independence interact first semester newsletter

Interact First Semester Newsletter 1

INTERACT F I R S T S E M E S T E R

N EWSLETTER

By: Joyce Huang & Phong Hong

INDEPENDENCE HIGH SCHOOL

Interact is a more than a community service club because it also provides abundant opportunities for friendship and leadership. Through Interact Club, different individuals come together with the same visions, to better our community and change the world. Interactors also make a unique global impact

with a different International Project each year. This year’s project, entitled “Life, Love, Literacy,” involves raising $100,000 to build a school and library in Bangladesh to promote literacy.

We welcome you to Interact!


Co-Community Officer’s Message…….1

Independence Interact Goals …………2

Community Service Events………..….3

Chinese Moon Festival

Interkey Campus Beautification

Overfelt Garden Beautification

Fundraisers……………...……………6

Ice Skating

Bake Sale

Major Events…………………….........7

Intercircles

Charity Dinner

Upcoming Events……………………..8

Area 456 Dance

Benefit Show

Leadership Team……………………..9

Hey, Interactors! We are proud to present our

first semester newsletter filled with fun

pictures, summaries, and quotes to recap our

first semester activities and achievements.

It is so exciting to see youth impassioned and

united in their goal of making the world a

better place through local service events and

their support for the International Project. The

passion and enthusiasm with which you,

Interactors, have exuded throughout the year

truly exemplify “Service Above Self,” and

demonstrate how to work hard and play hard.

It’s not always easy to make time to pick up

litter, serve food at Loaves and Fishes, attend

Intercircles, or go to Charity Dinner, but you

guys have gone above and beyond and should

be very proud of yourselves.

We hope that Interact has become a niche in

your life where you have found joy in working

and bonding with others who want to change

the world as well.

Continue to inspire the uninspired, do good,

and have a ton of fun while you’re at it! Thank

you, Interactors, for being such wonderful,

compassionate, hardworking people. We hope

that this newsletter will help you cherish all

your amazing Interact memories.

Peace. Love. Interact!

Joyce Huang & Phong Hong

The members want to share their Interact

experience with you! So watch out for these

boxes throughout the newsletter, and be sure to

fill out our surveys for the next newsletter to

see your opinions featured!

Co-Community

Officer s Message

Why did you join Interact?

What was favorite

Interact event?


Every year, Interact wants to aim higher in achieving both monetary goal for our international project, “Life, Love, Literacy”, and our community service hour goal. As a club, we work together to achieve these

goals that we set forth for ourselves. We have 5 more months until we reach our goals! For first semester, these are our progresses so far:

Independence interact goals

Monetary Service Hour

“I am drawn to Interact by how much it feels like a family.

Everyone is so kind, motivated, and passionate about

service and I really get the sense that I am doing something

good. I look forward to the meetings, because I feel I am

missing out on this feeling if I don’t go, and I learn something

new and meet new people every time I attend a service

event.”

–Ashna Mangla, Freshman

“My favorite evens would have to be service events because

there's always something to do during these events. For

example, the Fish & Loaves event, we constantly had roles to do

from setting up and cutting onions to cleaning the numerous

dishes. What drew me into Interact Club was that I never really

felt like I was a part of the school before I joined and now it feels

like I'm making a difference even if it doesn't seem big.”

– Bryan Truong, Senior

Goal: 6,500

Where we are: 3,697

Goal: $5,000

Where we are:$ 1,452

71

84

44

64

678.5

1208.5

505.7

1153.3

Class

Service

HOURS

ACTIVE

MEMBERS


Community service events

For a whole summer, Interactors along with other community service

club volunteers from Key Club, CSF, and UNICEF, met at Overfelt

Gardens to prepare crafts for the annual Chinese Moon Festival. The

Craft Days are great social, bonding events where you can also learn

how to make paper stars, fold paper bags, and other crafts.

On the day of Chinese Moon Festival, around seventy volunteers

helped set up, ran, and took down the whole festival. We were

responsible for running the booths where children come to make

crafts including Emperor’s Hat and beaded bracelets.

In between volunteering, there was also some time for volunteers to

check out performances in front of the temple. Some acts included

dancing, singing, storytelling with puppets, and even lion dancing!

With three months of planning and for the event, everyone was

satisfied with the result of their hard work!

CHINESE MOON FESTIVAL

“My first event was a craft day at Overfelt

Gardens, and it was a ton of fun. I hung out

with my friends, met new people, and

finally learned how to fold paper stars!” -

Catiana Cartwright, Freshman

Interkey Campus beautification

Two heads are better than one. Two clubs can get more work

done! Key Club and Interact have been building a strong

relationship throughout the years. We believe that with the

help of one another, we can accomplish MUCH more. On

November 9th,Key Clubers and Interactors joined forces to

beautify our campus. We collected bags and bags of trash,

forming a semi-mountainous pile. It was a job well done with

plenty of Interkey bonding!

