Today is Interact Clubs Appreciation Day.  The invocation, greeter, ticket seller, sergeant-at-arms were all officers of Pittsford Sutherland and Mendon High School. They prepared and adhered to a program.  At exactly 7:15 a.m., Pat Mallery, rang the bell.
Rotary Peace Scholar Bertin Mboko is currently attending the University of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England to study peace building and conflict resolution. In 1997, he fled the Republic of Congo for the African nation of Gabon with 75,000 other refugees to escape the brutal conditions resulting from Congo's civil war. Throughout his eight years in a camp in Gabon, he taught other refugees to support themselves by selling goods and managing their meager finances, and the United Nations hired him to help distribute small grants to help the refugees become more self-sufficient. He also became president of a refugee group. He will earn a master's-level degree at the end of his 18-month program.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is a program that originated with Rotary International to encourage servant leadership in youth by recognizing and rewarding deserving  students who are chosen to attend RYLA as an "award" for their past and present leadership and service activities. They attend an all-expenses-paid camp where they are inspired by a diverse group of exceptional speakers, make life-long friends through fellowship activities, and discuss the ethical and social issues of today. These activities are conducted in an atmosphere of trust and respect. The result is that these students return to their schools and communities motivated to take on additional leadership roles and to find additional ways to serve. Sungum Munsiff (pictured here selling raffle tickets) and Tucker Wehner, next year's Interact Presidents will attend this year's RYLA at RIT from June 28 to July 2.
Each of the Co-Presidents and seniors of the Interact Club had a chance to talk about the experiences and the lessons that they learned as leaders and community service volunteers.