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.