SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Efforts of a Yellowknife high school service club left the regional leader of Rotary International "amazed" during a visit to the community last Friday.
May Ly, president of the Interact Club at St. Patrick High School, briefed Rotary International district governor Kevin Hilgers on the many initiatives of the youth service club during a visit to the school last Friday. - Thandiwe Vela/NNSL photo
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The Interact Club of St. Patrick High School hosted Grand Prairie-based Kevin Hilgers, governor of the Rotary district which includes Northern Alberta, Northeast B.C., Northwest Saskatchewan, and part of the Northwest Territories, over a lunchtime meeting at the school.
Members of the club used the audience with the governor to show off their recent efforts and initiatives: lobbying for enforcement of helmet legislation following a fatal long-boarding accident involving a former student at the school, Josh Hardy; participation in the Relay for Life; Terry Fox Run; Food Rescue donation drives; a Free the Girls bra drive to help women in the sex trafficking industry escape the trade; and a summer 2011 exchange trip to South Africa, during which the students renovated a preschool and donated school supplies.
The presentation left Hilgers "very impressed.”
"As I say, it's just so amazing how we could do so much more when we're a part of a group like Interact. When we're one, we could do a little bit, but as a group — well, they went to South Africa. That's amazing," he said. "Very, very impressive."
Interact Club president May Ly said the opportunity to share some of the group's initiatives with Rotary leadership, especially after attending the district conference last year, was "really cool.”
"When we went to meet them at the district conference they had a lot to share with us and a lot of really motivating, inspiring things to say and it's just nice to turn that around and have them come here and listen to things we're saying and doing," she said.
Over the past two years, the number of Interact Clubs in the district, which are Rotary International's service clubs for those ages 12 to 18, has gone from eight, to pushing 40 now, Hilgers said.
"So Interact is really booming in our district and that's fantastic because we think our future leaders, our future community leaders, community citizens, are right here, in this room. So we're really excited about that."
