Photo By Danny Showers

On May 2nd the Rotary Club of Denver Tech Center and TJ’s very own Interact club had a formal reception for Rotary scholarship winners Katie Boyer and Danite Reda, both of whom won a $2,000 scholarship to go towards their future education plans. They received this award for the dedication to the Interact Club sponsored by Danny Showers, and for their hard work in academics and extracellular activities.

Boyer and Reda were both presented with this scholarship in front of many Rotarians, Interact Club members, and their parents. They were each called up one by one and thanked by the Rotary Club representative for their dedication and for their service before self, which is a very important value and trait in the Rotary Club and the Interact Club.

Boyer says that her hard work is what allowed her to get this scholarship. Boyer is a peer tutor and avid tutor, which she averages nine hours per week. She has good grades, she babysits during her free time, and with Interact she has participated in (among others) the food drive for Inter-Faith and fundraising for Heifer, which allows a family in a third-world country without any stable income to buy a cow. “I feel really accomplished and my hard work in interact club has paid off. This scholarship will help me greatly to pay off some of my college expenses. It also gives me a good feeling because it is great to know that I can make a slight difference in someone else’s life,” said Boyer

Reda says she also made big progress and achieved success in high school to make it to where she is today. Reda has had many things to do this year along with staying on top of her schoolwork; she participated in TJ’s Urban Debate League, and was the co-captain for the team. She also has a job at Starbucks where she works 25-35 hours per week. “I think hard work comes with a lot of sacrifice; but it was well served with the rewards I have been given,” said Reda.

After the Rotary club honored Boyer and Reda, the Interact Club presented the Rotary Club with a $500 check to be matched with another $500 from The Rotary Club in order to help the natural disasters, earthquakes, and the tsunami relief efforts in Japan. Danny Showers has been working hard with the students in Interact to raise money for a shuttle shelter box. They spent time during lunch asking for spare change, and they even put plastic tubes in several teachers’ classroom, so students could contribute to the cause. The shuttle box will be used for a family that was in the Japan earthquake and tsunami. The box includes medicine, pots and pans, food, and other necessary materials to survive.

Showers say that he is very proud of all the work that his students have been contributing to the Interact Club. “Being a Rotarian myself, and understanding that what we are doing is blazing the trail for young adults to become Rotarians one day and help satisfy the needs on the world’s stage, is very rewarding” said Showers.

This year’s cutoff was March 22nd. Applications will be viewed by committee members from the Denver Tech Rotary Club, and each student would be required to be interviewed by the Denver Tech Rotary members.

Artwork by Rebecca Holt

January 12, 2010. This day began as any other in Haiti, but ended with disaster. Residents went from sitting in offices and in their homes to running for their lives as the deadliest earthquake in over 200 years struck their country. The initial 7.0 magnitude quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0. The earthquake itself was disastrous, but it’s the aftermath that has the whole world mourning for Haiti.

Structures of all kinds were damaged or collapsed altogether, and 150,000 were reported killed in the disaster. Homes were destroyed, and families were displaced with nowhere to run. Rescue teams from all over the world are surrendering their time and resources to Haiti in a recovery effort, and Thomas Jefferson’s Interact Club was one of many organizations to immediately begin raising money for the effort.

TJ’s Interact organization is run through the Denver Tech Center Rotary Club (www.dtcrotary.org). “Rotary is an international organization. Each city has a rotary, some even have several,” said TJ Interact Sponsor and CTE Resource Specialist Danny Showers. “Each of them has the option of having an interact club. That’s what we are, for the Denver Tech Center Rotary.”

“A DTC Rotary representative comes to TJ every Monday to help align their efforts with us,” said Showers. “The two work together as a team.”

The primary focus of the Rotary Organization is international projects and assistance, and when the disaster in Haiti occurred the club stepped right in. “The heads of Rotary International felt a need to help, so they proposed the plan to all the Rotaries and then further to the interact clubs,” said Showers. “TJ Interact immediately began fundraising the day after the earthquake in Haiti.”

Since January, the Interact club has been holding the “Pennies for Haiti” fundraiser. “We’ll take anything from pennies to dollar bills,” said Showers.

The fundraiser is still taking place, with representatives out in the main hall during the last 20 minutes of lunch collecting change. “It was a great time to hold the fundraiser. Even if it’s a few pennies kids had left over from lunch, it all adds up in the end,” said TJ Interact President Daniella Cardona.

The Pennies for Haiti fundraiser is not the only way TJ Interact got involved in the recovery effort. “Our club put together a ‘Shelter Box’, which contains all of the essentials needed to survive out there right now, such as tents, blankets, and first aid kits,” said Showers. “Each box is worth one-thousand dollars, and ours was one of the boxes selected to be sent out to Haiti.” If you want to learn more about the Shelter Box organization, visit www.shelterbox.org.

The sponsoring DTC Rotary matches everything earned by the TJ Interact club. “If we raise $500, they immediately match it, so we have a total of $1000 raised for our efforts that can go to Haiti,” said Showers.

The Pennies for Haiti fundraiser is still taking place, and the club believes that every little bit helps. If you have some spare change to donate, stop by the Interact table in the main hall during lunch and give your assistance to the Haiti recovery effort.

Article by Lauren Abrams

Photos by Anna Becker

Kernels are popping in the popcorn machine and the fresh scent fills the room. Groups of students enter the room and their faces light up with excitement. It is time for the meeting to begin, and Daniela Cardona, who is the President of the Interact Club, takes charge of the members and turns the spotlight over to Theo Reger, a senior at TJ. Today is an exciting and important day, the day they would be launching their first official website:http://www.interact.tjjournal.com.

Reger took interest in the task of creating the website while enrolled in the Web Applications class taught by Jerry Esparza. “I have learned a lot about coding, optimizing pictures, and the basics to creating a website. Most importantly, I have learned to get everything to work properly together,” said Reger, who has been in the Computer Magnet program for four years now. Reger’s interest in creating websites has been growing hand in hand with his experience in the field. “I like the creativeness I get to put forth; there is so much to learn about so I don’t get easily bored with it,” said Reger, who chose to take on the project after realizing the club was lacking a website; he knew it would only benefit the club. “ I hope the website helps the group keep people up to date with their activities and will allow them to attract more members,” said Reger.

Esparza’s Web Applications class was able to prepare Reger and give him guidance while working on the website. “Theo has produced several websites for my class. He is a very good student who is focused and seems to be very absorbed into working on these sites,” said Esparza, who has been a teacher in the Computer Magnet Program for four years.  “It is really great that Theo had the opportunity to create a web site that was real-world and meaningful,” said Esparza, who is very excited to see the end result of the website.

Danny Showers is a Resource Specialist at TJ for the CTE Business and Marketing Department and is also the sponsor for the Interact Club. Showers has worked closely with Reger to ensure that the website would reach its maximum capability. “Theo is the man! He is a very knowledgeable, courteous, and professional student. Creating this website was not just a grade to him, but a passion,” said Showers, who also said he hopes that the website will allow the club to be viewed worldwide and by the sister Interact Clubs. “Theo is very committed to making this website very accurate. He has requested additional information to enhance the site and has utilized my vision with his technical skills. It is as if he steps into your soul to employ what you want,” said Showers.

The Interact Club has left the Pony Express and entered the new age of communications, and Showers says that the club is now ready to make an significant impact on its community and will continue to expand its reach. Visit the Interact Club at: http://www.interact.tjjournal.com.

Article by Anna Becker

• April 5th
• April 12th
• April 19th
• April 27th (Tuesday) Joint meeting with Rotarians.
• May 3rd
• May 10th
• May 17th
• May 24th