Key Club

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The logo of Key Club International
The logo of Key Club International

Key Club is the oldest and largest service program for high school students in the United States of America. It is a student-led organization that teaches leadership through serving others. Members of Key Club, also part of the Kiwanis International family, build themselves as they build their schools and communities.

The organization was the brainchild of California State Commissioner of Schools Albert C. Olney, and vocational education teacher Frank C. Vincent, who together worked to establish the first Key Club at Sacramento High School in California, on May 7, 1925. Female students were first admitted in 1976, eleven years before women were admitted to the sponsoring organization, Kiwanis International. In 2002, the KCI International Board officially adopted caring, character building, inclusive-ness, and leadership as the core values of the organization. Today, Key Club exists on almost 5,000 high school campuses, primarily in the United States and Canada. It has grown internationally to the Caribbean nations, Central and South America, and most recently to Asia and Australia. [1]

Key Club International is an organization of individual Key Clubs and is funded by nominal dues paid by every member. Its officers are high school leaders elected by the members at district and international conventions. It offers a wide range of opportunities to its members:

  • Leadership development
  • Study-abroad opportunities
  • Vocational guidance
  • College scholarships
  • Subscription to the KEYNOTER magazine
  • Service-learning
  • Personal enrichment
  • Value-added member benefit programs
  • Liability insurance coverage

Contents

[edit] History

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The following history of Key Club was taken from the Key Club Manual, Chapter II, titled "The Key Club: A Unique Kiwanis Program for Youth." [2]

[edit] Origin

It was in May 1925 in Sacramento, California, that the eleven charter members comprising the first Key Club met officially for the first time. Prior to that meeting came a full year's activity and thought, through which the idea of the Key Club developed and finally reached fruition. The following describes that flowering. In California during the twenties, high school fraternities were in their heyday. Educators and others were concerned with the pernicious side of these groups and sought some means of replacing them with more wholesome activity for youth. Fraternities were banned by law; they merely went underground, to be heard of only when their excesses received glaring publicity. The idea of junior service clubs, similar to Kiwanis and other civic clubs, was broached in 1924, but the practical application was not put into effect until 1925.

Two men in the Sacramento Kiwanis club, who were high school administrators, approached their club with the idea of a junior service club in the high school, to be patterned after Kiwanis and to have its own classifications based on school interests and to hold luncheon meetings. Through this group in the high school, the Kiwanis club hoped to provide vocational guidance, first to boys who had decided upon their future occupation, and then to the entire school. The Kiwanis club president liked the plan and appointed a committee to look into the matter. The principal of the high school was most receptive and assisted in finding boys interested in joining such a group. Next, the plan was presented to the Board of Education upon the principal's request, and following its approval, the first Key Club meeting was held early in May 1925. Evidence of the value of this group and its program is found in the fact that the Sacramento High School Key Club is still in flourishing existence today.

The club held weekly luncheons in the school, where Kiwanians came to speak to the group on various vocations. Key Club members attended Kiwanis meetings as guests of the club to enhance further the value of Key Club membership by bringing high school students into constant contact with the business and professional men of the community. As the experience of the Key Club grew, a noticeable trend toward expanding the original purpose and activity was found possible, and the club was soon a complete service organization for the whole school. It also offered a social program to balance its service activities.

[edit] Early Development

Through contact with the Sacramento Key Club and Kiwanis Club, other Kiwanis groups soon became interested in the activity and sponsored similar organizations in their own communities. One source of expansion during these early years came through high school principals and other educators. The school men responsible for the Sacramento Key Club talked of it with their colleagues and wrote of its activities in various articles. This resulted in many requests for information being sent to the Sacramento Kiwanis club concerning the Key Club. Such information was sent out and principals in various parts of the country were responsible for organizing similar groups in their own schools with the help of their local Kiwanis clubs. Practically all Key Club expansion which took place during the next fifteen years was accomplished in this way. By that time fifty clubs were functioning in California, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington. In 1939 the first plan for combining individual local Key Clubs into federated groups was developed in Florida. With Kiwanis counsel, a convention of existing clubs was held, a state association formed, and officers elected. The purpose of the State Association was to promote an exchange of ideas concerning the Key Club activity and to expand the number of Key Clubs. Conventions were held each succeeding year, and when the International Constitution and Bylaws were adopted in 1946, the Florida Association became the first Key Club district.

Florida was instrumental also in promoting the formation of an International Association of Key Clubs to perform for the entire country what the Florida Association had done for Key Clubs in that state. In 1943, at the invitation of the Florida boys, Key Clubbers from clubs in Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee were in attendance at the annual convention of the State Association held in Sanford. The representatives voted to form an International Association of Key Clubs and elected Malcolm Lewis of West Palm Beach, Florida, as first President.

Three formative years followed, during which the outlines of the present Key Club International organization were drawn. Lewis served one year and was followed in office by Eddie Richardson of Ft. Lauderdale, and Roger Keller of New Orleans. Keller presided over the third annual convention in New Orleans on April 27, 1946, at which time delegates from all parts of the country approved the Constitution and Bylaws, officially launching Key Club International.

