Two new student clubs are coming to Carbon Career & Technical Institute. The school's joint operating committee approved the formation of an Interact club and a local Aevidum chapter at a meeting last week.

A prorated adviser salary of $1,250 was set for both clubs.Tammy Marshall, a cosmetology teacher, was appointed the Interact adviser, while it is likely Rebecca Schaeffer, school nurse, will be named the Aevidum adviser at a future meeting.InteractCCTI student Brittney Marzen is the drive behind the Interact club formation."It would give us the ability to have a more hands-on approach to community service, which is one of our graduation requirements here," she said. "The benefits are that it creates leadership opportunities for students and makes those graduate requirements more attainable."Interact clubs are sponsored by the local Rotary. The five main offices include president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and a board of directors.Committees include groups that do fundraising, public relations, and organize international and local service projects."We have to do two service projects a year, one local and another international," Marzen said. "An example of an international project is to assemble water pasteurization indicators (WAPI) to send to countries in Africa, where there is not safe water. "The WAPI lets you know when the impurities have been removed from the water. An example of a local project would be cleaning a river or doing a food drive."The club will meet twice a month."Jim Thorpe has a very active Rotary, which I'm a member of, and we're always reaching to schools to start a club," said Dave Reinbold, CCTI executive director. "Brittney has done this legwork on her own, and we're very proud of her for getting this started."AevidumAevidum comes from the Latin word "vid," which means "life," and is interpreted to mean "I've got your back."Cocalico High School started Aevidum in 2004 after a student there committed suicide, said CCTI freshman Gibson Smith.Four CCTI students were moved by a presentation on the group at Penn's Peak in December."By starting it here, we hope more students will talk about depression openly and that it will just make the school a better place altogether," said Tiffany Weaver, CCTI junior.Weaver said she's had a personal battle with depression and helping to get Aevidum off the ground locally."There was a time when I didn't want to be here," Weaver said. "A lot of kids sit around and wonder if there is someone out there for you. If we start this club, students would know no matter who you are, someone is there for you. I think it would be a benefit to talk to other students who had the same experience and know how I felt."Aubree Everett, also a junior, said the energy at the Penn's Peak event really inspired the students who attended."It made us all feel like we could come together and talk to people," she said.According to freshman Anastasia Blihar, around 10 CCTI students attended the presentation and would be part of the initial chapter at the school.