Hope4Orem, a local community nonprofit organization that helps schools support their students’ mental health through donations hosted a local event at Orem library on Monday, August 31st, 2026. Hope4Orem was able to host various local organizations and resources for members of the community to be able to meet and talk to while also getting more awareness on issues that people are going through. Though I was nervous, I was able to get along incredibly well with members of the Orem-Lindon Rotary Club members and even had the opportunity to meet people from Hope4Orem. I met Kaylee Ambrose, Fiona Ambrose, and even Cathy Ambrose, who is a past President of the Orem-Lindon Rotary Club as well as the executive director of Hope4Orem. Thanks to them and Megan Ashcraft, Utah Valley University Rotaract, I was able to find out what to do and how I could further help with the event hosting. Megan and I were able to assist with transporting tables and supplies for the various groups that came to attend the event, and later on once the event started I was able to help attend the Hope4Orem table with Garret and Kaylee by handing out coloring activities to the kids that stopped by and even let the kids and parents spin a wheel we had for cool stickers and even sweaters.
Alan, Kaylee Ambrose , and Garret Anderson attend families in the drawing area.
The event officially started with a local bluegrass band playing to the crowd while
Noah Conan, the keynote speaker of the event went on to talk. Noah is a public speaker,
youth mental health advocate, and suicide prevention specialist. Who talked on the
importance of listening and the problem of loneliness in children and even adults
who need someone to talk to. He engaged with the crowd by testing the differences
in how listening made a difference when someone is trying to be heard. Noah led the
crowd to group up into pairs of two, and then would give one of the partners the role
of pretending to talk, while the other partner just blankly listened without much
activity. 
Noah Conan giving his speech on mental health
I was paired up with Megan during this and you could feel how isolating not being listened to could be. Noah explained to the crowd that loneliness doesn’t just start with going out, it starts with listening. And by going out and finding people to actively listen to and talk back with can help people get out of their loneliness. After the talk all the people were able to disperse and go to all the resource stands in the library to meet and get to know local mental health groups that were there for people who needed them the most.
This event showed Student-Engaged Learning (SEL) in action! SEL encourages us students to work on resolving a practical issue or problem with teacher’s mentorship. During this event, I was able to be mentored by the Rotarians on how to engage with our local community while working in a group setting with my peers and organizational staff.
Alan Calderon and Dean Robertson, fellow Rotarian after cleaning up at the Orem library.
Being able to attend and see all the families and people getting help through the resources brought to the community through the efforts of the Rotarians and Hope4Orem members helped me understand the importance of the connections between local Rotary Club members and the importance of not just helping communities through trying to write papers but by showing that we are physically on the ground attending and helping the local community in-person!
Alan Calderon, President of Sustainable Mountain Development Club at Utah Valley University
