New Haven Rotary President David Hunter giving opening talk

The kick off meeting for D7980’s newest Rotaract Club was held in the School of Business at Southern CT State University (SCSU) last evening.

The New Haven Rotary Club has been diligently working to establish a University based Rotaract Club at SCSU and is sponsoring this new Rotaract Club.

Arzoo Rohbar is the SCSU student who has taken the initiative to launch the Club and will most likely be be Club’s first president. Rick Bassett (me) will serve as the faculty advisor for the Club.

Rotary District 7980 currently has 10 Rotaract Clubs; 7 are University based and 3 are Community based. The addition of this Club would make the count 11, 8 and 3.

Members of Rotaract are part of a global community of young adults taking action for positive change. Rotaract is a club for adults ages 18-30 that meets twice a month to exchange ideas, plan activities and projects, and socialize. While Rotary clubs serve as sponsors, Rotaract clubs decide how to organize and run their club and what projects and activities to carry out.

“Rotaract” stands for “Rotary in Action”, although the name originally comes from a combination of “Rotary” and “Interact” (International + Action), the high school level program created by Rotary International in 1962.

Rotaract originally began as a Rotary International youth program in 1968 at Charlotte North Rotary Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, and has grown into a major Rotary-sponsored organization of over 9,539 clubs spread around the world and 219,397 members

The purpose of Rotaract is to provide an opportunity for young men and women to enhance the knowledge and skills that will assist them in personal development, to address the physical and social needs of their communities, and to promote better relations between all people worldwide through a framework of friendship and service.

Students who are interested in joining this newly forming Rotaract Club should contact Arzoo Rohbar via email at Arzoo.Rohbar@gmail.com