Cool Kid inspires school club volunteerism

VALENCIA, Calif. (KABC) -- Those who know him say this week's Cool Kid is a born leader. His goal is to inspire others to take action. And it's working.

Interact is a club at Valencia High School that helps other clubs achieve their goals. But lately they've been struggling and losing members. Tarlochan Rakhra decided it was time to revive it.

"We need to bring back that one club that was a stronghold and gives students the opportunity to serve their community," said Tarlochan.

One of the club's causes is the organization Donate Life. While volunteering on their Rose Parade float, Tarlochan shared some time with the little daughter of a donor who was being honored on that float.

"I was so emotionally touched by that. At the end of the day when we finished the event, we were just talking about it in the bus and we were like, this is something we want to do every year," said Tarlochan.

"Tar," as his friends call him, has gotten the club involved with projects from Donate Life to Water For Africa to St. Jude's Hospital. His friends say he's a natural for getting other people involved in "the cause."

"First and foremost, he's a leader," said library director Jeanette Contreras. "He knows how to rev up the troops. He knows how to get them enthusiastic about projects."

Looking beyond his senior year, Tar is thinking about a college version of Interact. It's called Rotaract and he has a plan to expand its reach.

"With that I feel like we'll create this bond between Rotaract and Interact and create some sort of community going on here between high school volunteers and college volunteers," said Tarlochan.

Tarlochan Rakhra not only gets involved with his community, he inspires many more to follow. That is a Cool Kid.

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volunteerism, cool kids, danny romero

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