Despite having just a few dedicated members this year, City High’s Interact Club has been fighting against the odds to strengthen its community.
Interact Club is the high school-level branch of Rotary International, a community service organization that volunteers for different charity causes from local to international projects. Rotary is a huge organization with over one million members worldwide.
“Interact is sponsored by the Rotary Club, which is a big club across the entire [world] where a lot of people will come together, and they will do service projects,” Mark Elwer ‘26, one of Interact’s co-presidents, said.
Even though Interact Club is sponsored by Rotary Club, it is a largely independent organization that focuses on more local causes. One of the projects Interact Club is working on this year is making tie blankets for the children at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
“Right now, we are working on finishing fleece tie blankets that will be donated to the Stead Family Children’s Hospital, and once we finish them, as many kids as possible will go home with a blanket provided by City High’s Interact Club,” Anna Basile, an english teacher and Interact Club’s staff sponsor, said.
Interact Club members work on many projects like this, especially with issues that may hit close to home for some students. The presidents and members appreciate bringing personal ideas, especially when it affects others in the Iowa City community who have a connection to the same issue.
“[City High’s] free feminine care was a project that was created by [a] former student that thought it was bogus [that we didn’t have free period supplies] and looked into the international implications for women of not being able to gain access to period supplies and what it did to challenge their participation in school,” Basile said. “And so going to work on that topic [turned into having] free period supplies across the district.”
All Interact Club meetings are held on Wednesdays after school in Ms. Basile’s classroom, room 1312, but attending meetings is not mandatory to support the club.
“If one person really wanted to help, they could say ‘hey, I will be in charge of one of these drives,’ and they can go put some bins around with some signs on it and put some posters up,” Elwer said.
Along with community projects, Interact Club also hosts events that City High students can attend if they want to support without joining. These events are usually fundraisers, but in a way that seems more exciting for students to participate in.
“Last year, we did a collaboration with Dance Marathon [called] Battle of the Bands. We basically had a couple different groups at City High perform for other students to raise money for pediatric cancer over at U of I,” Stephie Sumaili ‘26, Interact Club’s other co-president, said. “I think that was a really good idea and we should do it again.”
Dance Marathon is another community charity organization that organizes many fundraisers throughout the year to support the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, especially the pediatric cancer wing. Apart from their big 24-hour long dance in May, they host many other smaller fundraisers.
Interact Club also organizes annual projects that aren’t just food and clothing drives. A club favorite is the Little Hawk Prom Boutique.
“We do our prom boutique, where previously owned—but gently used—fashions for both men and women are donated, and City High students can go in and take what they want,” Basille said.
Another main focus of Interact Club is expanding student’s interests and plans for once they graduate. Instead of taking the traditional route to college, some students that were formerly members of the club decide that they want to pursue volunteerism and community service.
“[A former student] came last year and talked about [the] Peace Corp—she’s stationed in Peru working on water quality projects. She went on to Dartmouth college, where she studied biology,” Basille said. “This was a way of gaining experience [while] also having an adventure and participating in service, which is really aligned with what Interact is supposed to do.”
Interact Club wants to prove to teenagers that doing this kind of work for the community not only helps others, but makes you feel good about yourself. It demonstrates what an act of service can mean to someone who is less fortunate than others.
“I didn’t have to see the faces of the recipients to know that our kids had done a really honorable thing. And that is the best thing about service,” Basille said. Odds are, you will never be thanked in person for the opportunities you’ve created for people or helped to create for people, but walking around the world knowing that you’ve lightened someone else’s load is a really powerful gift to give yourself.”
The projects Interact Club does aren’t just whatever the presidents decide—it’s a team effort. Working in a group such as this means that students have more support when they want to work for a certain cause than if they had to do it on their own.
Interact Club members are also working to prove that teenagers are hardworking, compassionate, upstanding members of the community, contrary to what some believe.
“City High Interact students have this unflappable energy, and we’ve become a group to check in with when community organizations need volunteers for a project,” Basille said. “This group shows up with energy and enthusiasm to give back and to be part of solutions that often get ignored.”
With Interact’s help, less fortunate citizens have an easier time accessing necessary resources, and students participating earn a sense of satisfaction that encourages them to keep helping the community.
