October Update

The month of October came and went, and we kicked things off with a bang here at UO Rotaract. Per our tradition of several years now, members grouped together in Willamette Hall and painted peace rocks to decorate the surrounding campus area and spread a little extra joy. 

On October 12, Rotaractors Kimi Kozaki and Skyla Patton headed to Cottage Grove to enjoy a full day of the Interact District Training Assembly -- with a fun bonus of returning to the location where Camp RYLA is held each year! The IDTA is a valuable opportunity for Rotaract to connect with Interact and facilitate unique discussions that are relevant to Rotary as a whole. Some of the conversations this year included helpful tips on maintaining a successful and organized club, integrating into Rotaract after high school and the plethora of opportunities Rotary has to offer for youth. 

Along with those presentations, Kozaki and Patton were also joined by Graciela Garcia to have an in-depth walk through of the identity pie activity. The identity pie is a great activity for exploring our personal identities and understanding how identity impacts how we interact with the world and people around us. This is a great activity to do with all groups: workplace, family trips, club meetings or really anything you can think of. During IDTA we were also lucky enough to stick around for the voting of the next international project, which ended up being a victorious split between The Thirst Project and another more localized project that focuses on providing school supplies to low-income families across the globe.
 
We joined Eugene Rotary yet again at Food For Lane County on Wednesday, subbing out our regular Week 3 meeting for an evening full of fun, food (packaging) and hearty community service. FREX is a particularly exciting service project that lies close to our hearts here at UO Rotaract for two main reasons: Food For Lane County is a huge organization and it’s fantastic to work close to home, along with the amazing bonding time we get with other volunteers and Rotarians. 

The second annual Mentorship Mixer was hosted during Week 4, and we were stoked to find a completely packed house! Rotarians and Rotaractors alike joined together to mix and mingle as potential pairs for mentorship were sized up and matches were made. Pairs are determined based off of career aspirations and goals, and we work hard to ensure that each pair is educational and beneficial for both parties. Snacks and ambient background music galore, this full house was a blast and led to several new mentorship matches! Are you a Rotaractor interested in being paired with a mentor? Contact us for more info!

Never ones to miss out on the spirit of the holidays, we celebrated spooky season and Halloween during a fun-filled social that took the place of our meeting. Members shared scary stories, pooled chocolate and candy together and embarked on a cold yet thrilling scavenger hunt throughout the campus area, picking up litter and posing for images to score the most amount of points. Hints sent us throughout UO all the way to, of course, Pioneer Memorial Cemetery to end the evening with an appropriately spooky vibe. 
​
Stay tuned for our November update! Visit us on Instagram and Facebook at @uorotaract and be sure to keep an eye on our calendar for service opportunities and upcoming events.