Taia takes charge
Stawell has inducted its youngest Rotary club president in history. Taia Hayter, 18, is hoping to strengthen her connection to the community as she takes over the reins at the Wimmera service club.
She will be among the youngest of Rotary presidents in Australia and the youngest female presidents in the world.
Her father Scotney Hayter was the outgoing president.
“I’ve always seen my Dad work with different committees and volunteer organisations,” Ms Hayter said.
“I wanted to be able to join and give back to a community that raised me. I love being able to help people.”
A trip to Brazil’s bustling Belo Horizonte in 2018 as part of the club’s youth exchange program sparked Ms Hayter’s interest in the group.
She said her experience overseas shaped her mindset to ‘not be afraid’ to speak out.
“It is an interesting experience to go from a country where you can interact with everyone to a country where you can only interact with every other person,” she said.
“Meeting a lot of people helped me build independence and I had to approach people and not be scared about it – that’s a really important skill to being able to lead and take charge.”
Arriving back from her trip later that year, the young leader decided she wanted to ‘give back’ and started volunteering with Rotary.
Ms Hayter will now juggle schoolwork as well as lead in her role as the newly elected president.
She also takes part in youth program Freeza to help engage youth in her town.
Ms Hayter said she had learnt invaluable skills volunteering with various committees.
“As a young person, not joining a group is a missed opportunity,” she said
“They allow you to interact with your community, which really helps with social skills.
“These skills you develop, most people would normally learn in their 20s or 30s, but learning them as a teenager – it’s really beneficial.”
Ms Hayter said as club president she hoped to develop greater links with other service clubs across Stawell and surrounding districts.
“I’d like to really focus on more local projects, due to COVID-19,” she said.
“I’d love to be able to work with other community groups to bring everyone closer together.”
Ms Hayter said she believed greater collaboration would help clubs connect closer with the community.
“I guess it’s really hard to get a well-rounded view on the town and on different projects when you’ve only got one group working on it,” she said.
“When you have multiple groups with different minds, it’s a lot easier to work on projects to get different ideas.”
Proud
Mr Hayter said he was ‘extremely proud’ of his daughter.
“She’s exceeded all expectations when it came to Rotary, I’m the typical proud dad,” he laughed.
“Most Rotarians are generally 40-plus – in this position you’ve got to have good leadership qualities.
“You’ve got to be prepared to sit down and listen to everyone, prepared to make a decision that might be unpopular, and you’ve got to have good people skills.”
Mr Hayter said without young people interested in joining, Rotary clubs would struggle to survive.
“The average age of members in these service clubs is getting quite old,” he said.
“If we don’t see young people coming through these clubs, we’re going to see them disappear.”
Mr Hayter said he had seen his daughter’s communication skills grow immensely during her time with the club.
“There’s been a huge growth. We’ve put levels of responsibility on her that you would normally give an experienced adult,” he said.