One of the signature features of the Berkeley High School experience is the plethora of clubs students can join. Whether they have a passion for pickles, fashion, or Halloween, students are encouraged to start and join small communities centered around their interests. While there is a huge range of club topics at BHS, most of them have one thing in common; they are BHS or Berkeley specific. One club that stands apart by expanding beyond BHS borders is the Berkeley chapter of the Interact Club.
Founded in 2021 by current seniors Reese Reyes Aranda and Tyen Zhu, the Berkeley Interact club is one of the 14,911 Interact clubs worldwide. These Interact clubs operate in over 140 different countries. Other than its international connections, Interact stands apart through its formal partnership with one of the largest adult volunteer organizations in the world: Rotary International. These Rotary clubs are aimed at improving their local communities through a range of initiatives including disease prevention, promoting clean water, and supporting education. The Interact clubs were started as the youth branch of the Rotary Club in an effort to get youth involved in serving their communities. Each Interact club is sponsored financially by and works under the guidance of their local Rotary.
According to the Interact website, “Interact clubs organize at least two projects every year, one that helps their school or community and one that promotes international understanding. Rotary Club sponsors mentor and guide their Interactors as they carry out projects and develop leadership skills.”
Zhu reiterated this close partnership and shared from his personal experiences. “If we need help with funds for a project or something, (Rotary Club sponsors) will help fund us,” Zhu said. Zhu described the relationship between his club and the local rotary as “very intertwined.”
Apart from their global connections, the Berkeley Interact Club stands out at BHS through their work on a variety of community service projects. Reyes Aranda described what the club does as “helping the community in various ways.” In Reyes Aranda and Zhu’s three years at BHS, the Interact club has organized projects including beach clean ups, a book drive for a school in Mexico, and making and distributing mental health pamphlets.
Kaya Hatay, a BHS senior and member of the BHS Interact Club, enjoys club projects that revolve around working in nature and taking care of local parks and gardens. “We do monthly cleanups at the beach and the shorelines … sometimes we have gardening,” Hatay said, “Recently, we went to an elementary school during the day, and just helped fix up the garden a little.” Hatay highly recommends joining the Interact Club because of the connections with people outside of BHS and the projects to participate in.
Reyes Aranda’s favorite Interact event was organizing and running a book drive for a pre-school in Los Ayala, Mexico. Interact raised this money through a mixture of bake sales and asking for donations from other service organizations. Reyes Aranda also spoke on Interact’s most
BHS-centered project: mental health pamphlets. “We saw that (BHS) lacked mental health resources so we created a pamphlet, fundraised to print it, and then we spread it all around Berkeley (and) especially in (BHS),” Reyes Aranda said.
In a school where you can join clubs with various interests, Interact stands out through their global scale, partnerships with Rotary International, and their commitment to bettering their local communities. For any BHS student seeking leadership opportunities and impact, the Interact club offers a compelling place to start.