Public Relations

NWACC Rotaract Club received its charter earlier this month. Pictured left to right are David Baker, Edwin Velasco (Rotaract vice president) holding the club bell, Jackie Baker (Rotaract president) and Ron Petersen (Rotary District 6110 Governor) holding the club charter.

NWACC Rotaract Club receives charter

Club to assist Mother-to-Mother Ministry clients on Dec. 20

            BENTONVILLE (Tuesday, December 16, 2008) – The fledgling Rotaract Club at NorthWest Arkansas Community College has one more service project to tackle during the holiday season before closing the book on its first year in existence.

            The 15 club members who attend NWACC will cook and serve dinner Saturday, Dec. 20, to Mother-to-Mother Ministry clients.

            The ministry provides support for mothers who work and go to school and raise a family.

            “It’s a Christian non-profit organization,” NWACC Rotaract Club President Jackie Baker said. “They are a support so mothers can shed their dependence on other people. This ministry provides a great service to our community.”

            Baker has been a student at NWACC since spring 2007. She enrolled after she and a dozen others were laid off from an area wheel manufacturing company.

            “I was given the chance to go back to school,” she said. “I chose NWACC because I liked the classes it offers and the great atmosphere.”

            She will take classes this spring that she needs to add Retail Management as a minor.

            “I will have a major in business management and a minor in retail management,” she said. “It’s been tough. If financially able, I will start taking classes in the fall ‘09 towards my bachelor’s degree.”

            NWACC’s Rotaract Club received its charter and formally inducted 15 student members at an on-campus ceremony Dec. 4.

            Attending the ceremony were Rotarians from the Bentonville, Bentonville/Bella Vista Daybreak, and Rogers Noon clubs, and current and past Assistant Governors of Rotary District 6110.

            Bentonville Noon Rotary Club President Daniel Cruz introduced special guests.

            Bentonville/Bella Vista Daybreak Rotary Club President Harris McKee introduced District Governor Ron Petersen, who congratulated the club as the first of its kind in District 6110, which totals 78 Rotary Clubs in four states.

            Petersen said Rotary International has been sponsoring similar organizations since the 1920s, but the first Rotaract Club was founded in 1968 in Charlotte, N.C.

            Most Rotaract members are between the ages of 18-30, he said.  However, several NWACC Rotaractors are over the age of 30.

            Baker said the NWACC Rotaract Club is sponsored by the Bentonville Noon and Bentonville/Bella Vista Daybreak clubs.

            She gives credit to Jean Anderson and Stacey Marshall for successfully launching the club. Anderson was a founding co-sponsor and Marshall, a student, was the first NWACC Rotaract president. Anderson is Executive Director of NWACC College at the Crossings.

            Anderson and Marshall took the initiative in recruiting Rotaract student members through a series of informational meetings at NWACC on Rotary, its “service above self” motto, and opportunities for helping others through a Rotaract Club. 

            Noon Club Rotarian Marisol Jackson also serves as co-sponsor of the NWACC club.

            Baker said that as the NWACC club grew, members took on several service projects this calendar year. 

• A “small army” of eight Rotaractors traveled to Buffalo, Mo., this past spring and cleaned up tornado damage, saving the town an estimated $10,000.
• The club conducted its first “Purple Pinky Project,” in which students contributed a dollar toward eradicating polio worldwide by having their pinkies painted purple as evidence that they gave. 
• Club members decorated sugar cookies and an international student wrote names in Hindi during NWACC’s Fall Festival.
• Through an on-going “T. P. fundraiser” – collecting recyclable paper – the Rotaract Club benefits the Benton County Housing Authority. 

            Baker said she has received thanks from many of the members for her leadership, persistence, and service in founding the club. 

            She assisted Petersen in the Charter-Induction Ceremony. 

            Each charter member received a pin and a handshake from the presidents of the two sponsoring clubs and a “high-five” from the District Governor.

            Jackson introduced the Rotaract officers and members during the induction ceremony. Each member told their academic goals, why they joined Rotaract, and something about themselves. 

            Rotaract member Virpal Wander provided special entertainment, an expressive dance from India.  Edwin Velasco, NWACC Rotaract vice president, closed the ceremony by leading the gathering in reciting the Rotary Four-Way Test.

            Those attending were welcomed by NWACC Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dr. Steve Gates and Anderson.

            Rotaract meets at the NWACC Students Center, generally three times a month.

For more information on NWACC Rotaract, contact Jackie Baker at Jbaker6@nwacc.edu

This page was last updated on:  December 21, 2009 @ 8:51 am