Student Volunteer Club Interact Promotes Acts of Service

Interact, entering its fifth year at Minnetonka High School (MHS), is a service club for young people ages 14 to 18 and is essentially the youth arm of Rotary International, one of the largest nonprofit humanitarian service organizations. The Lake Minnetonka Excelsior Rotary Club wanted to see Interact established in the community and began talking to school district administrators about launching a local chapter. Mary Kuhn, longtime Rotarian and connections coordinator at MHS, stepped up and offered to be the club’s staff advisor. As such, the Lake Minnetonka Excelsior Rotary Club sponsors and guides the activities of Interact at MHS.Interact provides students with opportunities to serve locally and internationally. The club’s emphasis on service fits well with the school district’s expanded focus on working for the greater good. “Volunteering regularly helps make service a habit for young people—and service is a good habit,” Kuhn says.The group meets before school on the first and third Tuesday of each month during the school year, and students can join at any point during the year. Club bylaws ask members to participate in two local and one global service project per year. The club’s $10 per student annual dues go toward those service projects.Past projects include sending funds to survivors of Hurricane Sandy, raising money to supply solar lights to students in Ghana so they can study at night, and working with the especially popular Sandwich Project.The goal of the Sandwich Project is to feed homeless people in Minnesota every day of the year by delivering sandwiches to homeless shelters and food shelves. Each day, a sandwich recipe is available online. Interact club members sign up to bring in sandwich items and set up an assembly line to make the sandwiches before school. Recently, the students cranked out 221 sandwiches in 20 minutes.Jack Giese, MHS senior and Interact president, has been involved with Interact since he was a freshman. “My older sister was involved with Interact and she was my ride to school. I attended meetings with her and stuck with it,” he says.Giese appreciates the organization of the club. “There is an established order in how to do things and a great variety of volunteer opportunities,” he says. “Plus, it’s great to know we’re making a difference. Helping people is good. Doing it with friends is even better.”Participation in Interact has opened Giese’s eyes to the needs of people not only in the Lake Minnetonka community, but statewide, countrywide and worldwide. “I would tell prospective participants it’s easy to get involved with Interact. Our meetings are only twice per month and members don’t have to participate in every volunteer project,” he says.Interact is planning to expand its student board positions. “We want to add a communications person to update social media, a global coordinator, a local coordinator and a fundraising chairperson,” Kuhn says. “These are great learning positions for interested students.”Rotary International hopes the habit of service through participation in Interact will carry into adulthood. The organization has even provided a lifetime participation pathway: Interact for teens, Rotoract for young adults and Rotary for adults.