The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and the Bradford Rotary Club have worked together to bring a new service club to the campus.
The university’s new Rotaract Club — a branch of Rotary International — will hold a ceremony and first installation of officers at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Harriett B. Wick Chapel on campus.
Rotary President Jim Tingley explained that the Rotaract is a club sponsored by a Rotary Club for young adults, usually — but not always — at a university setting: “a group of young people brought together to exchange ideas with other leaders in the community.” Participation helps young adults develop leadership skills and provides a chance for them to give service to the community, he said.
Tingley said Rotaract follows the same motto as Rotary: “Service above self.”
Tingley said the idea of bringing Rotaract to Pitt-Bradford has been floating around for a few years, but it was only last year that they started working with university officials to develop the group.
He said they were “fortunate enough” to work with Christina Graham, Pitt-Bradford director of student activities, on another project, and they started talking about the idea. This was almost a year ago.
In September of 2016, “We were invited to put a table out at Pitt-Bradford’s club night and just present the Rotaract idea to students,” said Tingley. The three Rotary members weren’t sure what to expect, but they found many students expressing interest.
“The interest was kind of overwhelming to us,” he said.
From that event, several meetings were held with individuals including Graham and Nathan Lawyer, Student Government Association president. “That association had to approve any new clubs coming in,” Tingley noted. Also, they had to register the club with Rotary International. “There’s a lot of logistics that had to get into place.”
Doing that took about three months. While the club was officially sanctioned by the Student Government Association in December, it was decided that the installation and chartering ceremony should happen after the students returned from the semester break.
That event will be held on Sunday.
After the ceremony, a small reception will be held at the chapel with light refreshments.
Tingley noted that Rotaract organized the event themselves and extended a university-wide invitation, as well as invitations to family and friends, for the ceremony.
Officers to be installed in the new club on Sunday will be Isaiah Woodruff, president; Krizia Bruno, vice president; Claire Saylor, treasurer; Amanda Sandroni, secretary; and Karman Masown, SGA representative.
Dr. K. James Evans, vice president and dean of student affairs, will serve as the university Rotaract advisor. Angela Erway will be the advisor from the Bradford Rotary.
The club seems a good fit for the university.
“I know they have a very active service club environment,” said Tingley. “There’s a lot of service clubs.” Despite the other service groups on campus, Rotaract created interest with its unique connection to Rotary International. Many students were drawn to Rotaract because of their prior knowledge or experience with Rotary in their hometowns, according to Tingley. “Immediately there was some identification with it.”
While the local Rotary will work alongside Rotaract from time to time, Tingley said, “It’s important to note, when a Rotaract is formed, the Rotaract Club is autonomous. The only thing we provide is guidance and sponsorship. They pick their own projects, officers, bylaws.”
That autonomy helps members develop their leadership skills.
“I know they’ve already started working on a project list,” he said. “It’s kind of a synergy from that point of view.”
Rotaract will be invited to District 7280 workshops and the district convention in May.
The local Rotaract is only the fourth such group in the district, which covers an area from Cranberry near Pittsburgh up to Erie, according to Tingley.
He said the Rotaract Clubs began in 1969 and now include about 8,000 clubs and 184,000 members worldwide.
