Sponsored by the Alamance County Rotary Club, one of Elon University's newest student organizations is commited to community and international service alongside professional and leadership development.
By Kaitlin Dunn ‘16
Nearly a dozen Elon University students are the founding members of a service and leadership organization officially chartered on campus this week by Rotary International.
The Elon Rotaract Club celebrated its return as a student organization in an Oct. 7 ceremony attended by members of the Rotary Club of Alamance, which sponsors the organization, and students who take part in the Alamance Community College Rotaract Club.
Rotaract clubs are the college equivalent of Rotary clubs. Members commit themselves to community and international service alongside professional and leadership development.
The evening program in Moseley Center featured a twist on traditional chartering ceremonies. Rotary Club of Alamance Grand Master Sang Ho Lee asked the Elon students to write words such as “fellowship” and “service” on thin wood planks he brought with him.
Each student then yelled “Rotaract” while punching or chopping their boards as a symbolic commitment to the club. Ho Lee encouraged the students to keep the boards on their walls at home to remind them of that commitment.
“Out of all the clubs in the world, I can bet that this is the only one to do something like this,” Lee said.
Lee was joined by Steve Carter, the chair of youth services for the Rotary Club of Alamance, and Francois Masuka, the club’s membership chair and advisor to the Rotaract Club. Masuka works for Elon as director of international student & faculty scholar services in the Isabella Cannon Global Education Center.
After students broke their boards, Carter pinned club officers to install them as Roteract members. Rotaract club president and Elon senior Emily Messerschmidt then pinned the rest of the club membership. The student organization received $250 from the Rotary Club of Alamance to be used in support of its programs.
More than 200,000 people take part in one of 9,000-plus Rotaract clubs around the world. Elon had a Rotaract Club until it dissolved in 2005. Messerschmidt started work two years ago to reinstate the club, and it was approved this semester as an official student organization.
One aim of Elon’s chapter is to start Interact clubs, which have similar purposes as Rotaract clubs, in local high schools. The Elon Rotaract Club will also work with its sister club in Uganda to promote community and global service within the two countries.
“The goal is to start teaching young, future leaders that they can contribute to their communities and make the world a better place at any level,” Masuka said. “The key is to instill in our young people the importance of doing good in their own community and helping another human being. There is a value to that.”