Bison Service Club, previously known as Interact, is a volunteer club that meets on Wednesday’s in room A237.  The name changed due to the sponsors Lisa Raucci and Tara Braceros wanting to be more clear with what the club was about. Participants are able to do service and volunteer work around the school and in the community.

This year, Bison Service Club is not only rebranding, but also replanning the way they want to interact with the community.  In the past, meetings focused on planning events, with barely any students showing up to the activity. Now, they do community service during their meetings.

“At Interact last year, we had a lot of people come to the meetings where we just gave out ideas for activities, but then nobody was coming to the activities,” Raucci said. 

For example, in Oct. they focused on collecting candy to give to troops,  and in Nov. they produced Thanksgiving baskets. In the past, they’ve worked with Project Linus, which has the members create blankets for children in the hospital. They’ve written letters to nursing homes and troops alike. 

“A lot of the events we talk about are for the community that the students live in, which is really cool,” Braceros said. 

What the club is most excited about is the amount of participation. The sponsors feel that this year, more people are joining the club and are sharing the news about it. 

“At a lot of the other schools, it’s really a huge club. Their numbers are a lot higher,” Raucci said. “So, we’re hoping more students get involved in community service.” 

According to childrensmd.org, benefits of teenage volunteering would be helping teenagers get leadership skills, helps with communication and becoming more responsible overall. It also looks good on college resumes and scholarship applications. 

“It’s a good program if you want to have after school activities, it’s another thing to do on the weekend,” junior Colin Ewert said. “In general, I like to help out with the 5ks and races.”

 Ewert has done volunteer work since first grade.  He joined Bison Service Club freshman year with his sister and has continued to participate in the club ever since. He enjoys the memories he gets from it.

“It’s more about seeing the community and helping others,” Ewert said. “I’ve always found that fun.” 

With Bison Service Club hoping to make a mark on the BG community, it is a club where you can spend time with friends and to help others.

“We don’t focus on helping out one population of people,” Braceros said. “We’re helping out the troops, sending blankets for hospitals and helping out a variety of other people here.”