New Interact Club at Burnham Beeches

Welcome to Burnham Grammar School Interact Club

On Thursday, 25 October 2012, Burnham Grammar School welcomed the Rotary Club of Burnham Beeches for the inaugural meeting of the school's new Interact Club. Nine students had nominated themselves to be founding members of Interact, to coordinate the charity fund-raising within the school. Some of the main benefits of using the structure of a Rotary Club is that it gives the students assistance and recognition and being a member will be a valuable addition to any CV. The president, Zoe Stout, being only 12 is one of the youngest presidents in the country, however the address she gave to over 50 Rotarians was so professional, going way beyond her years with her enthusiasm for this new venture shining through.

Burnham Beeches Rotary Club has been helping Burnham Grammar School with prizes, mentoring students and offering careers advice for several years. The school has a very strong track record of raising significant funds each year for about 6 charities, and the decision about which ones to support is always chosen by the students. So when Mike Ware from Bourne End Rotary Club came to talk about the new Interact clubs being started for children aged 12-18, the Community Link at the school,  Mrs Judy Trinder, proposed that the Interact structure would fit perfectly with the students fund-raising efforts. The RCBB were quick to offer assistance with the paperwork of setting up the charter and librarian Mrs Emily Russell has been supporting the group.

On the night the 9 students all received their medals and the charter certificate and now Zoe is proudly wearing the President's medal. Mrs Russell made all the arrangements for the ceremony with Brian Kay from RCBB and the evening brought the District Governor Elect, John Greening, and two other presidents to witness the event.

One of the students, 14, the Interact Club's publicity manager said 'I felt the evening was a great success, it ran very smoothly. The formality of the Rotary meeting was a surprise but everyone was very friendly towards us and they seemed very impressed by the total amount we raised last year of £6,680'.

Head Teacher, Dr Andy Gillespie, said a few words but said speaking after Zoe was a hard act to follow and he felt upstaged by her very professional presentation. He was glowing with pride as the students and Mrs Russell had so impressed the Rotarians.

Michael Mills, Immediate Past President of RCBB who helped found the Club, said 'It was a great evening - they were all fantastic and I didn't detect any sign of nerves. If there was, they were adept at disguising it! For my part, and I think I can speak for all of those present we were greatly impressed not only by the way they handled the occasion but by the content of the professional presentation. The figures for fund-raising are impressive and were commented on by many of the audience'.

The Rotary Club of Burnham Beeches is looking forward to a long and fruitful fellowship with the Burnham Grammar School Interact Club.