DIXFIELD — The River Valley Rotary Club will visit Dirigo High School at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, to discuss the River Valley Interact Club, according to Rotary member Crystal McAtee.
The club is for youths ages 12 to 18 to participate in hands-on service projects and tackle issues in their community that they care about.
McAtee said members are looking to get the Interact Club running again by visiting Mountain Valley and Dirigo high schools in Rumford and Dixfield, respectively, to explain the importance of its mission.
“I think having students get involved with Interact is good because it helps build leadership skills and teaches students to be responsible,” McAtee said. “The Rotary Club is all about service above self, and the Rotary Club thinks that’s something important to be instilled in kids.”
McAtee visited Mountain Valley High School students Oct. 15 to talk about what they could do as a club.
“I brought some fliers and pizza and we were able to come up with ideas for community projects,” she said. “At the end, I got names and email addresses from those who were interested and told them to do some research online and find what Interact is all about.
The Interact Club is overseen by the Rotary committee, but the students are completely self-sufficient and self-governing, McAtee said. “We’ll just be there to provide support and to help the students out if they need contacts or some of our connections.”
The ultimate goal would be to have a club with a president, vice president and a treasurer, and have different committees set up for social media and fundraising, she said. “We’d hope to have the club meeting twice a month and preparing for whatever projects they wish to work on. They’d meet during school hours, so it wouldn’t interfere with sports or after-school programs.”
McAtee sees students having the chance to build great relationships with each other and build confidence.
“There’s nothing better than feeling confident,” she said.
For more information, visit the club Facebook page by typing “River Valley Rotary Interact Club” or call McAtee at 357-9171.
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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