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Neighbors | Submitted.Members of Poland High School's new Interact Club posed during their bi-monthly meeting. The group was started in December 2018 and currently has about 30 members.
By JESSICA HARKER
Poland Seminary High School recently created a new Interact Club, focused on community out reach.
The club, which is an extension of the Poland Rotary, is headed by teacher Chris Martin.
“The goal is to help your community, to build leaders and to create initiatives by the students that make a difference,” Martin said.
The group was started in December 2018 when members of the Poland Rotary reached out to high school representatives about starting the group.
“Rotary is all about helping the community through education, knowing that something like this didn’t exist in Poland we felt that it would be a great fit,” said David Moliterno, a Poland Rotary member.
Martin said that there are thousands of Interact Clubs nationally, which are connected to the local rotary clubs.
“The interact club is sponsored by Poland Rotary, but they will develop and maintain their own club structure, and community projects,” Moliterno said, “This doesn’t mean that we won’t collaborate with them, but they have the freedom and flexibility to work on projects they are passionate about.”
Because the club is so new, Martin said the rotary has offered support to the group as they get started.
The Poland Rotary is also responsible for paying the advisors salary.
“I would like to see a strong partnership between the school and Poland rotary, and then for that partnership to build up within the community,” Moliterno said, “Poland has an amazing community with so much historical value. I would be great to see it maintained, and to see it grow for future generations.”
In the two months the club has been operating, over 30 students have joined according to Martin.
“They (students) are truly good people, they really care for others and they want to make a difference,” Martin said.
So far students have organized a weekly volunteer schedule at the Inn at Poland Way, a local assisted living facility.
Martin said students are also planning a canned food drive, and other out reach events before the end of the year.
“They present a few ideas and we ask ‘Does it fit what the Interact Club stands for?’,” Martin said, “Then we tweak it, and make it work, but they are always coming in with ideas.”
The group meets every two weeks, according to Martin, who said the gropu is entirely student run.
“We use my room but they have an agenda, and they run the discussion,” Martin said.
However, Martin said that even outside of meeting times, students tend to pop into his office almost every day with ideas.
“These kids are so selfless, many of these students don’t know the people they are helping, they just want to do something good,” Martin said.
To support the Interact Club, or to request volunteers from the group contact Martin at Poland Seminary High School.