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Best Decision: Highlands Rotary Club
Written By: Deena Bouknight | Issue: 2021/01 – Winter | Photograph By: Susan Renfro
For Highlands Rotarian Sherry Holt, serving her community has always been part of her DNA.
Sherry Holt
Sherry Holt, a Rotarian since May 2015, is a partner with Highlands CPA firm Stephen Lucas and an alumni of Highlands High School.
A Scaly Mountain native, Holt said, “I have always been involved in the community to a certain extent.”
While her son was young, she volunteered as Highlands School PTO treasurer, chaired the Fall Festival, and more. Then she became active in the Rotary Club of Highlands, including entering the three-year leadership commitment as president-elect, president, and past-president.
“I am in my last year of the commitment, but I will always be involved in our Rotary projects. Prior to being president I was Service Event Director, and I am currently in my first term on the Historical Society Board,” said Holt.
She joined the Rotary Club of Highlands because of its laser focus on community.
“We strive to make our community a better place for everyone. It’s hard to say we have one main benefit because we are involved in so many, but for me personally I think our work with the school is beneficial. We give scholarships for higher education, money to help teachers with room supplies, sponsor children on the Fifth Grade Charleston Trip, sponsor the Interact Club each year…We also sponsor exchange students periodically and RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards).”
Holt has been especially impressed with feedback from young adults involved in Rotary Exchange. Inevitably, individuals involved convey the experience’s positive effects: “How much it meant to them to be able to have this experience, how it changed their life for the better,” she said. “I think if you can give one child, who otherwise would not get this experience, a chance to change their life … that is the best feeling in the world.”
Although she thought she would not be able to work Rotary Club involvement into her busy schedule, she decided to take the plunge after “Derek Taylor stopped by my office and asked me to join.”
Holt admitted: “It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.”
