A Heartfelt Perspective From A Senior Interactor

When I was going through the calendar for this year, I realized how fast time is flying by. In just a couple of months, I will be hearing back from colleges and discovering where I will be spending the next four years of my life. I will be leaving the sweet home of San Ramon, hopefully moving onto bigger and better things. However, I am really going to miss the little bubble.

The magenta sky against the golden hills, and how on some summer nights, the moon peeks out from the clouds. I am going to miss being a kid, being a teenager. I don't want to have to find a new place, because then I will change who I am as new experiences mold my impressions. It is frightening to think that in twenty years I am going to be thirty seven, and will have witnessed so many things. I remember being in elementary school, doubting that I would ever get to be a senior in high school. I doubted that I would get to this point, just because of the immensity of time. And now, I'm here. I'm at a point that I never thought I would get to.

Interact has helped me get to this point. I have created lifelong friendships, and I have learned so much from being surrounded by dedication and kindness. My motive for joining Interact so many years ago was because I really just wanted to be the best version of myself. I didn’t want to be a half baked model of who I could be. I want to be the real thing, the most genuine person that I could get myself to become. Interact has allowed me the opportunity to have the experiences that molded who I was into who I am. Through Christmas events and the Art and Wind Festival, I have found that my memories with Interact allowed me to flourish and grow into someone I wished to be.

Interact is a service club, but in reality, Interact has proved to me that the kindness and motivation of its members push the boundary of volunteering into a new definition. Volunteering is the epitome of connecting with others purely, demonstrating the good that can arise from caring strangers. It creates a community so supportive, and it challenges members to be the best person they can be.

As a senior, there is a lot I will miss about Interact. I will miss the reliability of the Wednesday meetings, and the laughter over the day to day things that seem irrelevant in the moment, but I know it will mean so much more in the future. In my eyes, Interact has been my closest friend, and I hope it can be yours too.

Sincerely,

Athena Aghighi