Rotary Club of St. John Welcomes Alecia Wells as President

 

Alecia Wells is sworn in as St. John Rotary Club’s new president, above, and with fellow Rotarians, below.

CRUZ BAY ­­— Already serving as the president of the St. John Community Foundation and in the midst of her fourth term on the V.I. Elections System board of directors, retired educator Alecia Wells also recently accepted the position of president of the Rotary Club of St. John.

Although Wells has only been a Rotary member for a few years, she feels strongly about the organization.

“I had always planned to join over the years but they used to meet out at the Westin on Fridays,” said Wells. “I was teaching and working on St. Thomas and I could never make it to the meetings. Now the meetings are in Cruz Bay on Wednesday afternoons and I’m retired.”

This is Wells’ first time serving as the group’s president and she’s looking forward to growing and diversifying Rotary’s membership.

“We need young people and we need more people in the organization who are representative of our community,” said Wells. “I want to increase our membership and I want to get some of our young people into position to join as members so we can have them move up to be president.”

With a focus on community improvement, Rotary offers residents a way to give back, explained Wells.
“Young people should join because its a way of giving back to the community,” said Wells. “Rotary offers a great learning experience too.”

The group also allows members to work in their areas of expertise, Wells added.

“Every member has a special area of expertise,” said the Rotary Club of St. John President. “When you become a member you get to work with different people and you really grow as a person and learn a lot.”

On a global scale, Rotary International focuses its efforts on eradicating polio and providing clean water, among many other programs and initiatives. Locally, Rotary Club of St. John hosts the annual Children’s Village during St. John Festival, awards scholarship funds each year to local students and also supports its recently founded Rotary Interact High School program.

As president, Wells is now responsible for setting up the speakers at the group’s Wednesday meetings.

“I am setting up the speakers now so you know they are going to be exciting and different,” Wells said. “With these speakers I hope to bring some members out who don’t normally come to meetings and also to bring out new people who are interested in joining.”

At each of the meetings, Rotarians recite the group’s “four-way test,” which on St. John includes a fifth test, Wells explained.

“Everything is about ‘Service Above Self,’” said Wells. “We ask ourselves about each project, ‘Is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build good will and better friendship and will it be beneficial to all concerned.’ On St. John we also ask, ‘Is it fun.’”

Rotary Club of St. John meets each Wednesday at noon upstairs at Ocean Grill. The group enjoys fellowship and lunch until 12:30 p.m. when the official meeting begins.

Rotary’s satellite group meets on Fridays at Chateaux Bordeaux at 12 p.m. with fellowship until 12:30 p.m.