Interact Club presidents take part in New Generations Officers Training

The Interact Club presidents on Saipan took part in their first New Generation Officers Training last Friday at Saipan Southern High School in Koblerville.

The NGOT session was participated by the presidents of the four Interact clubs, Evangeline Taitingfong of Kagman High School Interact Club, Gwanpil Son of Marianas High School Interact Club, Soledad Sablan of Saipan International School Interact Club, and Memama Asep of SSHS Interact Club and facilitated by the SSHS Interact Club immediate past president Kayla Li and SSHS Interact club advisor Genelin Anne Camacho.

According to Camacho, the training was supposed to be done last year but due to facilitator’s conflicts of schedule, the training was only held last Friday. NGOT was created to mirror the President-Elect Training Seminar of the Rotary Club.

“Per our PETS (President-Elect Training Seminar) in Guam back in May, our assistant district governor this year informed us that going forward, we should have our own PETS-style seminar in all of our clubs, including Interact and Rotaract, so that we can achieve growth and continuity in and among our clubs. On the other hand, my former students and fellow leaders suggested the idea before as well,” she said.

The training includes the history of the Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact as well as Rotary’s vision statement—”Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities, and ourselves.”

Li shared during the training how she wished they had more guidance and training in the past as this could have helped her and fellow Interact leaders have more structure and direction in the club.

Meanwhile, Taitingfong shared her experience on the training.

“I have learned the history of Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact and the people who started it and what this organization does that is spread around the world for their communities. The best part is meeting new people, sharing ideas on what we can do to combine schools, to create fun and impactful events for our island and the villages we can help. As president, my club needs to be more involved in our island and organize volunteer activities such as beach cleanups, school functions, and ensure a safe environment for everyone. To be able to do that we collaborate with Rotary and Rotaract and other schools on what are some ideas we can implement to give back to our community by fostering a positive change and supporting local needs,” she said.

Camacho added to improve their recruitment and retention program, they will also be conducting a Rotaract-led training.

“In the future, we will have a Rotaract-led training so as to provide a more structured guidance and ongoing support for our Interact clubs and to implement one of our Rotary district’s goals of recruiting and retaining Interactors, Rotaractors, and Rotarians in our region, a part of our strategic planning for the next few years; also, we are considering rotating the training facilitation so that all clubs have the chance to lead the seminar.”

MHS is the first Interact Club founded in 2012, followed by Kagman High School Interact Club in 2015. The third and fourth Interact Clubs were Saipan International School Interact Club and Saipan Southern High School Interact Club, respectively, both founded in September 2017. Green Meadows High School was recently added when it was officially chartered in April 2024.