Key Club Opens Doors for Students and the Community

Key+Club+members+meet+in+the+auditorium+to+discuss+potential+community+service+activities.

Kailey Withers

Key Club members meet in the auditorium to discuss potential community service activities.

Matthew Michalek, Staff Writer

Throughout the years, Key Club, which is a community service club, affiliated with the Kiwanis organization, has been donating their time and resources to help the community.

The Key Club website states, “High school student members of Key Club perform acts of service in their communities, such as cleaning up parks, collecting clothing and organizing food drives. They also learn leadership skills by running meetings, planning projects and holding elected leadership positions at the club, district and international levels” (keyclub.org).

According to Key Club President Alicia Ayala, the current Key Club Advisor is Teacher Janelle Javier and the club has been at UC High for over 30 years.

According to Ayala, when trying to organize events, they will find events online and reach out to the volunteer coordinator to reserve volunteer spots for the club members.

“We usually have ten volunteers as a minimum for each volunteer or social event,” Ayala stated.

According to Ayala, the most famous event Key Club holds is the Fall Rally, where members from all the clubs around California come together at Six Flags to go on rides, show off club spirit and celebrate all the fundraising they have done.

“We’ve volunteered at huge marathons and for small organizations in our community. We’ve also been a part of socials with Key Clubs from other schools. We also do fundraisers to raise money for PTP and UNICEF. PTP is the Pediatric Trauma Program which raises money to prevent lethal accidents in children that stem from such things as not wearing bicycle helmets or having improper car seats,” explained Ayala.

According to the Key Club website, there are 36 organized districts. Each district, normally defined by state or nation, tends to match a similar Kiwanis district and is led by a governor, who is elected by delegates at the annual district convention. Districts are divided into divisions and each division has a lieutenant governor, a student leader who carries out the district’s policies and provides support to the clubs (keyclub.org).

The Key Club website states that Key Clubs are established in a high school or equivalent institution. A community-based club also may be chartered. Elected officers can include president, one or more vice presidents, secretary, treasurer, editor and one director from each class (keyclub.org).

According to Ayala, “I wanted to join [Key Club] because a fellow player on my Field Hockey Team was the president at the time. I stuck with it because I really enjoyed volunteering with friends.”

According to UC High’s Key Club website, their objectives include developing initiative and leadership, preparing for useful citizenship, and serving the community and school (uckeyclub.weebly.com).

According to the Key Club website, Key Club is an international student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character and develop leadership (keyclub.org).

The Key Club website states the first Key Club formed in 1925 in Sacramento, California with 11 charter members. Key Club was the idea of two Sacramento Kiwanis club members, Albert C. Olney and Frank C. Vincent, who also were high school administrators. They approached their Kiwanis club with the idea of starting a junior service club in the high school. It would resemble Kiwanis, have its own classifications based on school interests and hold luncheon meeting (keyclub.org).