Our legacies and what we leave behind in this school and town are vastly important and can determine what we will be remembered for when we eventually move on. One group whose members definitely leave behind a positive legacy is Interact. Interact is essentially a community service club which allows its members to more easily help others through teaming up with other people in our school who feel the same calling to do service for others. Mr. Falcon has recently taken on the responsibility of becoming the advisor of the club.

Mr. Falcon hopes to bring new energy and ideas to the Interact Club. Discussing some of the things that the club does already, Mr. Falcon explained, “As you know, obviously, this is my first year as the Interact Club advisor, so there are a couple of events that Interact has done historically and I’d like to keep them going as tradition. That being the food drive-the Thanksgiving food drive for the local food pantry. They also did the snowman gift tags for the homeless shelter and also some fundraising opportunities and one of the large events in the Spring is the relay for life.” Explaining some of his new ideas for the club,  Mr. Falcon said, “We do have some initiatives that the Park Ridge Rotary club is starting up and as essentially the Rotary club of Park Ridge High School- that’s what Interact really is, we like to help out with those initiatives as much as we can. There’s one regarding human trafficking that we are looking into-spreading awareness about human trafficking in the state of New Jersey. So, you can look for that in the upcoming weeks.” These new events will allow the club to help others in new and different ways and to reach different groups of people.

While discussing her feelings about being in Interact, club member, Isabel Carino said, “I like being in interact because it allows me to be selfless and help out those in need. I am able to do good deeds for people who I do not even know or begin to understand, which I find interesting in the sense that if everyone was willing to do at least one anonymous good deed for a stranger, the world would be a much better place.”  Along with the club giving members the gratifying feeling of knowing that they have helped someone, it can also help them improve as people. Isabel said, “I think interact teaches awareness and kindness. These traits are valuable throughout your life because you need to be able to connect and at least have a basic understanding of the world around you in order to make a difference. I also think that interact instills a sort of ‘do good’ motto in people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.” Sharing similar sentiments, Mr. Falcon said, “Helping others is an important character trait as well and I think that could also help, when you’re helping people you’re meeting other people locally and even internationally and that could help you network through different organizations which could certainly help you with college and could help you in the job market.”

Through Interact, students like Isabel have the opportunity to help others and enhance their quality of life, bettering both our community and the world and also improving their legacies in the process.