Interact teaches high school students about fundraising, community service

As the youth division of Rotary International, Interact provides high school students with a chance to learn about the organization and its motto, "Service Above Self," Sharon Johnson told Aiken Rotary Club members Monday.

A retired South Aiken High teacher who started Interact at the school in 1997, Johnson now serves as a club liaison through the Aiken Sunrise Rotary Club, which sponsors the South Aiken program.

The first Interact club was established in 1962. There are now nearly 11,000 clubs in 109 countries and about 200,000 young people involved.

"But the reality of Interact is how it touches lives and people and makes a difference," Johnson said.

When she joined Sunrise Rotary in 1989, she was only the second woman in South Carolina to be accepted into the previously all-male organization. Eight years later the Interact Club at South Aiken was chartered "and within a month our students were selling doughnuts to help with playground equipment at Helping Hands," said Johnson.

Since then, Interact has been involved with many community projects, said Johnson. In 1999 Interact members for the first time attending a regional conference in Charlotte. They met other Interact students and learned more about fundraising events, club service and community activities.

The following year the club members attended another conference and learned about the "Gift of Life," a program where Interact members raise funds to help provide life-saving surgery for children.

"We saw a moving video about a young boy who had blue skin because he was not getting enough oxygen," Johnson said. "Because of Interact kids, he received surgery, and we saw him in the video playing on a swing set. He wasn't blue anymore."

The South Aiken Interact students will host Sunrise Club members at a breakfast meeting Thursday, an annual event. Johnson is encouraged by the efforts of Aiken Rotary Club efforts to start another Interact chapter at Aiken High.

"Together we can make a difference," said Johnson. "Our kids serve because they want to, because it is their passion."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.