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Starting An Interact Club

Rotary clubs can sponsor Interact clubs to mentor youth and inspire community service. Starting an Interact club involves finding an enthusiastic Rotarian chair and school champion, advertising interest meetings, and chartering with at least 15 members. Rotarians serve as resources and attend meetings while Interactors gain leadership skills to become future Rotarians. Sponsoring clubs provide materials, events, and $1,000 annually to support the new Interact club.

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327 views3 pages

Starting An Interact Club

Rotary clubs can sponsor Interact clubs to mentor youth and inspire community service. Starting an Interact club involves finding an enthusiastic Rotarian chair and school champion, advertising interest meetings, and chartering with at least 15 members. Rotarians serve as resources and attend meetings while Interactors gain leadership skills to become future Rotarians. Sponsoring clubs provide materials, events, and $1,000 annually to support the new Interact club.

Uploaded by

aedyjuan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Starting an Interact Club

Resources for Rotarians


Organizing an Interact club is one of the most rewarding activities a Rotary
club can undertake in its community. The Interact program gives Rotarians
the opportunity to mentor dynamic young men and women who want to
help the local and international community.
Rotarians serve as resources for Interactors, who will become tomorrow’s parents, professionals, and
community leaders. An Interact club can bring new energy to a Rotary club, inspiring fresh ideas for service,
increasing support to projects, and spreading knowledge of Rotary into other sectors of the community.
Interactors, with the experience they’ve gained through this Rotary-sponsored program, make exceptional future
Rotaractors and later Rotarians.

Interact Clubs can be school based or community based. Consider when making this decision that school based
clubs have a captive group of potential new members annually.

 Once the Rotary club board approves the sponsorship of an Interact club, choice a club member who is
interested and enthusiastic about starting an Interact Club. Form a committee with that member as chair.

 Meet with school officials to explain the program and its advantages. Rotarians and school officials
should continue to work together to determine membership requirements, the time and location of the
Interact club’s meetings, and other policies

 Identify a teacher, counsellor, or Principal who will champion the idea of Interact at the school.
Hopefully they will also either agree to be the School Interact Advisor, or recommend a suitable
candidate. Rotarians or young people attending the school who want to start an Interact Club will often
help to identify the right champion.

 Advertise an Interact interest meeting in the school. Ask school leadership to attend and to talk about it
to their networks. Use Facebook as a means to get the message out. (Or ask the students to do that)!

 At the interest meeting discuss Interact, Rotaract and the Rotary family. Describe what Interact is and
what can be accomplished by the students working together. Talk about potential projects the
Interactors could support. At the end of the meeting, have interested people write their names on a
signup sheet.

 Invite those on the sign up sheet to bring a friend to a second meeting about 1 week later. Rotarian
mentors can help set the stage at this meeting. It’s important to remember that young people need to be
interested and motivated to attend the meeting. They may be driven by their peer group, by food, by the
excitement of working on a specific project. Whatever can be done to generate enthusiasm will help
move things forward. Usually the students will be able to identify the best way(s) of motivating their
peers.
 Once a group of prospective Interactors has been assembled, you can begin to hold organizational
meetings to plan the club’s activities. Keep the enthusiasm level high by holding the meetings no more
than two weeks apart, and be sure to keep a record of the names and phone numbers or e-mail addresses
of those who attend so you can invite them to future meetings. Encourage them to invite friends.

 When you have achieved a strong base of members, 15 plus, you will be ready to proceed with applying
for official RI certification. The procedure for this is in the Interact Handbook with all required forms.

The Details

 The Interact Club handbook has generic Interact Club Constitution and By Laws which are adopted and
kept by the Interact club secretary.

 The Secretary is also responsible for completing and sending the Interact Organization List to Rotary
International. The Rotarian mentor can help facilitate this process as it has to be signed by the President
of the sponsoring Rotary Club and District Governor and faxed to Rotary International.

 Charter Certificates are usually received by Interact Clubs within a month.

Interact Clubs cannot be merged with existing service clubs in the school. Interact Clubs stand alone.

The Rotary Interact Advisor should attend all Interact Club meetings where possible to help ensure
that there is some Rotary content included every time.

Provided by the sponsoring Rotary Club:


 At least one Rotarian who will attend Interact meetings on a regular basis to offer support and
ideas.

 An Interact Handbook, Interact Membership application form, and Interact Club Organization List.

 Interact Club banner, gavel and gong, officers and membership pins including the Interact Advisors pin.

 Induction Ceremony for the Chartered members and Officers of the Club can be jointly managed by the
Interactors and the Rotary Club. It can be at the school at lunch time or at a club meeting or in a
restaurant, etc.

 The sponsoring Rotary Club should budget approx. $1,000 for the club items and the induction
ceremony.

 Interactor’s families can be welcomed to the Induction ceremony, it’s a great way to spread awareness
about Rotary and possibly gain new members.
The following are some resources to assist Rotarians in starting an Interact Club in their community:

Interact Brochure
The Interact Brochure can be used to promote Interact to potential sponsor Rotary clubs or Interact club
members.

Interact Faculty Adviser Guide


Advisers play key roles in supporting Interact clubs. The Interact Faculty Adviser Guide (PDF), a Web-only
publication, explains how Interact fits into the family of Rotary, suggests adviser responsibilities, outlines risk
management, supplies additional resources, and offers effective and successful ways to fulfill the faculty adviser
role.

Interact Handbook
The Interact Handbook can serve as a comprehensive guide to the program.

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