Rachelle Phillips is a graduate assistant to Dr. Sally Ray in Western Ky University's Communications Department. Rachelle is Miss Kentucky 2007 and will be teaching freshman speech this fall. This semester she has been very helpful assisting Cheryl Kirby Stokes, Dr. Sally Ray, Kevin Mayes and Vickie Elrod in establishing a Rotaract Club on campus. Rotaract is a special program of Rotary for College Students of any age or in a community club for people ages 18 to 30.
We had a big turnout of dignitaries for the inauguration. I'll have more photos later but I'll summarize the happenings at our April 22, 2009 meeting. District Governor Terry Shockley commended the success of this endeavor. Bill Sherman was here from the Prospect Club and is our District Rotaract Club Chairman and also down from Louisville was Mary Kathryn DeLodder. She is the District 6710 Rotaract Representative. She was in Interact the High School program for Rotary and was in the Rotaract Club in Murray and in graduate school at U of L. She is now in a community Rotaract Club called Rotaract Club of Greater Louisville.
Mary Kathryn reviewed the history of Rotaract. It was started by the Charlotte NC club in 1968 in cooperation with the UNC Charlotte. (Our own Bob Kleier was a member of that club later and knew the man that was instrumental starting Rotaract.) The name may be a contraction of Rotary Interaction. There are clubs all over the world. Members meet twice monthly and in nearly other respects mirror a standard Rotary Club. Mary Kathryn reviewed the goals of an Rotaract Club and also talked about the responsibilties of the sponsoring clubs. In this instance the Noon and AM clubs need a continuing involvement. We are invited to attend meetings. We may be called upon at times to mentor or speak as well as help with club projects. Finally we need to help Rotaract members to transition into regular Rotary.
Michelle Phillips introduced the 14 members who were present (out of a total of 17). Each member identified himself and all were leaders on campus in some capacity or another. I'll try to present mini-bios with photos when I get a chance to compile the necessary information. What a wonderful program and exciting group to have on campus.
