ILTS 2017

On the 14th of January 2017, the Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja organized the annual Interact Leadership Training Seminar in Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International). The purpose of this event was to prepare the new leaders of each interact club from District 3300 to take the lead to serve the community and their own respective schools. The seminar was also to provide the new Interact leaders with some important tools that they can acquire to lead their clubs in providing excellent service to their schools and community.

              As our school’s Interact Club was the one hosting the event, the board members of the club came early to school to prepare the tables for registration, arrange the chairs in the hall, and to station ourselves at different areas to guide the guests to the hall. We also introduced ourselves and interacted with the Interactors as we were guiding them to the hall. The Interactors from the other schools came from 8.30 a.m. onwards and the registration began then. The Rotarians came about 9.00 a.m. and although we started the event later than expected, everything still ran smoothly.

             Firstly, we had an ice breaking session by the Rotaractors. We had to mingle with different people and find out interesting facts about them. It was a good session to get to know each other and make new acquaintances. After that, we sang the national anthem, 'Negaraku' and the Interact Song. Next, we had our roll call to acknowledge the presence of the Rotarians and Rotaractors as well as the different schools that had attended the event. Right after that was the opening address by the Youth Service Director, Rtn. Hardeep Singh. He addressed the opening of the seminar and we were excited to receive whatever that was in store for us throughout this event.

            After Rtn. Hardeep Singh's address, the President of the Rotary Club, Rtn. Datuk Uwe Ahrens gave a speech, explaining what was Rotary and Interact all about. He  explained further about the good work that we did recently and the positive impact it had to the misfortunes. In relation to Rtn. Hardeep Singh's earlier address, he stressed that we prioritize our academics as students before attending to our Interact duties. He also said that everyone will experience failure at least once, and the importance of that failure is to learn from it.

 Before the next speech, the Vocational Service Director, Rtn. Rajendra congratulated us on a successful effort at the Christmas Wish Tree Project hosted by the Rotary Club last year. By the end of the project, the public had sponsored around 590 gifts for children in 21 different homes. Each club was presented a cash token for our contribution to the project. 

 Following the Presidents speech, the Past District Governor Dato' Jimmy Lim introduced us to the Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world. The Foundation was created in 1917 by Rotary International's sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary "to do good in the world." It has grown from an initial contribution of US$26.50 to more than US$1billion. It has one of the largest and most prestigious international fellowship programs in the world. 

            The first workshop session we had was based on the roles of the positions that we hold in the club. These workshops were coordinated by experienced and trained Rotarians who are currently holding a position in the board of directors of the Rotary Club. The teacher advisors also had a workshop session by the Rotarians on how to advise and control the club. The workshop session we had was really beneficial for us as we realized that each and every position in the club plays an important role and although everyone has their own roles to play, we still have to help each other out.

 All of us were then gathered in the canteen again to have our lunch. After that, all the Interactors were gathered back into the hall. The event was continued with the presentation of the different roles played in the club and their responsibilities. Each Interactor that had to present did a very good job explaining their roles and responsibilities in the club. The Rotarians praised the Interactors again for really using this time to gain information of the roles we had to play for the club. They were very happy with the progress that we made and thanked us all for attending this event. It was a very beneficial event and we were glad that we could all make it. We hope that we will play our roles in the club well and be a role model for the rest of the Interactors in our respective schools.