“The main thing that draws me into this

club is the people and how nice they

are!” –Harrison Nguyen, Freshman


Talking about working through rain

or shine! The Overfelt Beautification

was our big community service

project, and despite a slight drizzle,

Interactors braved the on and off

OVERFELTGARDEN BEAUITIFICATION

“ Every event that I’ve attended so far

for Interact has been amazing. I

absolutely love the feeling of being

able to help out and create a positive

influence in the community. Another

reason as to why I chose service

events is the type of people who I am

volunteering with. The leaders of these

events and the volunteers who I am

working with are just fantastic. Every

single one of these people is so

friendly and sweet, they make the

volunteering experience superb and

much more memorable.”

–Melissa Ly, Sophomore

“My favorite Interact-related event was

the Haunted House event because

we got to play games, walk into the

haunted house, and help make crafts

for smaller kids.”

–Kevin Luong, Freshman

weather to spruce up Overfelt Gardens. We

picked up litter, pulled weeds, and raked leaves.

The weather improved as the event went on, and

everybody got a lot of good bonding time while

working. Afterward, we enjoyed a good cup of hot

chocolate with some cookies. It was a well-

deserved treat after 3 hours of god work!

Mural Painting For artists who love to work with

senior citizens, this was the

perfect event! For three months,

we went to the senior citizen

home to paint a mural for seniors

who have alzheimer's. Most

volunteers picked up a few

painting tricks after the event!

Good Karma Bikes Through the event, we learned how

to build a bike from scratch! From

checking for flat tires to fitting it in

the rim, we went through a long

process that led us to completing

our own bicycle tires. The bikes that

we helped made went to individuals

who were struggling financially but

needed a form of environmental-

friendly transportation.

“I heard that Interact Club is one of the

biggest clubs in IH S. I join and stay in

this club because I can do a lot of

community service to help people.”

–Nhu Nguyen, Freshman


“I had a fun time and got more

experiences when I do community

service.”

–Nhu Nguyen, Freshman

“My favorite event was the Coastal Creek

Clean Up because right when we started, I

knew I would love Interact!”

–Alexander Nguyen, Freshman

Food Drive Food Drive events are a specialty of Interact. Every year, we host

Fall Food Drive in front of supermarkets. There, we ask for food and

monetary donations, which are distributed to less fortunate

individuals during the holiday season. We also work at food pantries,

where we sort out different types of food to make them more

accessible for the customers.

“Service events. These events are

my favorite because when I give

service to other people, it not only

helps the community, but it also helps

me become a better person.”

–Disha Nangia, Freshman

Relay for Life The Relay for Life event is a

celebration of the fundraising for

the American Cancer Society,

and Interactors made it a

success! For five hours at Relay

for Life, the volunteers walked

around the track, helped

decorate bags and joined many

other activities including

dancing, singing, and tug-of-war.


Fundraisers

On Friday, December 14th, Interactors from

Independence HS and Evergreen HS had a blast

skating at Logitech Ice Arena to fundraise for our

International Project. Even with a few falls here

and there, everybody was seen with big grins on

their faces!

Ice Skating

Bake Sale Over the summer, we set up bake sales to raise money

for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life

Event. Thank you to the volunteers who participated

in the “Baking Days” and Bake Sales! Volunteers

learned how to make baked goodies, sold them in front

of grocery stores, and bonded with other Interactors at

the same time. Good job, 2012 Relay For Life Team!

Our efforts enabled us to raise $220 for the American

Cancer Society!

“ Interact has a great community where

everyone is friendly towards each

other.” –Bryan Truong, Senior

“The thing that draws me into Interact

Club is that I can make new friends

and spend time with old ones by

doing service. I stayed because I

really enjoy being with people I know

and knowing they respect me.”

–Royson Lin, Freshman

“What draws me to Interact is how it

has so much to offer and how it

makes you feel better as a person. I

also admire Interact because it taught

me a lot, and I want to give back to it.”

–Disha Nangia,, Freshman

“My sister has been in Interact for a while, and I always thought it looked

great, which is why I joined in the first place. Once I was acquainted with

a few of the fantastic officers and board members, I decided that there

was no way I could leave.” –Catiana Cartwright, Freshman


Major events

intercircles Intercircles are social events for anybody interested in

learning more about Interact. Intercircles also focus on leadership building, such as teaching interested members how to apply for a board

member position. We have small and large group discussions, play fun icebreakers

to get to know each other, and play teamwork games, such as building a tower.

