Rotary District 7770

Students from Interact Clubs all over Beaufort County participated in the second annual Beaufort County

Interact Symposium on Saturday, October 4. The newly chartered USCB Rotaract Club helped host the

event, held at the USCB Hilton Head Gateway campus. Representing Hilton Head High, Bluffton High,

Hilton Head Prep, Beaufort Academy, Beaufort High School and Battery Creek, 81 Interact students

attended the one day event. Local Rotary Clubs sponsored the event.

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month, all students received and donned bright pink Interact

Symposium t-shirts, becoming a sea of pink, as they shared successes and challenges of their clubs,

played together with some ice-breaker activities, listened to guest speaker and past District Governor

Ed Duryea. Participants also heard presentations from several students that attended Rotary Youth

Leadership Awards held in Columbia this past summer, worked on two different service projects and

finished out the day with team building activities.

The Interact students also had the chance to talk to Rotarian leaders throughout the district on various

topics during breakout sessions after lunch. Topics ranged from scholarships (very popular), to the

Rotary Youth Exchange program and Polio Eradication. There was a former Rotary Exchange student on

hand to meet students and answer questions.

“This was an awesome event, bringing Interactors from different schools together to share ideas and get

to know each other better. These are our future Rotarians!” said event organizer and past president of

the Okatie Rotary Club, Annemarie Neubecker. “The feedback from our kids was great and we’re ready

to start working on next year’s symposium!”