17-year-old joins Cranberry Rotary Club
CRANBERRY TWP — The Cranberry Noon Rotary Club recently got its newest member, who also happens to be the youngest in the charter’s history.
Jessica Howard, a 17-year-old senior at Seneca Valley High School, decided to join the local club after participating in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award program, a five-day seminar at Westminster College earlier this summer.
Jessica said she’s been looking for ways to get involved in the community and the Rotary Club seemed like the perfect opportunity. She has become the youngest member to join the local Rotary group, which started in 1971.
However, it took a little while to assure the other members about her intentions, she said.
“I was really interested in getting involved because RYLA was such a great experience,” Jessica said. “So I walked into the meeting and they looked at me like I was insane. They thought I was really confused and that I wasn’t serious about it.”
Jessica reiterated she indeed was very serious about joining the Noon Rotary Club, which, she said, is responsible for so many community initiatives and projects that go unnoticed by the general public.
It was hard to get involved with volunteering with other organizations, she said, mainly because of age restrictions requiring members be at least 18 years old.
But the Rotary Club seemed like a perfect fit, and Jessica dispelled the stereotype that the club is just a bunch of “middle-aged businessmen sitting around talking.”
“Rotary does so much behind the scenes that people don’t realize,” she said. “People aren’t aware of really how involved they are in our area. I wanted to be a part of that because I really wanted to get involved in the community and make a difference, even though I’m only 17.”
The only problem with her membership thus far is the fact that the club meets Tuesdays a time when she’ll be in school.
Jessica plans to ask school officials for permission to leave school to attend the weekly meetings.
After she graduates and leaves for college, Jessica said she plans to join a college Rotary Club or start one. While she hasn’t yet picked a college, she wants to study chemical engineering.
Bill Hewko, the secretary for the Noon Rotary Club, said Monday it’s refreshing to see a young person interested in the club.
She’s a valuable asset to the club, Hewko said, and someone who isn’t a wallflower or afraid to speak at meetings.
“She has input, and it’s nice to see young people wanting to help in that manner,” he said. “She’s certainly a driven young woman who really has her ducks in a row.”
Lynn Howard, Jessica’s mother, agreed her daughter is a go-getter who decided to jump head first into the organization.
“I think it’s outstanding for her,” she said. “She wants to donate her time to help other people. I think it’s great. She’s done it all by herself.”
Hewko said the club is so happy to have Howard it might even schedule a night meeting or two just so she can attend when school starts. He also hopes she encourages other students to come to a meeting, just to spread the word that the Rotary Club is for all ages.
“I have a feeling she’s going to bring a couple other kids,” he said with a laugh.
