Interact hopes to increase club participation

Excited shouts rang out as dozens of Interact Club members crowded around for the annual Fall Leadership Conference event at Independence High School on Oct. 14. Students from different schools came together for several hours to learn about community and international projects that their district is planning for the year.

Although the FLC generally has high attendance, Interact’s regular club activities have recently suffered a decline in participation.

Interact has traditionally been one of the most prominent service clubs on campus. It offers various volunteering opportunities, which count toward community service hours. All students are welcome to join, but president Usman Khan noticed last year that the club’s lack of campus presence has lowered students’ overall interest in Interact.

Khan now plans on attracting more students by possibly bringing more food to meetings, creating regular PowerPoint slideshows for meetings and hosting more events for the club.

“We want to find more ways to get members to come,” Khan said. “It’s just about getting the image back that Interact is a really big club on campus.”

The club is also considering selling club apparel and holding more boba fundraisers to increase awareness of Interact’s existence, especially from underclassmen.

Khan said that although many younger students seem curious about the club, they are not involved in it. He plans to reach out and engage more with the underclassmen.

“We should really focus on younger members,” he said. “Connections are always the most important thing, and I feel like sometimes we haven’t made those connections.”

Interact Club is looking to collaborate with their larger parent club, Saratoga Rotary Club, in the near future. Khan said club officers already have contact with their rotarian, Katherine Zheng, and he added that they also have capable, outgoing events coordinators this year in seniors Chloe Peng and Michelle Vu.

Additionally, the club wants to help the Saratoga Rotary Club with one of the group’s large-scale events, such as the annual art show in May. Khan said that Interact has helped with the art show in the past, but not in recent years.

Around 10 people showed up to Interact’s first lunch meeting on Oct. 3. The club discussed FLC as well as volunteer opportunities in the near future.

Interact’s first volunteer event will be to provide sandwiches for the homeless in downtown San Jose. Khan does not yet have many other large activities planned for the club, but he wants to make homeless food distribution a monthly occurrence.

Khan said that he hopes to help restore Interact’s once prominent presence on campus. The club has a new adviser, history and world geography teacher Melissa Hesselgrave, since their previous adviser Carrie Bohls moved to teach at a different school. Interact meets every other Wednesday at lunch in Hesselgrave’s room, Room 501.

“Come see us,” Khan said. “It’s going to be fun.”