Mountain View Preparatory (MVP) Interact Club
In the spring of 2015, Wendy Bialek, a member of the Rotary Club of Sedona and the parent of a student at Mountain View Preparatory, approached Stephanie Jones, the principal, with the idea of starting an Interact Club in the fall. This would be a model for other middle schools to follow, since it would be the first of its kind in the Verde Valley. Susanna Ventura, a 7th grade teacher at MVP, agreed to co-sponsor with Wendy and the club was formed in September 2015. Tania Simms from the Rotary Club of the Verde Valley is our sponsoring club’s liaison.
We are requesting donations to help establish a base of funds for our club to operate. You can use your Tax Credit for this as well. Please designate the funds to be used for the MVP Interact Club. You can go to http://mvp.cocsd.us. Thank you so much for your support.
As a brand new middle school club we have been learning as we go. The club members are 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who just jumped right in. We have gone from 16 members to at least 25 and will continue to grow as other students see and hear about what we are accomplishing.
Below is a brief update on what we have accomplished so far since our start in September.
Polio
We held a fundraiser in honor of World Polio Day raising $600 as well as awareness.
Hunger
Many members came to pack food for the Kids Against Hunger organization.
We did an outreach about local hunger issues and collected 1,000 cans of food for the Old Town Mission in Cottonwood.
Winter Clothing Drive
This is a student-driven project after three members came up with the idea on their own to benefit children and families in our community. They have co-chaired the sub-committee beautifully. These clothes will be donated to the Old Town Mission for distribution. Students are still in the collecting phase.
Peace
We are working with the Sedona International City of Peace organization to help Cottonwood become the next International City of Peace in the Verde Valley. This is part of the United Nations’ global movement.
We are sponsoring a Peace Assembly on Dec 10th at MVP as the beginning stage of establishing awareness in Cottonwood. The Mayor will be attending.
Crutches for Africa
We are in the process of collecting mobility devices to be shipped to Africa.
Training and Networking
We are raising funds to have several club members attend the District Interact Conference in February 2016.