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Centennial Back-Flash, 01-17-2019
Marshall High School Interact Club
One of the lesser known elements of Rotary International is the Rotary Interact club, sponsored by local Rotary clubs around the world. 
 
Interact started formally around 1960 to involve high school students in service and humanitarian projects and teach them the value of human enterprise and leadership. Marshal Rotary inherited a Key Club in 1996 and conducted it as a Rotary Interact Club in Marshall High School for four or five years.
 
Rotary Interact has evolved into a significant organization itself, with 20,372 clubs and almost half million members aged 12 to 18.  Interact clubs are now in schools and communities in 159 countries around the world.
 
Interact clubs generally organize at least two projects every year, one that helps their school or community and one that promotes international understanding. Rotary club sponsors, mentors, and guides Interactors as they carry out projects and develop leadership skills.
 
Interact clubs operate independently of the local or national bodies which sponsored them.  They elect their own officers, raise their own funds, and plan and Implement their own projects and meetings under the supervision of a school counselor and Rotary advisor.
 
There is little information about specific projects of an early Interact club, which was started in 1995, never the less, Interact membership in that club was a source of pride and achievement for many of those who participated in the five or so years it existed, and included it in their credits and accomplishments. 
 
The newest Interact club founded in 2017 is very well documented, having initiated many projects of their own and participated in many of their sponsor's projects. 
 
They started by raising donated items for Mission Marshall and the Food Pantry, in October, and spreading joy and Christmas cheer in to the residents of the Heritage House in Marshall, in December. They hand-decorated the doors of residents with holiday cheer and handed out blankets (small throws), socks with grips on the bottom, puzzle/word search books, wallets, small purses, lotion, hats, gloves, cookies, crackers, oranges, bananas, and apples to the residents. They assisted the Humane Society of Harrison County December fourth, sixth, eighth, and eleventh, feeding, bathing and walking dogs, as well as, assisting with the other animals.
 
In January, 2018 the club assisted the Marshall Rotary club in planting trees at all of the local elementary schools; later they assisted the Rotary club in preparing and delivering a personalized dictionary to every third-grader in Harrison county, then two major fundraisers, “Faux Paws” in April and the  “Taco Fest” in June.
 
Less than two weeks ago, a group of Interactors assisted in reorganizing the Marshall News Messenger photo archives, which are an invaluable resource for the research into the past 100 years of the club's history, and a fitting tribute to the original owner of the Marshall News Messenger, Homer Price, a charter member of the Rotary Club of Marshall Texas .
 
The story of Marshal High School Interact is a story of past achievements; and now, as an integral part of the club's historical past, and as a portal by which we can see into the future of the Rotary Club of Marshall, Interact is a fresh new face of service in Marshall.
 
The Interact story, now in its infancy, will be honored and celebrated, and Interactors will be “Celebrating”, along with the rest of us, August 24, 2019, at the Marshall Convention Center, a “Century of Changing Lives in Marshall – and Beyond”.
 
Read more...
 We encourage each of you to submit your own memorabilia, photos, anecdotes about these members and  projects to either the "Official" email of the Centennial Celebration committee, or leave a message on the dedicated phone number.
email: marshalltxrotary@gmail.com  ---  phone: (903) 471-8030 
Please contact your friends and family who have been a members of the Marshall Rotary Club and ask them to send us their email address, so that we can add them to this "Centennial Back-Flash" list, and share these stories with them as well
Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
ClubRunner