Jeff Totten, president of the Belpre Rotary Club, spoke Tuesday at the installation of a Peace Pole at Belpre’s Civitan Park. He commended the students from the Belpre High School Chapter of the National Honor Society/Interact Club for being involved and helping with the project as the Rotary Club is laying the groundwork for a permanent Interact Club in Belpre City Schools. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

BELPRE — Getting young people involved in community service was the focus of the installation of a “Peace Pole” at Civitan Park in Belpre.

The Belpre Rotary Club and members of the Belpre High School Chapter of the National Honor Society gathered at the park on Tuesday to highlight community service, a commitment to peace and commemorate Earth Day.

Jeff Totten, president of the Belpre Rotary Club, explained the purpose of Rotary as a service organization to the communities it is in.

“There are a lot of us working to solve problems in our own communities and worldwide problems,” he said, adding one of the focuses of Rotary International is peace. “If you look at what is going on in the world right now, the peace initiative is extremely important right now.”

The pole installed by around a dozen students is 10 feet in length with 7-8 feet exposed above the ground and decorated with Belpre High School students’ handprints and messages of peace.

Around a dozen students with the Belpre High School Chapter of the National Honor Society/Interact Club install a Peace Pole at Civitan Park in Belpre on Tuesday. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

It was the first project of the newly formed Interact Club at Belpre High School.

Totten talked about how a Rotary official from District 6690, the largest in the state of Ohio which includes Columbus and southwest Ohio, told him that Belpre was one of four clubs in the district that did not have the designation of being a “Peacekeeper Club.”

They wanted to come up with a project that would highlight their peacekeeping mission and they wanted to do something that involved students from Belpre High School.

“We knew we had to get the high school kids involved,” Totten said. “We know we have some things going on in this community that involve you kids more than anything else.

“We know we have to change the mindset of everybody else in this community to support you kids. The best way to do that is to give you projects where you can be seen out in the community engaging.”

Students with the Belpre High School Chapter of the National Honor Society/Interact Club installed a Peace Pole at Civitan Park in Belpre on Tuesday. The pole is 10 feet in length with 7-8 feet exposed above the ground and decorated with Belpre High School students’ handprints and messages of peace. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

One of the ways to do that is to create the Interact Club which is Rotary for students between 12 and 18 years old, Totten said.

Since it is late in the school year and there are official steps that have to be gone through, the first version of the club is being done through and in conjunction with the Belpre High School chapter of the National Honor Society with the understanding that a formal club will be set up with its own adviser to officially begin in the 2025-26 school year, said Belpre High School National Honor Society adviser Stacey White.

“We wanted to give the Rotary and Interact a foundation,” she said. “We are going to get all of that officially started next year.”

Belpre is a small community and they wanted to highlight the idea of people working together.

“I think there is a disconnect between the older generation and the younger generation so I really feel like getting the younger generation involved is a big step towards creating the peace we need,” White said. “By having the faces of the young people who do care out there and who want to be involved, I think it is important for them to be seen.”

Makayla Carmichael, president of the Belpre High School National Honor Society chapter, said it was important to show the community young people being involved as many believe young people are not engaged in their communities.

“We want to be out here and show the public students being involved and we want to help make things better,” she said. “We are willing to work and be involved.”

Belpre Mayor Susan Abdella commended everyone’s efforts to improve the city for its citizens.

“It is amazing, the partnership between the schools, Rotary and the city, and watching everyone coming together for the betterment of our community,” she said. “You want to think about Earth Day, peace and make our community and our region so much better.”