Year in Review: 2015-2016

Prior Lake High School Interact Club is officially two years old! This year has been monumental in regards to the amount of projects and events that the club has hosted and participated in. As the 2015-2016 school year comes to a close, this blog post is a review of what the club has done in a year.

Executive Board

President - Megan Hofslien

Vice President - Ben Ward

Secretary - Hannah Amundson

Treasurer - Jackie Welke

Communications Coordinator - Alyssa Wong

Exploratory Director - Kate Bickett

Staff Advisers

Mrs. Aikey

Ms. Madsen

Prior Lake Rotary Liaisons

Susan Perez

Jennifer Deshaine

Official Members

Hannah Amundson, Kate Bickett, Aleeky Hernandez, Connor Hofslien, Megan Hofslien, Tessa Jarvi, Milena Koops, Christina Laaiden, Anna Perez, Alyssa Ploof, Kalli Ploof, Marisa Popple, Sarah Scherer, Will Schult, Marco van Heteren-Freeze, Ben Ward, Jackie Welke, Alyssa Wong, Megan Zentner

October Project and Events

Interact Club Banner

Feed My Starving Children

Operation Gratitude

November Event

R.O.C.K.

December Project

Build-A-House

February Project and Events

Mardi Gras Gala

Sew-A-Thon

Cards for Hospitalized Kids

March Events

New Member Recognition

Bridging

May Project

Night in a Box

On behalf of Prior Lake High School Interact Club, thank you for an amazing year!

Night in a Box

With the help of Ms. Madsen's suggestion, Interact members decided that the final project of the year would be bringing awareness to homelessness. For Night in a Box, Interact members constructed cardboard box "shelters" to sleep in overnight (May 26th) at the Prior Lake High School's front entrance. 

To commence the project, members split up into four committees. Board members Megan Hofslien and Kate Bickett led the fundraising committee, Ben Ward and Hannah Amundson led the supplies committee, Jackie Welke led the activities committee, and Alyssa Wong led the advertisement committee. 

A total of 13 Interact members signed up for the event. Susan Perez and Ms. Madsen stayed the night with the members. Members met at the high school's student entrance at 9:30 P.M. and began constructing "homes" for the night. 

After construction was finished, Interact members used chalk to write down facts about homelessness that would be seen as students walked into school the next morning.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there are over 600,000 homeless people in the United States on any given night. Over 138,000 of these people are under the age of 18. In 2015 alone, there were 9,312 homeless people in Minnesota. This shocking truth inspired the Prior Lake High School Interact Club to bring awareness to a very serious topic. 

The next morning, Interact members woke up bright and early to prepare for the arrival of students. Two mugs were set out in front of the cardboard box homes to collect donations from student of Prior Lake High School. As students were entering the school, they had the opportunity to observe the harsh reality of a typical home of the homeless as well as reading facts about homelessness on the cement. A total of $188.24 was collected from the students in the morning.

Each Interact member had the responsibility of raising at least $100 for the event. Including the donations from students, a grand total of $1,696.24 was raised for Night in a Box. This amount will be split and donated to Simpson Housing and Families Moving Forward. 

By spending one night in a cardboard box, Interact members were able to experience some aspects of what many must go through for more than a night. We were very lucky to be able to hold the event on a nice spring night; however, the reality is that many homeless people must spend nights outside in rain or even freezing cold temperatures. We had the warmth of clean clothes and sleeping bags, while many homeless do not. We had access to food, clean water, and a bathroom - things many homeless are not able to find. While Night in a Box was a very eye-opening experience for all who participated, the experience is no where near the difficult lives that homeless people must face. Therefore, Interact Club is truly passionate about raising awareness of the depth of this large issue.

Thank you to all those who donated to this event. Thank you to Mr. Lund and Mrs. Fuller for supporting the project, the Jarvi family for donating many large boxes, and Ms. Aikey, Ms. Madsen, and Susan Perez for helping with all facets of the event. Night in a Box was a very successful final project to conclude the 2015-2016 school year.  

Bridging

On the morning of Saturday, May 21st, a couple Interact members helped out Prior Lake Rotary with the annual Bridging furniture drive. According to Bridging's website, "Through the effective reuse of donated items, we improve lives by providing quality furniture and household goods to those transitioning out of homelessness and poverty." This is such a wonderful organization to truly demonstrate "service above self."

Pictured from left to right: Aleeky Hernandez, Paul Perez, and Anna Perez.

2016-2017 Board Members

Thursday, May 5th, was election day for Interact Club. Congratulations to all of our new board members who will be serving as leaders of the club next school year. It will be a wonderful experience!

President: Kalli Ploof

Vice President: Christina Laridaen

Communications Coordinator: Alyssa Ploof

Secretary: Sarah Scherer

Treasurer: To be determined next fall.

Pictured from left to right: Alyssa Ploof, Sarah Scherer, Kalli Ploof, and Christina Laridaen

Prior Lake Rotary Donation

At the Prior Lake Rotary meeting on Wednesday, April 6th, Prior Lake High School Interact Club president, Megan Hofslien, accepted a check for the club's volunteer work at the Mardi Gras Gala in February. This check will be used toward Interact Club's final project of the year of raising awareness for homelessness. 

Pictured from left to right: Susan Perez, Megan Hofslien, and Bill Schult

Thank you Prior Lake Rotary for this generous donation! Interact Club truly enjoyed volunteering at the Mardi Gras Gala!

New Member Recognition 2016

During the morning meeting on Thursday, March 10th, new Prior Lake Interact Club members were recognized and inducted. New members for the 2015-2016 school year are Aleeky Hernandez, Marco van Heteren-Freeze, Connor Hofslien, Milena Koops, Christina Laridaen, Alyssa Ploof, Kalli Ploof, Marisa Popple, and Megan Zentner. 

Pictured from left to right: Alyssa Ploof, Kalli Ploof, Milena Koops, Connor Hofslien, and Susan Perez

Prior Lake Interact Club is beyond grateful for all the new members! The year has been amazing so far, and we are all looking forward to finishing the year off strongly.

Cards for Hospitalized Kids

At the morning member meeting on Thursday, February 19th, Interact members spent time making cards for hospitalized children. The cards incorporated motivational encouragement, colorful drawings, and demonstrated the admiration all these children deserve. Special thank you to the organization, Cards for Hospitalized Kids, for providing an opportunity to provide hope and joy to brave, commendable children.