DOWAGIAC — A goal for Melody Wallace, the current president of the Dowagiac Rotary Club, has been to grow interactions with the local Interact Club at Dowagiac Union High School. The Dowagiac Union High School Interact Club wants to in turn get more involved with Rotary.

As these two groups come together, Melissa Stanger, a Spanish teacher at Dowagiac Union High School and Middle School, is taking the reins as the sponsor of the Interact club and has already witnessed the collaboration of these two clubs.

Historically, Interact is Rotary International’s service organization for young people ages 12 to 18. Interact clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs that in turn provide leadership.

“Melody Wallace, the president of the Dowagiac Rotary Club, contacted me, and she’s been great,” Stanger said. “She has invited us to meetings and to help us see speakers. That has been so helpful.”

The Dowagiac Rotary Club also sponsored Stanger and two high school Interact members to attend the Rotary District Conference at Western Michigan University on Nov. 23.

“I think that helped me, along with the kids that went, to kind of get the bigger picture of Rotary,” Stanger said. “We knew and know that Rotary is a service organization, but I think going to the Rotary meetings and then going to this district conference, it gave us ideas of things that the Rotary club can and maybe should be doing.”

When Stanger was in high school, she did not have the opportunity to become involved in an Interact club, but is hoping as the club’s new sponsor to become involved in Rotary.

Stanger heard there was an opening as the club’s sponsor and knew of its origin as a service organization.

“I like to get the kids involved in the service end of it,” Stanger said. “We have student senate and same with National Honors Society. They do great things for the community. One more group that’s helping people is a good thing.”

Currently, Stanger said the Interact club has 17 members and ha hosted four to five meetings this year. The four or five returning members, who have previous experience with Interact, have filled officer roles this year.

As the holiday seasons approach, the club is using ideas they took home from the Rotary District Conference to incorporate at the local level.

“In general, we are planning to help some local families in need during this Christmas time,” Stanger said of the group’s plans.

The club’s other priority will be continuing to recruit more members.

“With our [upcoming meeting], the kids are planning on doing a big push for new members,” Stanger said. “What we found is that even when I started putting it in the announcements, people didn’t really know what Rotary Interact was.”

Stanger said students are already brainstorming ways to share the service organization’s mission more clearly with their peers.

As the Interact club prepares to help the community, Stanger feels good about the opportunity to support the group moving forward.

“I feel really good. We have a great group of kids that are involved and really want to do good things for other people,” Stanger said. “It’s a good feeling to be around those kids, to know that there are kids out there that really see the bigger picture and want to help and do good. Hopefully, we can get more involved and keep growing.”