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BYU's Rotaract Club to build house in Mexico

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BYU Rotaract Club teamed up with the Utah Rotary Club in an event to help eradicate polio. The Rotaract Club helps with local volunteer activities. (Rotaract Club)

BYU'S Rotaract Club will travel to Mexico for a week to help build a home for a family in need from June 7 to June 14.

Rotary International hosts a trip annually to help build a house for a family who is in financial need. Rotaract Club President Jordan Pearson first got involved with Rotaract through this international trip a year ago.

'I had literally got back from my mission to Mexico a week or two before the trip,' Pearson said. 'So when I learned Rotaract was going to Mexico, it was good because I got to go back.'

Pearson served as a translator during the week while they helped lay the foundation for a home.

'By the end, the family was just so thrilled. It was incredible to see how that impacted their lives,' Pearson said. 'You could see in their eyes the happiness that was light and the new light that had been sparked.'

For Pearson, this was the answer of how he could keep providing meaningful service after his mission.

'I thought that if this is what Rotary does, then I want to keep changing people's lives in this way,' Pearson said.

Students who participate in this year's trip to Mexico will have the chance to lay the foundation for another home. They will also have the opportunity to finish the house Pearson and his group helped start the previous year.

However, Pearson isn't the only one who joined the Rotaract Club to participate in meaningful service and leadership opportunity.

Sophomore Abby Nemeth had participated in service clubs throughout high school. She was looking for a way she could keep on serving when she came to college. The answer was the Rotaract Club.

'It's a smaller group, but I like it because everybody gets recognized. Everybody feels important,' Nemeth said. 'It's like you're serving with a bunch of your friends.'

The Rotaract Club provides service locally. It created birthday bags for kids in detention centers and hospitals this past Christmas. They have also helped advocate and raise money to help eradicate polio.

Senior in business management Cynthia Jijon has been involved with the Rotaract Club for two years.

'It's a great club because it's an academic club where we get to know different people from different universities all around the state and the world,' Jijon said.

Previous club secretary Faith Ralphs agreed that the Rotaract Club provided great opportunities to serve.

'I think most people at BYU have good intentions and want to serve, but we lack the organization to achieve those goals,' Ralphs said. 'Rotaract Club gives us the organization so we can achieve those ambitions.'

BYU's Rotaract Club was recently rechartered and is one of the 8,000 clubs worldwide. Students interested in joining can reach out to the presidency through the Facebook page.

Students who are interested in participating in this trip can refer to the BYU Rotaract Club on Facebook or the Rotary International website.