Highlighting Our District Grant & Student Exchange
What happens when a community invests in its young people? Sometimes it looks like a quiet room where a teenager can find support, encouragement and a safe place to grow. Other times, it looks like a teenager crossing an ocean and discovering a new culture, new friendships and a global perspective. Both were on display at the Rotary Club of Norfolk’s August 18 meeting, which showcased two ways the club helps young people find opportunity and imagine what might be possible.
First, Club President Gary Bonnewell and Elizabeth Bottoni, president of The Rotary Club of Town Center, presented a grant check to James Harris, executive director of Next Step to Success, that will furnish a mental wellness room. The Norfolk and Town Center Clubs were recently awarded a $9,000 grant from Rotary District 7600 for Next Step. The two sponsoring clubs provided additional funding, bringing the grant total to $11,000.
Harris, a former school superintendent in Pennsylvania, gave an overview of the nonprofit’s work with Norfolk Public School students ages 13–18 who come from lower-income families. He says the free after-school and summer programs help break the cycle of poverty by “filling cracks in the students’ foundation.” Next Step staff and volunteers challenge students to grow through academic support, career exploration, hands-on learning, enrichment activities, tutoring, meals, transportation, mental wellness support, and a phone-free environment that encourages focus. The program currently serves about 120 students. Harris is proud that all past Next Step seniors have graduated on time and successfully moved on to higher education, training, the military or the workforce.
Next Step plans to expand to as many as 400 students enrolled after it moves, in two years, into its new campus being built on the former DePaul Hospital site. Next Step will continue its after-school and summer learning program, with students picked up in vans, served meals, engaged in educational and wellness programs, and transported home afterwards. Harris thanked the two Rotary Clubs and Rotary District for supporting Next Step’s mission to spark students’ potential and help Norfolk cut its poverty rate in half within a generation. One important aspect of that is supporting students’ mental wellness programs with a room furnished for that purpose.
For the second part of the action-packed luncheon meeting, Past Rotary President Chip Vogan introduced Carson Sherrill, who recently returned from Tiel, Netherlands. For more than 40 years, the Norfolk Club has exchanged students with the Rotary Club in Tiel, a Dutch farming community known for growing fruit. Last year the Norfolk club hosted two Dutch students. Carson, a homeschooled high school senior, stayed with multiple Rotary families in The Netherlands and experienced everyday Dutch life, from visiting snack bars and markets to sampling cheese, ice cream, Dutch pancakes, black licorice, and even a familiar McDonald’s meal. He also played soccer, swam, paddleboarded, enjoyed barbecues, flew a drone near the Waal River, and saw one host’s classic car restoration work.
His trip included cultural and sightseeing experiences. Carson used video he shot to share stories from his trip that included a theme park, cheese fondue, a World Cup final celebration, and long walks along the river. But Carson’s experience gave him more than fun memories; it deepened his appreciation for another culture and broadened his perspective.
Carson’s experience, and Next Step’s efforts, are reminders that when young people are given support and opportunity, the impact can reach far beyond the moment.