During these years of early growth and increasing organization, Kiwanis International had not been idle. The Key Club was early recognized as a local club project, and no attempt was made to control its overall organization. In 1942 the Kiwanis International Board of Trustees recommended the movement to all clubs and directed the Boys and Girls Work committee to undertake the sponsorship of these clubs as an activity for students of high school age. In 1944 a special Kiwanis International Committee on Sponsored Youth Organizations was formed to look after Key Club work. Finally, in 1946, a separate Key Club Department was created in the International Office of Kiwanis International to serve as a clearing house for Key Club information, to keep the records and handle correspondence of the organization, to provide effective liaison between Key Clubs and Kiwanis, and to conduct the annual International conventions. Now the Key Club Department also handles a monthly publication--KEYNOTER--which was first issued in May 1946. The Kiwanis International Committee on Key Clubs was formed on January 1, 1949.

[edit] Present Status

Since May of 1925, Key Club continues to grow rapidly. There are now clubs located throughout North America and the Caribbean area. In these groups, thousands of students are receiving training in leadership and service. The Key Club District organization is patterned after the original Florida District and its parent Kiwanis districts. These organizations hold their own annual conventions for fellowship, to coordinate the efforts of individual clubs, to exchange ideas on Key Clubbing, and to recognize outstanding service of clubs or individual with appropriate awards.

Key Club is truly an "International" organization. In 1946 the first club was built in Canada, and since that time many more have been added. Key Clubs have also been formed in the Caribbean and future growth is promising. In the year 2005, Key Club International added to their list, the 33rd district, the Caribbean Atlantic District. Every year, led by the Key Club International Board officers, which consist of 11 trustees and the International President and Vice President, the organization focuses on new initiatives and methods of growth. With this criterion as a guide, Key Clubs can expect a steady, healthy growth for many years to come. The Key Club at James Martin High School in Arlington, TX, with 677 members as of April 30, 2006, is the largest local chapter in the world. [1]

[edit] Official Colors

Each color symbolized an aspect of the Key Club International objectives:

  • Blue - Unwavering character
  • Gold - Service
  • White - Purity

[edit] Mission statement

"Key Club is an international student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character and develop leadership."

[edit] Vision

"To develop competent, capable, and caring leaders through the vehicle of service."

[edit] Core Values

The core values of Key Club International are "Leadership, Character Building, Caring, and Inclusiveness."

[edit] Motto

The motto of Key Club is "Caring - Our Way of Life," changed from the original "We Build" in 1976 to better convey members' reasons for helping others.

[edit] Objectives

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The Objectives of Key Club are listed below. The six-fold sixth objective of Key Club incorporates the Six Permanent Objects of Kiwanis International as adopted in 1924: • To develop initiative and leadership. • To provide experience in living and working together. • To serve the school and community. • To cooperate with the school principal. • To prepare for useful citizenship. • To accept and promote the following ideals: o To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values of life. o To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships. o To promote the adoption and application of higher standards in scholarship, sportsmanship and social contacts. o To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent, aggressive, and serviceable citizenship. o To provide a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render unselfish service, and to build better communities. o To cooperate in creating and maintaining that sound public opinion and high idealism which make possible the increase of righteousness, justice, patriotism, and good will.

The organization maintains strong partnerships with UNICEF, AYUSA Global Youth Exchange, the March of Dimes, and Children's Miracle Network Telethon. Through the partnership with UNICEF, a major initiative was launched in the summer of 2005 to address HIV/AIDS education and prevention in Kenya. [3]

[edit] Pledge

I pledge, on my honor,

to uphold the Objects of Key Club International;

to build my home, school and community;

to serve my nation and God;

and combat all forces which tend to undermine these institutions. [4]

[edit] Theme and Major Emphasis Program (MEP)

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At Key Club International's first convention in 1946, the organization was given the responsibility of instituting a program that would bring together all Key Club's direct members' efforts and energies into an area that would truly make an International impact. This tradition is still followed today through the development of the Theme and Major Emphasis Program (MEP).

Children: Their Future, Our Focus logo "Children: Their Future, Our Focus" is Key Club International's Major Emphasis Program. It unites Key Clubs under the banner of service that deals with the most important part of our community, our youth. Focusing on the personal development and social interaction of children, Key Club members can help them learn through mentoring, making friends, and working together. As children are taught to work with others, Key Club members open the doors to their future.

The 2004-2006 MEP was Child Safety: Water, Bike and Car Safety where Key Clubbers participated in different educational events to spread safe habits to prevent accidental deaths.

The 2006-2008 MEP, unveiled at the most recent International Convention in Boston, is "High Five for Health." It is aimed at reducing childhood obesity and fighting a rising trend that increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Each year Key Club International teams up with other organizations. The Major Emphasis Program focuses on a specific organization during each season of the year. As Key Clubbers plan their club's service programming for the year, they are to keep in mind that with each new season comes a new opportunity to make a difference. Each Key Club is encouraged to participate with organizations as they join together to make a difference in the life of children. [5]

[edit] Key Club Week

Each first full week in November, Key Club members across the nation celebrate Key Club week to promote their clubs, activities, and service work in honor of Key Club Week. Each day is themed for a different type of service - to children, to the school, to the community, to Key Club (spirit), and a final "Key Club Week Project." The 2006 Key Club Week Project seeks to raise enough money to build new primary schools increase awareness of HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

[edit] External links

[edit] International sites

[edit] District sites

[edit] Individual High School Key Club sites

[edit] Key Club International partner sites

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.keyclub.org/keyclub/resources/newclbinfo.asp
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