Presentation to our juniors

With a new year, the time comes to introduce fresh talent to our club. Our ICRB orientation for our A1s was met by a large audience. We were delighted that the classroom – where it was held – was packed with our juniors and in fact some had to stand because they could not get seats. We were not delighted they had to stand of course.

The juniors saw two video clips. The first was a short promotional video, simply a preview of Interact international. Second video was ‘Interact – a part of Rotary’ and it clarified many common questions about Interact and Rotary International. It showed that Interactors and Rotarians are a strong global community with the shared desire to help the poor and disabled. Featuring interviews from Interactors in Europe and Rotarians in Los Angeles, this video gave our audience an insight to various ways Interactors and Rotarians have reached out to their local and global community. Organising cooking classes, neighborhood cleanups, caring for the elderly and disabled, providing essential supplies to schools in Kenya, and even holding wheelchair basketball tournaments are examples of Interact’s and Rotary’s efforts in the video.    

The video also gave a preview of RYLA. RYLA is Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and in the clip, a RYLA program in the USA showed our juniors how their high school peers over there developed leadership skills, learnt to cooperate with others, and become real leaders.

The last part of the clip was about Rotary Youth Exchange. Youths get the opportunity to experience another culture far from home and to understand common bonds everyone shares in any place. They understand the important differences people in another country have and to respect that.

Following this, Itr. Piyush Bhopalka (Charter President) and Itr. Aarjit Adhikary (President 2011-12) gave a detailed explanation of the initiation, role, and goals of ICRB. They highlighted ‘Reach Within to Embrace Humanity’, our theme for the year and the programs they had in mind regarding it.

Questions and Answers was next. Itr. Piyush and Itr. Aarjit made sure they answered every question our audience put forth carefully so that they could have no doubt left. They explained again about ICRB’s initiation, our past accomplishments and future plans. Lastly, they made it clear only those who were certain they could work hard for the club should join and appealed to our juniors to make their decision wisely.  

ICRB orientation was a success and we were pleased it turned out smoothly. It was clear many juniors were eager to become a part of our family and make a difference.