Help Send Sophie to the RI Convention in Singapore!

Sophie is going to speak in a breakout session at the RI Convention in Singapore and she needs your help getting there!

Here is a breakdown of how the money will be spent:

1. Registration for Convention: $175
2. Flights: Between $1,500 - $2,000
3. Food/Accomodations/Etc (once in Singapore): ~$1,000

If you would like to learn more about Sophie and why this is important, you can read her bio below:

Sophie Andersen represents Interact as one of twelve young people from across the world on the Rotary International Youth Advisory Council—a group of impassioned changemakers who suggest Youth Program policies to the RI Board of Directors and create innovative programming to improve the experience of young people in Rotary around the globe.

While she now lives in Atlanta as a first-year Biomedical Engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, she is originally from Dana Point, California, where she started her Interact journey in middle school, volunteering with the Dana Hills High School Interact Club after her Rotarian grandfather suggested she join the group. Inspired by the high school students' passion for the community and determination to improve the lives of those around them, she officially joined the Dana Hills Interact Club when she became a freshman and grew her involvement with the club throughout the years, eventually becoming the president during her senior year.

Also in her senior year of high school, Andersen also became the District 5320 Interact Governor—the leader of the District Interact Committee—where she successfully grew the committee from two to seven members throughout her term and then to over twenty members for the following term, designed and executed three interactive training workshops, established a team that posted the committee's first ever newsletter to highlight the achievements of youth throughout the district and empower youth voice, spoke at the inaugural Zone Interact Convention where she educated attendees about the structure of the District Interact Committee and how they could develop their own, and developed (and is currently working on) the District Interact Committee Guide to teach other districts how to grow their District Interact Committees.

Now on the Youth Advisory Council, her main goal is to share her Interact story, empower other young people to create change within their communities, and to educate Rotarians on how to run more successful youth programs. Representing the council, she recently gave a keynote speech at the Zones 26 & 27 Institute (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQc2FCLV9Qo) to advocate for increased youth participation and leadership in service and educate Rotarians on how to cultivate more successful young changemakers. She also spoke on a Facebook Live panel (https://www.facebook.com/interactofficial) with other Interact Represenatives of the Youth Advisory Council during World Interact Week.

Andersen's commitment to service extends beyond Rotary as she worked as a Lab and Teaching Assistant in a biotechnology class throughout her senior year, pioneered a free helmet distribution through the Mission Hospital Gift Shop which distributed over 200 helmets in 3 months, spoke at multiple Capistrano Unified School District meetings advocating for mental health programs and facilities improvements, and developed an organization called ENGAGE to connect over 250 elementary through high school students with opportunities to develop their passions and skills while helping the community. Her leadership and dedication to the community has been recognized by U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Mike Levin, P.E.O. as an International S.T.A.R. Scholarship recipient, and by the Coca-Cola Scholarship Federation as 1 of 1,557 Coca-Cola Scholarship Semifinalists from over 91,000 applicants across the country. Dedicated to serving in STEM, she was also one of three students from California selected by the California Department of Education to attend the National Youth Science Camp with over 90 other delegates representing the top emerging scientists and engineers in the United States and Latin America. At Georgia Tech, she has also started making an impact as a Correspondent for a non-profit called The Conversationalist, an undergraduate researcher in the Takayama Lab, and an avid water polo player for the club women's team.

As the student of the year and a commencement speaker at her high school, Andersen leads with integrity and is guided by the Rotary 4-Way Test and will carry these values into her future. While she is not sure where her Rotary journey will take her yet, she is passionate about youth education, healthcare, and the eradication of tuberculosis.