Service has always been a large part of Marymount’s student life. This year, there has been a large growth in the realm of service at Marymount, from the coalition of service clubs to the creation of the Student Service Board. One of the developing clubs this year is the Rotary Interact Club that will be led by Surya Vohra ’16. After attending one of the Club’s conferences, titled RYLA, Surya decided she loved the ideas and values of their service and has chosen to continue the club as president after the former president, Gigi Habiby ’14, graduated. The Rotary Interact Club mainly focuses on service and leadership. There are many sectors of Rotary within the area, including the Westwood Rotary and UCLA Rotary clubs.

“Rotary Interact is a club aimed at service and friendship and love, ” said Surya, “I really hope to get our Interact Club up and running. I have a contact to message, now it’s sort of a waiting game.” Surya explains that she has really enjoyed seeing what Rotary Interact can do for people and believes it’s magic.

“It connects us to a lot of other schools and we’ll potentially be able to team up and have a much bigger impact on our community than ever before,” she said. Surya has been working on finding students to attend the annual Southern California RYLA Conference. RYLA stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Assembly, a three-day leadership program coordinated by California’s Rotary Club. Surya describes her experience with RYLA as a trip to Disneyland for the first time. However, even that description does not capture the true essence of it.

“I guess the only thing I could compare it to is rebirth,” Surya admitted, “That sounds weird, huh? Odd how it’s true though. They say that every seven years your body is entirely new and that each and every cell of your body is replaced. I guess that happened to be the weekend my nervous system was regenerated.”

The trip allowed Surya to meet many brilliant and altruistic people who have gone through some of the worst moments and some of the best. “The stuff you would see on Maury’s or Oprah’s shows, the stuff people gasp at and reflect on for hours, the stuff that makes you realize how lucky you [really] are,” she said.

Surya is still trying to figure out the future of Rotary Interact at Marymount; however, she really hopes it turns out to be successful and that others become inspired like her.