What engineering marvels! As you can see from the pictures, the teams had to work

with limited materials. They used only tape, magazines, styrofoam cups, popsicle

sticks, and dried noodles! We also “disabled” some people from using their hands or

talking to make them work together despite these barriers.

“What drew me into Interact was

the abundance of opportunities

that a person could take in order to

better oneself or the community. I

stayed because of the people

who are involved with this amazing

club. It’s astounding how so many

awesome people could be

involved with Interact; it’s like all the

benevolent people who go to

Independence are affiliated with

this club. After becoming a

member of Interact, I realized how

friendly, inspirational, and

compassionate everyone in this

club is.”

–Melissa Ly, Sophomore

“The people drew me into

Interact, and I stayed because it

felt that I truly was in one big

family.”

–Alexander Nguyen, Freshman

One of our biggest fundraising events of the year,

Charity Dinner is a fantastic night spent with good

food, good company, and phenomenal performances

by local talents. Performances include cultural

dance clubs such as Tahitian and Korean Club,

other dance groups, singing groups or soloists,

instrumentalists, and much more. The audience

also enjoyed the meal cooked by the Interactors

themselves.

Charity Dinner

“My favorite Interact event has got to be

the A6 Charity Dinner because I was

able to get on stage and do something I

never thought I was able to do.”

–Harrison Nguyen, Freshman

“I loved the Charity Dinner a lot! I

got to eat with my old friends and

the performances were amazing.”

–Royson Lin, Freshman


Upcoming events

The upcoming glow-in-the-dark themed Area

456 Dance will be a night to remember with the

highly esteemed DJ Technick, strobe lights, and of

course awesome Interactors from different Areas to

meet! Have a blast while also contributing to our

International Project, “Life, Love, Literacy.”

Area 456 Dance

*** Only high school students can attend***

Benefit Show

Benefit Show is another big fundraising

event for our International Project. It is a fun

night of performances from local talents, and

usually, some YouTube stars such as Brian Dublin

or Jam Zumel, making guest appearances.

Watch your favorite modern dances, cultural

dances, singing groups/solos, instrumental

performances, etc., sometimes even yodeling! Like

Charity Dinner, you can also audition to be a

performer yourself. The date and location will be

announced. Check out last year benefit show!

“What drew me into Interact

Club was my friends, but I

stayed because of the

awesome and fun events I went

to.”

– Kevin Luong, Freshman

“My favorite Interact experience is FLC. It

was my first event, and I really became

aware of how huge Interact is, and saw the

number of Interactors, all so spirited in

spreading their Interact love. It was truly an

inspirational experience, and was my spark

for Interact.”

–Ashna Mangla, Freshman


Leadership team

This is Interact’s leadership team! Consisting of advisor, officers, and board members, the leadership team work together to organize the club and plan community service events as well as fundraisers for the members. If there

is one quote that describes the leadership team, it has to be, “Lead By Examples.” The team not only leads the members through the actions that they take both inside and outside Interact club, but they also motivate each

other through their hard work and dedication.

Officers

C O-P R E S I D E N T Jeffrey Chan & Thien Tran

C O-S E C R E T A R Y Eric Nguyen & Katrina Dang

C O-M E D I A Chelsey Cartwright & David Luu

C O-C O M M U N I T Y Joyce Huang & Phong Hong

T R E A S U R E R Hoa Ngo

Board Members J U N I O R S

Brendan Truong

Dat Do

Jeffrey Yu

Tuong Huynh

Zi Li Liu

S O P H O M O R E S Annie Vu

Angelina Dith

Cindy Nguyen

Lamanh Le

Lindsay Bui

Howard Wong

Justin Wiltron

Maddie Takemori

Sabrina Nguyen

Tommy Manokoune

Yan-Ling Lu

F R E S H M E N Alexander Nguyen

Andrew Yu

Ashna Mangla

Catiana Cartwright

Disha Nangia

Harrison Nguyen

Kevin Luong

Sylvia Nguyen

Advisors

F A C U L T Y Stacy Johnson

R O T A R Y Nick Leon

S E N I O R S Andrew Tran

Colin Nguyen

Edward Cabusora

Jason Phan

Kathie Phan

Kenneth Go

Kim Ngo


INTERACT Club Thursday at lunch

COME JOIN

A-Commons

Thank you for reading our newsletter! Whether you are a current member of Interact or someone who just learned about this club, we hope that you have enjoyed reading about the Interact experience. For those who are interested in making a change in our community, it’s never too late to join Interact club.

Let’s continue to serve the community and share the Interact love.

independence interact first semester newsletter

Documents

semester newsletter

community service events

community service club

community service hour

local service events

goals monetary service

semester activities

f i r s t s e