What is Interact?
Interact is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young people. Made up of members ages 14-18 or secondary-school age, Interact gives young people an opportunity to participate in fun, meaningful service projects. Along the way, Interactors develop their leadership skills and initiative while meeting new friends.

Through their service activities, Interactors learn the importance of

• Developing leadership skills and personal integrity
• Demonstrating helpfulness and respect for others
• Understanding the value of individual responsibility and hard work
• Advancing international understanding and goodwill

Interactors have access to the many resources of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation of RI. Rotary International provides the administrative support that helps Interact clubs thrive.

When RI President Harold T. Thomas traveled the world during his year in office in 1959-60, he discovered a deep and widespread feeling among Rotarians that Rotary’s potential for developing youth service had not been fully realized. In 1960, Thomas appointed a committee of five Rotarians to explore the issue, and two years later, 23 students at Melbourne High School in Melbourne, Florida, USA, came together to form the first Interact club.

The word Interact stands for "international action," and today nearly 200,000 young people in more than 110 countries belong to some 8,700 clubs, making Interact a truly international phenomenon. All over the world, young people are spreading fellowship and international understanding through a wide array of Interact service activities.

How does Interact fit into the Rotary family?
Rotary International is a worldwide service organization for leading business and professional men and women, with more than 1.2 million members in over 31,000 Rotary clubs. Interact clubs are self-supporting and self-governing but receive guidance from a sponsoring Rotary club. This sponsorship is a result of Rotary’s belief that young people, or New Generations, should take an active interest in community life and have the opportunity to develop leadership skills. Interact provides a vehicle through which New Generations can find that involvement. Organizing an Interact club is one of the most rewarding activities a Rotary club can undertake in its community. The Interact program gives Rotarians the opportunity to mentor promising young men and women interested in serving their own communities as well as the global community.

Rotarians also act as resources for Interactors who are on the path toward becoming professionals and community leaders. In turn, an Interact club can bring new energy to a Rotary club, inspire fresh ideas for service, increase support of projects, and help develop future Rotarians.

What does an Interact club do?
The goal of international service through Interact is to encourage and foster the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of youth united in the ideal of service. Interact clubs organize a variety of projects and activities, depending primarily on the interests of the club members. However, within the Interact program, all clubs undertake activities to enhance leadership skills, serve their community, and expand international understanding. Together, these activities ensure a balanced club program and provide important experience and opportunities for the personal development of each Interactor.

All clubs undertake activities to enhance leadership skills, serve their community, and expand international understanding.

Service Above Self is Rotary’s foremost guiding principle. An Interact club’s service projects are designed to improve the quality of life at home and abroad. These projects often address today’s most critical issues, such as violence, drug abuse, AIDS, hunger, the environment, and illiteracy.

Each Interact club is required to complete at least two major service projects annually, one to serve the community and another to promote international understanding. Each should involve all or most of the members of the club.

Why organize an Interact club?
Today’s young people will become tomorrow’s parents, professionals, business leaders, and community leaders. With the help of programs like Interact, they can gain the tools and skills necessary to develop into responsible, productive members of society.

Now is the time for Rotary clubs to focus on the future by challenging New Generations to test their talents, develop new skills, and confront issues they will face in their lifetime. The Interact program can instill in its members life skills that can be shared with others for generations to come.

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