Interact is known for its events during Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. From events around the school to some in the community, Interact is quite busy during these holiday seasons. The entire club works together to pull off a variety of themed volunteer events to benefit the community and school.

During the Halloween season, Interact runs the Halloween Bake Sale, Fall Festival, and Boo Grams. The Halloween Bake Sale gives volunteers the opportunity to bake, decorate part of the lunch area, and sell the goodies to raise money for the club. The Fall Festival is a community event hosted at the school that houses a myriad of fall-themed activities. From apple bobbing to pumpkin carving to board games, the Fall Festival is a great way for families in the community and students alike to enjoy the season. Boo Grams are a staple of the Halloween season for Interact. These consist of a bag of candy and a note sold for $2 that gets delivered to the recipient’s mentoring on Halloween. Interact also decorated the school for Halloween, which truly brought the spooky spirit to the school.

Interact also decorated the school pink during October. This was done as part of an island-wide event where businesses and organizations adorned their property with pink as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month. This movement, named Paint the Island Pink, was a massive success.

Thanksgiving is known as a time of giving. To keep this mood throughout the school, Interact ran a school-wide event called Gratitude Grams. This is when each student and staff member sent 4 notes to other members of the MIA community. Interact sorted these into mentorings and wrote extras to make sure every person got at least two. Interact also ran Unzip the Joy. Thanks to a generous donation, each MIA staff member was gifted a backpack. Members from Interact chose a staff member and filled the backpacks with some of the staff’s favorite things. 

After Thanksgiving ushered in the Christmas season. This was by far the busiest of the holiday seasons between Santa’s Arrival, the Santa Fun Run, the Pet Parade, the Christmas Parade, and the Toy Drive. For Santa’s Arrival, the entirety of Interact adorned the halls with tinsel, lights, trees, and decorations and set up stations flooding down the hallway for children across the island to participate in on their way to sit on Santa’s lap for a picture and a wish. The Santa Fun Run was a 5k hosted at Mackle Park for the community to run in.

The Pet Parade is an event where pet owners from all over the island get the chance to dress up their pets and compete for Best Groomed, Most Creative, and Most Festive. Interact helped with the set up and organization of this. The Christmas Parade and the Toy Drive are when Interact collaborates with Thespians and Student Government Association to decorate and march with the school’s float for the island’s Christmas parade. This year, the theme was Seussical. Interact also collected toys to donate to children in need that get delivered during the parade.

Interact is a busy club with a lot of activities and events to better both the community and school. The high involvement of members elevates the holiday spirit and overall excitement during the festive seasons. Bringing joy to everyone involved is at the heart of Interact. After all, “Service Before Self” is the motto.