President's Message

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SEPTEMBER IS YOUTH SERVICE MONTH

Past Rotary International President John Kenny observes that our youth programs “are some of the most important programs of Rotary.” Through these programs, we impact the lives of young people in so many ways – students in schools and communities who belong to Interact Clubs, Rotaractors in one of 7,500 Clubs around the world, as a participant in a RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award), and YAIL (Youth Adventures In Leadership) or as a youth exchange students in any given year.  Lifelong connections and enduring relationships are formed, many of them cross-cultural, through participation in these programs that, in turn, have a lasting impact on peace and harmony between the nations of the world and their people.

Rotary has thirteen official programs and four of them are youth focused. But each of them should not be viewed in isolation. The four youth programs cover an age range of 14 to 30, the years of adolescence and young adulthood, and each is linked with the other in so many ways. Interactors can become Rotaractors as well as being youth exchange students or be a member of a youth exchange host family. Some RYLA programs around the world automatically include youth exchange students in their program whilst we hope that all our youth alumni will become Rotarians. They are our Rotarians of the future.

We are fortunate to have an active Interact Club with strong leadership. It is up to us to mentor and educate them about the ideals of Rotary. They are our leaders of tomorrow and a good background with Service Above Self will help to set a solid foundation.