, Felician, and Ramapo). More dates were discussed such as July 26^th-30^th and July 19^th-23^rd which are both Mon-Fri.’s. Themes and games were discussed (a couple were FBI: Faithful Bible Inspectors, Our Journey: Don’t Stop Believein’, Jesus Walks: Miracles and A Journey through Jesus’ life.) Themes would need to be finalized after the next meeting or the one right after, the sooner the better. Father Stan mentioned that a one-word theme is powerful as well, which presented “Hope” as a theme.

 The website is up and running but we need a domain name. We discussed making the 2010 registration available online and also including pictures, meetings, minutes, etc. and we limited the site to our diocese. Sub Committees were beginning to form such as looking at colleges, but we decided to wait until fall for volunteers to be able to see what entails with each committee. Entertainment and logos were discussed but not in much detail.

 The next meeting was decided to be held at St. Stephen's Parish in Reading, PA at noon on March 21^st. A closing prayer was made by Bishop Mikovsky.