I started in Rotary through Interact when Salisbury Composite High School started a group in 2009. To be honest, I sort of fell into the role of VP due to being the only founding member that was not set to graduate that year. Despite that, the club grew exponentially the next year, during which I was the president elect. We raised enough funds to firmly establish the club’s future including $5,000 dollars during one student-only event (Wake-A-Thon), qualified and received a presidential citation for the club, and managed to bring down a playground in partnering with the Emmanuel Foundation and school supplies for the Liberty Children’s home in Belize. I believe that Rotary has shaped me, far more than I have ever shaped it, starting with the fact that I changed majors at the U of A part way through my first year, going from an English degree to a BA in Psychology that allowed me to complete an undergraduate thesis on how peer victimization (i.e. bullying) impacted children’s empathy and hostile attribution bias over time.

 

My expanding interest in psychology led to step back from Rotary for a couple years although I had been the U of A Rotaract’s secretary for two years, so that I was able to volunteer at the Peer Support Centre on campus. The PSC is a student-on-student counseling service that helps people through a supportive listening model that takes in everything from break-ups to school stress as well as higher risks including suicide, abuse, assault, third-party concerns and offending. 

 

I graduated with my BA in June and have applied to pursue my Master’s in Counselling because for me I found a natural trajectory that fused my thesis work and an interest in seeing adult clients into wanting to help those experiencing intimate partner violence. I currently am helping start a crisis volunteer program at the Lurana Shelter so that their staff can have experienced volunteers take some of the client and administration duties to lighten their hands. In the next year as I wait to hear the decision on my graduate school applications I am hoping to find accessible work related to counselling.

 

So my reasoning for wanting to join Rotary officially again is simply that it has long been a part of my life and mindset and I would appreciate the opportunity to give back to it again.