This $1000 scholarship award is bestowed to an outstanding Junior Counselor at the annual RYLA conference sponsored by the Rotary clubs of District 5490.  The award is named after Luke Lewis, a former Rotary District 5490 RYLA Junior Counselor, who, in the spring of 1997, died suddenly from leukemia.

Luke loved RYLA, but Luke also loved life and all of the friends he made. But that was Luke. He took you into his heart and always made you laugh! He loved the Miami Dolphins and his main man was Dan Marino. He loved his sports, football and baseball. He would have played in the last summer’s all-star game in football. He was big but was a teddy bear. He took karate and shot hoops in his front yard. “I will never look out the front window without seeing his smiling face and hearing his laugh”.

Ever since he could sing he loved Randy Travis, he even won an award for singing his song and did a recording. He loved to draw and was thinking of going to an art school when he graduated. He loved life and people and it showed. He was a “Rotarian” in all but name and lived it like I do!

~Barb Lewis,
Luke’s Mom and President
of the Quartzite Rotary Club, 1996-1997

The Luke Lewis $1000 Award is based on the following criteria:

• The candidate must have attended a previous District 5490 RYLA as a candidate;
• The candidate must have met all the qualifications to be a Junior Counselor;
• He or she must exhibit, to the Luke Lewis RYLA Scholarship Awards Committee, that they are leaders by their actions, words and deeds while serving as a Junior Counselor at RYLA. A blend of leader-leadership, maturing, a positive attitude, a willingness to help the little guy and being considerate of others are traits the candidate should possess;
• The candidate's activity at their high school, i.e.: participating in and/or help establish an Interact Club in their High School;
• The review of their other leadership roles, i.e.; Scouting, church, youth projects and other community based charitable groups;
• How they act and handle themselves when they are interacting with others at RYLA;
• The candidate's ability to integrate his or her talents into their school work , Rotary Programs, home life and community work while keeping a positive mental attitude.

• The recipient will be chosen by the Luke Lewis Award Committee;
  
• Each Rotarian and non-Rotarian who are part of the current RYLA may provide their written opinions and comments on each of the Junior Counselors;
  
• If, in the judgment of the Committee, no Junior Counselor (JC) candidate qualifies for that year's scholarship, that year's scholarship will not be awarded;
  
• Each of the committee members will observe each of the Junior Counselor's in action during RYLA. They will visit the sessions and see each of the JC's in action;
  
• A meeting will be held the last evening of RYLA and the Committee will meet to review and discuss the selection of the recipient candidate. All written comments must be submitted before this meeting. Only the committee will participate in the discussion;
  
• Selection will be made by a majority vote of the committee.