Growing club key to community

Katherine ldjunji l News Editor

Key Club has grown in popularity over the years, but this year they were able to recruit almost 170 members to help with community projects.

Members of Key Club are required to complete a minimum of 15 hours of service per semester. These hours can count towards National Honor Society as well. Thus, making the club more appealing to students.

“Key Club is a popular club among students because many students like the idea of serving the community,” said senior secretary Laura Kneasel. “Many students will also join Key Club in order to fulfill their National Honor Society service requirement.”

Growing in size over the past few years, Key Club is now the largest club in the school. Many active members of Key Club have helped by spreading the word about what the club is really about.

“Key Club is so popular among students because this club gets to help out so much, and I believe that that drives a lot of the students,” said sophomore treasurer Layla Reesor. “When we are at projects, we have a lot of fun together and get to know one another. The club has gotten bigger and bigger and Key Club has made a reputation for itself.”

Because of the tremendous number of new members, Key Club has be”en able to serve a greater part of their community through various community service projects, including doing sidewalk chalk at elementary schools, courtyard clean-ups, bingo with senior citizens, and story-time at local libraries. Advisers and officers have been able to come up with new and creative projects for members to do.

“We never seem to have trouble filling spots this year,” said club adviser Shannon Reisch. “The officers and advisers are being more creative in project ideas to help give our members more opportunities to serve the community.”

In October, the club offered over 30 different projects with members completing over 600 hours of service in total for the month.

“The projects we do impact the community tremendously,” said Reesor. “We help clean up the community, help those who are struggling in the community, and we help organizations with who they are and what they do in the community.”

Many of the Key Club officers emphasize the many successes that they have had this year with various community outreach projects.

“Recently, we participated in the Bikes for the World event, and it was very successful,” said senior president Grace Tadajweski.

At the Bikes for the World event, Key Club members disassembled and readied donated bikes to send to lesser developed countries that crucially rely on bikes for transportation.

“I am so excited that we have many Key Club members this year,” said Tadajweski. “This large number of members allows us to expand our impact and truly help all areas across the community. We have a great momentum going, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this year takes us.”

Overall, the club provides students with the opportunity to serve others in their community.

“The hope is that we are spreading a little sunshine to our community,” said Reisch. “We are picking up trash to make the road cleaner, calling bingo numbers to give senior citizens a fun activity, reading stories and doing crafts with preschoolers to provide enrichment, planting trees to provide animals a new home, and creating craft kits for kids who are in the hospital.  At the end of the day, I hope that we put a smile on someone’s face.”