Julia Donelly and Danielle Shayani, juniors, walk into a classroom to see 84 students filling the space to capacity, creating a long line outside the classroom for hopefuls who may have arrived late, but still want to get in.  The students focused their attention on the front, as Donelly and Shayani began to explain their brand new club: Interact.

Shayani and Donelly are both cofounders of the new club.  Interact was designed for students wanting to get involved in giving back to the community.  Students will be participating in charity related work on many different levels.

“Interact is a Rotary Club for High School students. Rotary is an organization that gives back to society on the international level and on the community level. In our club, we plan on volunteering and partnering with the Hinsdale Rotary Club while learning leadership skills in order to become better leaders for our club, school, and town,” Donelly said.

The club will be divided into four separate committees, based on cause.  The committees include charities related to children, animals, poverty, and international topics.  Upon deciding these committees, two or three leaders will be picked to take charge of the separate groups.  According to Shayani, this process allows students to become more involved.

“Julia and I plan to allow each committee to lead a quarter in the year. This means that students in the committee will be responsible for planning events for one quarter in the year, corresponding to their committee’s statement. We hope this will make students feel like they have a large part in Interact and be able to plan fun and meaningful events for the entire club,” Shayani said.

Interact will meet on Thursday mornings in room 254 about once a month to discuss and plan events.  In addition, members will be participating in organized charitable events.

“I’m hoping to get a lot of people on board and devoted to Interact. As a new club, there is a lot of organizing to do and figuring out where exactly we want to go from here, but I know that Danielle and I make a great team. I expect that Interact will be the kind of club that Central needs and by next year, it will be in full swing. I can’t wait to start making a difference,” Donelly said.