Making a difference through action
Interact high school students plan local and international projects

By Janice Mason

A group of high school students are making a difference in the community and the world through Interact, a Rotary-sponsored service club for youth ages 14 to 18. The program gives young people an opportunity to participate in service projects while developing leadership skills and meeting new friends.

Through service activities, Interactors learn the importance of developing leadership skills and personal integrity, demonstrating helpfulness and respect for others, and advancing international understanding and goodwill.

Eleven high school students met on Monday to discuss local and international projects they plan to accomplish through Interact. They have been meeting since the beginning of the school year and presently have 29 members.

Kady Repola, Interact president, led the 30-minute meeting on Monday. The students plan events over their lunch break on the first and third Monday of each month.

For their community projects, they will be helping out a local family in need over the holidays. They plan to assemble care packages for the soldiers after the first of the year. They volunteer as bell ringers for the Salvation Army over the holidays and sell Duck Race tickets for Rotary throughout the year. They plan to seek community members in need of help around the house through their Slave Day program. They will also plan a Random Act of Kindness Day through Rotary, where they will acknowledge good deeds done by others in the community.

Their International projects include the Hats for Tibet program started by high school sophomore, Kiah Smith. She recruited the Interact club to make hats to add to her project.

Smith started making warm winter hats for Tibetan children when she was 12. Through her recruitment efforts, Smith and Interact have completed over 60 hats to mail to children in Tibet since the beginning of the school year. They continue to make the hats as part of their international outreach program. Smith also works with other organizations to send hats and scarves to impoverished children in Tibet. She has sent a total of 1,200 hats to Tibet overall.

Adult Rotarians attended the Interact meeting at the high school on Monday providing a presence but the students run their own meeting. Rotary plans to charter the Interact club making them official Rotarians. Students will write the bylaws and constitution for the group. The district governor for Rotary will meet with the students for a formal ceremony next year.

Students meet in art teacher Anne McCaffrey’s room. She is the faculty advisor for the group. Rotarians, Randy Repola, Julie Phares and Rotary Club of Estes Park president Lloyd McLaughlin attended the meeting on Monday.

The Rotary Club of Estes Park approached the students helping to create the Interact club at the high school. “There is a push from the district to create Interact clubs,” said McLaughlin. “Interact — they get their name through international action.

“This year is more of an organizational year. They are more focused on getting organized and recruiting more students. We’re pleased that they’ve come up with so many projects.

“Other kids in the community are allowed to join the club, especially home-schooled kids. We’d like to get them involved.”

When Rotary had OktoberFest in Estes Park on Oct. 25, they raised money for students to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), which is a Rotary conference for high school kids. RYLA is conducted worldwide annually by local Rotary Club volunteers. Youths between the ages of 14 and 18 are chosen for their leadership potential and attend an all expenses-paid week learning leadership skills.

The RYLA conference is held in August at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. A total of 250 high school students attended RYLA this year, coming from Northern Colorado, Western Nebraska and Wyoming. Two local students from Estes Park attended the 2005 conference sponsored by the Estes Park Sunrise and Noon Rotary Clubs. Local Rotary groups will be able to send more than two students next year due to the OktoberFest fund-raiser.

“Kids go to RYLA and learn a lot about leadership, international action and making a difference,” said Repola. “This will be the first year that we will have a dozen kids that are familiar with Rotary already. Kady has been to RLYA, so she can share with them what RYLA is about. This should begin to provide leadership for years to come for this group.”