Frequently Asked Questions

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Our costs are competitive with after school academies across Southern California and as with the La Reina school program, we do NOT want to turn away any students due to financial need.  Scholarships, financial aid, and payment plans are all available on a case by case basis based upon student commitment, demonstrated need, and available resources. Tournament fees are passed through to parents at cost.

Classes during the week are held on Zoom to reduce conflicts with parent work schedules and students’ various school locations, while Sunday practices are held in person in the Thousand Oaks area on weekends when we don't have tournaments.  Additional speech practices will be held over Zoom as students prepare their speeches, while additional debate practices will be held on Zoom leading up to major tournaments.

That depends on your level of involvement. Speech students will spend the early part of the year either researching and writing a speech and then fine tuning it, or finding an interpretation piece, cutting it down, and memorizing and practicing their performance. Debate students will have a more flexible schedule over the course of the year depending on the format in which they choose to participate. Most debate students compete in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, which is a one on one format of debate that captures about 80% of the rigor of Policy Debate (the most rigorous form of debate) but has a different topic every 2 months, which allows students to be involved in other school activities, play a sport, etc. without having to worry about a partner.

Tournament days can be long, although as with gymnastics or track and field, students have lots of downtime between rounds to complete assignments and socialize with their friends.  Most tournaments are local and many today are online, although as students move up in competition we do travel somewhat around the western U.S.  National tournaments are typically held in second tier cities in the middle of the country (Des Moines, Minneapolis, Kansas City, etc.) while the Tournament of Champions is held every year at the University of Kentucky, with travel in and out of the Cincinnati airport.

We work with faculty advisors and school administrators at each school that RLA students attend to coordinate paperwork, memberships, and dues for each league and state and national organization.  Officials at every level are aware of the La Reina closure and of our efforts to provide opportunities for students at various schools.  Some situations, unfortunately, are out of our control.