President Paul Crant of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown is pleased to announce that the club has sponsored a school based Rotaract Club at the University of Prince Edward Island. The club’s charter is on its way from Rotary International. The new club is meeting in the Don and Marion McDougall Hall at 2:00 pm on Fridays.The charter club executive is:
- Berk Erbas, President
- Jeremy Xu, Vice President
- Emily Caldwell, Secretery
- Kai Chen, Treasurer
(President Berk (left) and Vice President Jeremy (right) met PEI Premier Wade McLaughlin at the Premier's Dinner on Feb 5th, organized by the Island Rotary Clubs.)
“It is a real privilege to see this club start up with so much enthusiasm”, said Martin Ruben, Director of Fundraising and Rotaract liaison, “Along with Rotarian Michael Morrison, we have enjoyed working with the Rotaract adviser at UPEI, Richelle Greathouse, to facilitate the creation and operation of the club.”
The Rotaract Club of UPEI has chosen mental health as its focus for 2018. In the coming weeks and months, it will be holding fundraisers to support Lennon Recovery House Association who are creating a facility in the village of Rustico. “Our club chose mental health as our focus as there appears to be a critical need in the community for better facilities,” said Rotaractor Berk. “We are thrilled to be contributing to the community in such an important manner.”
The club expects to have about 25 members for its charter night when it is arranged. In addition to its focus on mental health, the club will be liaising with Rotarians in PEI to familiarize themselves with the job markets and to better understand the community in which they are studying. Ideally, for Rotaractors who wish to start out their careers in PEI, they will have a significant advantage over those students who will not have the same experience.
As well as students from UPEI, the new Rotaract club will be looking for new members at Holland College in Charlottetown. Many students there have already expressed an interest in becoming Rotaractors.