BITS Pilani Rotaract Club Takes off

PRLog (Press Release) – Apr 22, 2007 – On 23 February 1905, American businessman Paul Harris and three friends formed the world's first service club in Chicago. The quartet met in each other's offices on a rotation basis and the Rotary organization was founded. From here, the network of selfless businesspeople and professionals has swelled to an extraordinary 1.2 million members worldwide.

In the early 1960s, Rotary clubs around the world began to sponsor university youth groups as community service projects. The 1967-68 Rotary International (RI) President, Luther H. Hodges, and the RI Board of Directors considered this club activity to have international relevance, and Rotaract was approved in 1968 as an official program for Rotary clubs. The first club chartered was the Rotaract Club of North Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, on 13 March 1968.

Rotaract (the word taken from a combination of Rotary and action) is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30. The purpose of Rotaract is to provide an opportunity for individuals to enhance their knowledge and skills in order to assist in their personal development, while also addressing the physical and social needs of their communities through a framework of friendship and community service. Rotaract clubs are usually community-based or university-based and are sponsored by a local Rotary club making them true "partners in service" and key members of the Rotary family.

Through the Rotaract program, young adults not only augment their knowledge and skills, but they also address the physical and social needs of their communities while promoting international understanding and peace through a framework of friendship and service. As one of the most significant and fastest-growing programs of Rotary service, with more than 8,000 Rotaract clubs in some 155 countries and geographic areas, Rotaract has indeed become a worldwide phenomenon.

Students from BITS Pilani come out with a Spirit to Excel and follow their Goal with a Single Minded Passion to raise their Standard to achieve success by putting to best the broad based integrated approach of BITS education for solving multidisciplinary problems. BITSians firmly believe in doing something different and be remembered for their distinctive deeds rather than being referred as a mere pass out from yet another University.

On Saturday 21 April 2007, the Charter Presentation Ceremony of the Rotaract Club of BITS Pilani has put the youth of this premier institution with motto Knowledge is Power Supreme to go for Service above Self which is the Rotary motto.

With the humble beginnings as a Pathshala in 1901 to educate Shri G D Birla who is one of the doyens of Indian Industry, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science "BITS", Pilani Rajasthan is a Leading University in India today offering degrees in Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Sciences, Engineering Technology, Information Systems, General Studies, Finance, etc presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa campuses and in the near future at Hyderabad campus. BITS Pilani also offers an array of work integrated learning programmes for HRD of a vast spectrum of Indian corporates.