One of the newest additions to Loy Norrix’s growing community of after school clubs and activities promises to be a haven for high school students wishing to exercise their leadership skills.

The Interact club, which is led by junior Benjamin Sierra-Torres, meets every other Wednesday afternoon in the school cafeteria. From there, members discuss and delegate potential community service projects to undertake.

“We tell them to go into the community, search for projects you know you can carry out,” said Oluwayomi Adedeji, also known as Mr. Yomi, an educator at Loy Norrix and the Interact club advisor. The most important virtue for any student considering joining the Interact club is service above self.

“It’s a great place to learn to work in the community, while not being supervised by adults as much” Said Benjamin Sierra-Torres. “I love helping everyone help others” 

“To make leaders, you have to train them in meetings… people don’t often understand that you can come from anywhere and become a leader,” said Yomi. 

When it comes to developing useful leadership skills for the future, the Interact club of Loy Norrix places all students on the same level playing field.

The Norrix Interact club, which is a subsidiary of Rotary International, has ambitions to expand the sphere of community work students have access to. As the club grows larger and receives more recognition, the odds that students might soon find themselves working abroad increase.

“We work in established places right now. Salvation Army, and The Gospel Mission.” said Benjamin Sierra-Torres. “We’re trying to get as many students to join as possible for a bigger impact.”  

“We go anywhere in the world where there is need,”  Yomi explained about the potential for Loy Norrix’s new club members to find opportunities abroad. However, current students are content to search for their own volunteer work within the Western Michigan Area.

Overall, Interact club is for students who wish to exercise healthy leadership, cooperation and outward thinking. In the Interact club students can hang out with friends after school, give back to the community.  It’s easy to see why students are joining the interact club to grow both as students, and as citizens in a larger community.

As Junior Natalie Jurgia said, “I wanted to be a part of something that wasn’t just for me…. and also, food.”