A new Interact Club, first established at Apollo High School and including students from Tech High School, is in its pilot year in St. Cloud Area School District. It has grown exponentially over the summer, thanks to students spreading the word about how much fun it is, and has succeeded in bringing the two schools closer together within the St. Cloud community.
Interact, essentially, is Rotary Club for high school students in grades 9-12. Rotary’s mission is “service above self.” The local St. Cloud Rotary Club has been in existence for 98 years, and now with the Interact Club, it hopes to last 100 years more. As a recent president of the St. Cloud Rotary Club, John Bodette targeted as one of his goals the creation of an Interact Club.
“I’d seen the success we’d had with Rotaract, [young leaders 18 and older who ‘exchange ideas with leaders in the community, develop leadership and professional skills and have fun through service’]” explains Bodette. “The pandemic set us back a bit. So, last year we were able to dive into it, but we [still] ran into several issues.”
One of those issues was the inability to meet in person. Web meetings were difficult, and after school was not an option for many students due to transportation or involvement in other activities.
Fortunately, Summertime by George (SBG), an annual community event put on by the St. Cloud Rotary Club every Wednesday at Eastman Park during the summer, was the turning point for the club. SBG was another opportunity for service for Interact Club members. They could be in-person, meet one another and have fun.
“We had a number of Apollo and Tech students sign up,” shares Bodette. “We already had a wonderful relationship with the Tech football team … to help us set up each concert. We’d have 20-50 football players help us each week. It just seemed like a great opportunity for students to do everything that Rotarians were doing. They sold water, popcorn and pop and helped at the Rotary tent and onstage. We started with seven or eight students.”
Then students from National Honor Society and student government signed up to volunteer for a few weeks. They had so much fun with the Interact students that 15-18 students joined Interact Club, coming every week. Word spread quickly about the club.
“They just brought more friends along,” laughs Bodette.
Suddenly, at the end of summer, the Interact Club was thriving. And with the start of the 2022-23 school year, students were able to meet in person at Apollo during the evenings.
Hannah Schindler, an Apollo senior and one of the founders and president of Interact, leads the monthly meetings. She is an enthusiastic go-getter who is excited about the club.
“Interact is a club where we promote leadership,” explains Schindler. “We want to build student leaders and promote community service. We have a lot of service projects coming up, so we are really excited.”
The monthly meeting typically includes a guest speaker. The group also discusses upcoming community service opportunities as well as ideas for new service opportunities. They range from helping package food, going into senior care facilities, assisting with Rotary events and more.
Recently, Interact hosted incoming school board member Heather Weems as well as St. Cloud Area School District 742 Superintendent Laurie Putnam to speak on leadership.
“We also help Rotarians,” says Schindler. “We are helping with a dementia conference … that is coming up.”
Schindler’s aspiration for the club is to help more students become leaders. She also wants students to feel more confident in themselves as she knows both skills are transferable to any career.
“I think these skills will help greatly,” says Schindler. “I’m filling out scholarship applications that are asking me what my leadership skills are and what I have experience in. It’s given me a lot of opportunities. I went to the TEDx conference. Something I would never have been able to do [otherwise].”
There are approximately 50 students in Interact Club now. The numbers seem to be growing as more and more students spread the word. Together with the Rotarians, Interact Club is making a difference in the St. Cloud community.
“They’ve impressed the Rotarians,” says Bodette. “I’m quite proud of them all.”
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