Murrumburrah-Harden Rotary and Murrumburrah High School have joined forces to form an Interact Club, the first of its kind at the school. Interact Clubs are a Rotary initiative that aim to bring together young people aged 12-18 to develop leadership skills and take on initiatives that help others close to home and further afield. Murrumburrah-Harden Rotary Club President Rita O’Connor said it was a case of the students looking to do more for their community. “This year we’ve got a group of very proactive seniors, and a couple of them came and saw me and said ‘what can we do be part of Rotary?’” Rita said. “It’s just a way for young people to start doing some community service, with a governing body to support them so they’re not on their own.” The groundwork for this initiative began with Danish exchange student Ella’s enrolment in the school last year as part of a Rotary exchange program. “She helped broaden their horizon a bit, some of the kids came out of their shell and started coming to Rotary meetings because of Ella, and they liked what they saw,” Rita said. The students have elected an executive comprised of president Hannah Guy, vice-president Lexie Phillips, secretary Antonia Raptis and treasurer Elizabeth Musasa, with a host of younger students also putting their hands up to help. The Club will have the task of completing at least one local and one global community service project. They are currently looking to assist a group of Sri Lankan schools with stationery and supplies, and will nail down a local project in the coming weeks. “We’re particularly keen on youth and education, those are the two areas we most want to be involved in,” Rita said. “The biggest challenge for Rotary is to start enthusing younger people, otherwise in time we will die out. “Small towns, where services are smaller than the city, you absolutely have to rely on your volunteers to help fill the gap. “It’s great that we’ve got 16 and 17 year olds who are seeing those gaps and saying ‘I could do something about that’.”
