News and Events
Students at MHC start Rotaract Club on campus
March 8, 2016
(Image Left to Right) Back row: Selena Burnett, Zach Heinricks, Tendai Alabi, Michelle Walbaum, Stephanie Silva, Britney Cleavley, Teanna Moar, Ernie Benesch and Martin Harvey. Front row: Nikki Girouard, Jennifer Ulm, Jenna Frehlick and Lacey Pritchard
Rotaract Club focuses on giving back locally through fundraising initiatives
There’s a new Rotaract Club at Medicine Hat College (MHC) thanks to the efforts of a few dedicated nursing students.
“We are working on building a foundation for MHC’s new Rotaract group,” says Teanna Moar, second year nursing student and president of the club. “It will be cool once we get students from other programs to get involved.”
Closely tied to Rotary International, Rotaract is a student-driven club with chapters around the world that is focused on leading initiatives that make a difference in the community, and around the world, while also providing members the opportunity to develop their leadership skills through social gatherings, workshops and presentations.
Although they just received official certification the group is already embarking on two fundraising campaigns for the student food bank, including a food drive on Fridays and lip sync battle and karaoke night later in March.
“We wanted to start something that would have a direct impact on campus, and after speaking with Denise Henning [Rotary member and president and CEO of MHC] we felt that the Food Bank was a great initiative,” says Moar. “The current state of the economy is making it so that resources like these are being used more often, so there is less of it, which is why we are really passionate about helping.”
“I attended the Medicine Hat Rotary Club meeting which was really helpful, because as soon as I went there, I had a flock of members offering assistance. They’ve been helping with the administrative work, making connections, letting me know what the next steps should be and what they are doing for fundraisers,” says Moar.
Moar explains that eventually she would like to partner with groups like the Sunrise Rotary Club on some of their local and international campaigns.
“Last semester through my program we did community nursing, so we were able to see all the different initiatives that we could help out with, like the Medicine Hat Youth Action Society, Salvation Army, and Food Bank. Just seeing all of those needs made starting a club that could make a difference that much more appealing to me,” says Moar.
