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Key Club International is the oldest and largest^[3] service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization whose goal is to teach leadership through serving others. Key Club International is a part of the Kiwanis International group. Each local Key club is, in turn, sponsored by a local Kiwanis club. Image File history File links Keyclub. ... A Service club is a type of voluntary organization where members meet regularly for social outings and to perform charitable works either by direct hands-on efforts or by raising money for other organisations. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Indianapolis redirects here. ... Sacramento redirects here. ... Community service refers to service that a person performs for the benefit of his or her local community. ... For the tax agency in Ireland of the same name, see Revenue Commissioners. ... USD redirects here. ... Kiwanis International is a service organization whose mission is Serving the Children of the World. The organization was founded on January 21, 1915 in Detroit, Michigan and is now based in Indianapolis, Indiana. ... Look up slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... Kiwanis International is a service organization whose mission is Serving the Children of the World. The organization was founded on January 21, 1915 in Detroit, Michigan and is now based in Indianapolis, Indiana. ...

The organization was started by 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.

Activities

Key Club tries to offer a range of services to its members: leadership development, study-abroad opportunities, vocational guidance, college scholarships, a subscription to the KEYNOTER magazine, service-learning, personal enrichment, value-added member benefit programs, and liability insurance coverage.

In 2002, Key Club officially adopted caring, character building, inclusiveness, and leadership as the core values of the organization.

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). Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...

Key Club's major emphasis is "High Five for Health." It unites Key Clubs under the banner of service that deals with what the Club considers to be the most important part of the community: 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 try to help open doors to their future.

"Major Emphasis" Service (MEP)

Major Emphasis (MEP) has focused on helping to solve a certain problem Key Clubbers believed were facing children.

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

The 2006-2008 MEP is "High Five for Health." It is aimed at reducing childhood obesity and fighting a rising trend that appears to increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease. These children vary in their proportion of body fat. ...

Seasons of Service

Each year Key Club International teams up with other organizations for service opportunities. The Major Emphasis Program focuses on a specific service during three seasons.^[4]

Key Club focuses on three specific charities during three seasons. March of Dimes (Spring), Children's Miracle Network (Summer), and UNICEF (Fall).

Key Club's Fall Season of Service is with Service Partner UNICEF. Over the past two years, Key Club has teamed up with UNICEF in the "Kick HIV/AIDS Out of Kenya" Campaign, targeted on young girls at risk of contracting AIDS by using community soccer games. To help raise money for this campaign, Key Clubbers participate in the signature service project, Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, as well as other fundraisers in their community.^[5] Over $460,000 was raised for the campaign in 2005-2006; as of December 31, 2006, $489,987.80 had been raised for the 2006-2007 Key Club Year.^[6]

The Spring Season of Service Service Partner is the March of Dimes, which seeks to overcome health concerns posed by premature birth. Key Clubbers team up with them to participate with the Time for Change coin drive campaign as well as the annual walks of WalkAmerica.^[7] March of Dimes is the name of a United States health charity, whose mission is to improve the health of babies. ...

Summer's Season of Service works with the Children's Miracle Network, a network of premiere children's hospitals around the country. The signature service project during the summer is the CMN Telethon, a fundraising effort broadcasted nationally. Also, many Key Clubs participate with local hospitals by creating trauma dolls, cards, and other helpful items.^[8]

Key Club Week

The first full week in November, members promote their clubs with a "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 and increase awareness of HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

Structure

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 individuals with appropriate awards.

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.^[9]

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.

Official colors

Blue, Gold and White                  

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

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

Mission statement

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

Vision

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

Core values

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

Motto

The motto of Key Club is "Caring—Our Way of Life," changed from the original "We Build" in 1978 to better convey members' reasons for helping others.

Objectives

The Objectives of Key Club are listed below. The sixfold 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:
  • To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values of life.
  • To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships.
  • To promote the adoption and application of higher standards in scholarship, sportsmanship and social contacts.
  • To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent, aggressive, and serviceable citizenship.
  • To provide a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render unselfish service, and to build better communities.
  • 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. ^[10]

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.^[11]

History

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Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...

Origin

In California during the twenties, adults were concerned with the pernicious side of high school fraternities and sought some means of replacing them with more wholesome activity for youth.^[12]

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 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 plan was presented to the Board of Education, and following its approval, the first Key Club meeting was held early in May 1925.

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.

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. 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, Florida. The representatives voted to form an International Association of Key Clubs and elected Malcolm Lewis of West Palm Beach, Florida, as first President. Sanford is a city in and the county seatGR6 of Seminole County, Florida, USA. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. ... Nickname: Location in Palm Beach County and the state of Florida. ...

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.

The Key Club was early recognized as a local Kiwanis project, and no attempt was made to control its overall organization. In 1942 the Kiwanis International Board of Trustees recommended Key Club to all Kiwanis clubs. 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.

Present status

Since May of 1925, Key Club has become an "International" organization. In 2008, there were clubs located throughout North America and the Caribbean area. Thousands of students belonged.

The Florida District is the oldest district in Key Club International.^[13]

In 2005, KCI added the Caribbean Atlantic District.

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. ^[14]

Notable former Key Club members

• Richard Burr, Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, NC, US Senator from North Carolina (2004-present)
• Bill Clinton^[15] President of the United States
• Tom Cruise^[15]
• Alan Jackson^[15] Country Singer
• Ricki Lake^[15]
• Trent Lott, US Senator ^[15]
• Joe Namath professional football player^[15]
• Bill Nelson, Key Club International President 1961, US Senator and astronaut.
• Brad Pitt^[15] actor
• Elvis Presley^[15] singer
• Stuart Scott, Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, NC. Scott is a current ESPN Sportscenter anchor.

Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is a United States Senator from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. ... Name Richard J. Reynolds High School Address 301 N. Hawthorne Road City Winston-Salem, NC 27104 Phone Number (336)727-2012 Principal Art Paschal, Ed. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... Tom Cruise (born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on July 3, 1962) is an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and film producer. ... Alan Eugene Jackson (born 17 October 1958 in Newnan, Georgia) is an American country singer-songwriter who has sold over 40 million records. ... This article is about the person. ... Chester Trent Lott Sr. ... Joseph William Namath (born May 31, 1943), also known as Broadway Joe, was an American football Hall of Fame quarterback in the American Football League and National Football League during the 1960s and 1970s. ... For other people named Bill Nelson, see Bill Nelson (disambiguation). ... William Bradley Brad Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an Academy award-nominated American actor, film producer, and social activist. ... Elvis redirects here. ... Stuart Scott (born July 19, 1965, in Chicago, Illinois) is a sportscaster, most visibly as an anchor on ESPNs SportsCenter. ... Name Richard J. Reynolds High School Address 301 N. Hawthorne Road City Winston-Salem, NC 27104 Phone Number (336)727-2012 Principal Art Paschal, Ed. ...

References

This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ...

External links

• Key Club International Official Site

District Websites

• Cal-Nev-Ha
• Capital
• Eastern Canada
• Florida
• Indiana
• Kentucky-Tennessee
• La Miss Tenn
• Michigan
• Montana
• New Jersey
• Ohio
• Pacific Northwest
• Pennsylvania
• Rocky Mountain
• Texas-Oklahoma