Mentoring Bam trip |
Painting a mural in el barrio |
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February 25, 2019
The Teen Mentoring Program at Saugatuck High School took a day off from learning and headed over to BAM! Students bonded over bowling, laster tag, and arcade games. The Teen Mentoring Program is for high school students to provide support, offer friendship, and serve as role models to middle school students. Special thanks to the Saugatuck/Douglas Rotary Club for helping to sponsor this trip! |
February 2019
The SHS Interact Club Service Trip 2019 also went to an inner-city school in La Romana called El Barrio where they educate over 500 students. The Interact Club helped to paint ceilings and railings on a staircase, but more remained working to pain a mural of the island of Hispaniola designed by local Rotarian John Rotunda. |
Building a home in batey 106 |
holly jolly interact basketball extravaganza |
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February 2019
The SHS Interact Club Service Trip 2019 to the Dominican Republic involved making concrete by hand, creating a water bucket brigades, hauling sand and rock to and from the house being built. They moved lots of cinder blocks, but more importantly had to raise the floor levels in the house. They ended up raising the level up to three feet! |
December 21, 2018
The Interact Club hosted a fundraiser which included a bake sale, silent auction, a 50/50 raffle, and halftime games. We raised about $3,000 which will go towards the Interact Club’s efforts to build an additional school room in Batey 106, in the Dominican Republic. From the silent auction items, the club raised around $2,000 and around $900 from the bake sale! Thanks to all the local businesses that donated items to auction off to support our cause. |
bulb plantingNovember 10, 2018
The Interact crew helped out the Boy Scouts, Saugatuck/Douglas Rotary Club, and Saugatuck Township to plant over 1,200 daffodil bulbs at the Douglas Cemetery and the Riverside Cemetery. |
SCA concessionsSeptember 26, 2018 & October 22, 2018
We set up concessions stands at the SCA for two events, a screening of Screenagers and a Senior Seminar Presentation. We made around $250 at just the Screenagers event! |
the mentorship programSpring of 2018 & 2018-19 School Year
The Mentorship Program piloted in the spring of 2018 with around 12 mentors. Each week during the high schooler's third hour and the middle school’s lunch, the mentors would gather at the pit and talk to their mentee about their day and such. As for this year, Interact is continuing the program with the the mentees from last year and the new 6th graders this year. Our hope for this program is to help out kids that are either struggling in class or kids that are struggling socially become more confident with themselves. This year, Interact has almost double the amount of members involved! |
migrant fairAugust 1, 2018
Interact members went to the local migrant fair in Fennville. They passed out candy and different school supplies such as crayons, pencils, notebooks, etc. They also helped to give away lots of books to the kids. |
picking garlic mustardMay 12, 2018
Interact picked the invasive species, garlic mustard, at the Mount Baldhead steps and Oxbow. |
Concrete wallFebruary 2018
The 2018 Dominican Travelers helped to build a concrete wall around the newly built school in Batey 106. This concrete wall helped to increase security around the freshly built school room. |
sylvia's place |
batey 106 school completed |
November 18, 2017
Interact members helped out at Sylvia's Place, a domestic violence shelter, by brightening up the rooms and sorting toys and books! |
September 7, 2017
Last March, we launched our crowdsource fundraiser through YouCaring with the goal of raising $25,000. With the generous support of Rotary and the community, we raised the funds by June. The school was constructed by August and class is now in session, teaching twice as many kids as before. The Maranatha Mission partnered with the Dominican Ministry of Education. In addition to providing an education for these students, the school also served as a shelter during Hurricane Irma which hit the Dominican Republic. |
painting a schoolFebruary 2017
Interact members helped to paint a school in another batey called Batey Como Quieres. It took them two days to finish painting the school. |
apple pickingSeptember 24, 2016
Students went to the farm of Mr. Al Van Den Brink and picked 20 bushels of apples for Christian Neighbors. Christian Neighbors then distributed these apples to people in need throughout the community. |
grace of douglas visitDecember 2015
A group of students made fleece blankets and then brought them over to the Grace of Douglas and visited with the residents for a morning. The residents were overjoyed to have new people to talk to and were very grateful for the blankets. |
reading to migrantsSummer 2015
Over the summer, the Interact Club went on two trips to a migrant camp in West Olive, Michigan. The students met the children that live in the camp after they returned from either school or from picking blueberries in the fields. The children got blankets and picked out a book from a pile to read with the Interact students. The Interact students read to the children in English and in Spanish. After an hour of reading, the children played games with the students. The kids showed them fun games with blown up balloons, a soccer ball, and other running games. After hours of fun, it was time for the Interact Students to leave the migrant camp and head back to Saugatuck. The students learned a lot about the conditions that these traveling pickers have to face and what that means for their children's education. "By seeing these hardships faced by these children, I am beginning to understand the greater issues faced by those who live in these camps," said junior Kit. The club wants to visit the camp next summer, as well. |
hat/bandana dayJune 2015
On Friday, the Interact Club put on a fundraiser where students could wear a hat or a bandanna for $1. The fundraiser was very successful, and the club made $325.91. The success of the fundraiser came from lots of support from Saugatuck's Class of 2016. Some of the class of 2016, along with a few Interact members, helped collect donations around the school the morning that the fundraiser took place. Students in the middle and high school participated in this fundraiser. The week previous, Co-President Joey Cappelletti, created a promotional video that was shown in all the classes that informed students and teachers that our funds were going to build a school in Batey 106. A lot of students were willing to donate because they had a better idea on where the funds were going and believed in the cause. |
latrinesFebruary 2015
Saugatuck Interact members helped to build latrines in Batey 106. After building the first wave of latrines, the Interact Club decided to continue building more latrines. This provided a more sanitary option for community members. |
smoothie thursdays2013-2014 and 2014-2015 School Year
The Saugatuck Interact Club created a fundraiser called Smoothie Thursdays. With grant money that they received in the 2012-2013 school year, the Interact Club was able to purchase two Ninja blenders. The idea of the fund raiser was to create all natural smoothies every Thursday, and sell them after school for two dollars to students. The club received fruit donations from Birds Eye Fruit and Krupka's in Fennville, Michigan and supply donations from DeMond's Supervalu in Douglas, Michigan. Every Thursday, a few Interact Club members would be dismissed from their last hour class to help set up, make and sell smoothies. The smoothies were made and sold in the concession stand in the school and there was a little cart that went around the school that sold them, too. The students at Saugatuck High School loved the smoothies the Interact Club made. Overall, the fundraiser was very successful. |
cans in the sandMay 16, 2014
On Saturday May 16th, 14 students from Saugatuck High School came together to paint 10 cans that will be put on Oval Beach and around the City of Saugatuck this summer. The cans promote throwing trash away rather than littering the landscape. Liz Engle, a local community member, presented the project to the Interact Club earlier this year. Engle liked the idea of the project because it supported beach clean up. From there, the idea of brightly colored trash cans was born. The Interact Club was given a variety of bold, colorful paint to decorate the metal trash barrels. The cans were then covered with fun designs and phrases that promoted throwing trash in the cans, rather than tossed onto the landscape. The cans were picked up last week, and they will make their debut within the next few weeks. |
latrinesJune 2014
Saugatuck Interact members helped to build latrines in Batey 106. After installing water filters for two years, the club decided to shift their focus from clean water to healthy hygiene. These latrines provide access to a more sanitary option for community members. |
water filtration systemsJune 2012 - June 2013
Interact students raised funds to build water filtration systems in the Dominican Republic. This allowed community members to have safer access to clean drinking water. |