Leadership. Community Service. Business Experience. Qualities that prepare students for selective colleges and careers are part of a new club at Millikan High School in Long Beach: Interact.

Launched by senior Jawhara Tariq, Millikan’s Interact chapter is part of an international Rotary organization that links local pupils with business professionals with a common interest in community service. Around the world, almost 200,000 students from 109 countries are involved in the program. The Interact club at Millikan has about 90 members and is one of four such clubs at Long Beach high schools.

A Hill Middle School graduate, Jawhara decided to bring Interact to Millikan as part of her QUEST Senior Project. She is a respected student leader active in campus sports, activities, and ninth-grade recruitment efforts for Millikan. Accepted to USC, UCLA, Whittier College and the University of Rochester, New York, Jawhara has been offered $50,000 in scholarship money from colleges so far.

“I took this on as my Senior Project to leave this as my mark on Millikan, a way to continue to give back to the school, to the community, and to the world,” Jawhara says.

Working closely with Shawn Abbate, the QUEST Lead Teacher and Interact club advisor, Jawhara’s Interact chapter seeks to improve literacy. So far, the chapter has collected 2,087 books for the Long Beach Public Library Foundation and raised $600 for Millikan’s own library. Recently, Jawhara said she enjoyed meeting members of Long Beach’s business community through a meeting of the Rotary Club of Long Beach.

“Jawhara and I started a journey that will be rewarding to Millikan students and the community for years to come,” notes Ms. Abbate.

Jawhara urges students who are interested in community service, business experience, and academic leadership to consider joining Millikan Interact’s 90 chartered members.

“Everyone in there is really goal-oriented and smart and driven,” says Jawhara. “We’re all looking for ways to help each other and to help the community.”