Key Club grows to 200 members
October 5, 2015
Many people have no idea what Key Club is, some know that it is a community service organization, but few people realize Key Club has grown from 20 members to over 100 in just two years.
Until two years ago, there was no club based solely on community service. Then, Kiwanis, an adult community service club, reached out to Dusty Dennis to start Key Club. That first year there was only 20 members, but the club kept on regardless.
Due to increasing sophomore interest, Key Club will begin its third year with close to 100 or more members. This means the club will not only be the second largest club in the school, but one of the largest Key Clubs in the state of Minnesota, as well as the Dakotas.
Key Club advisor Dusty Dennis said, “We would be the second or third largest club in the state. My goal is that kids will join because they want to have fun and give back.”
Attendance and participation have no limits due to the fact that Key club is not a selective organization when dealing with membership. There are no requirements to enter or stay involved in Key Club. Anyone is welcome to join and the impact of this is a club that continues to grow yearly.
Kristen Diederichs, Key Club secretary said, “Key Club is a little bit different because there’s no grade point minimum or anything like that you have to keep up. If you want to be a member of Key Club you can just come to the meetings and come to any of our service events.”
Due to the growing membership and increased interest in the club, there is hope that the community of Stillwater will benefit from the group. Though Key club international specializes in certain organizations, such as Unicef and March of Dimes, they are always prepared to give back on a local level.
Kristen Diederichs said, “I think we are going to see a lot more community service opportunities and more community with sophomores, juniors and seniors from all different friend groups and activities coming together around service.”
The officers of Key Club are excited for the newest members to join, and expect a larger workload in terms of organizing events and managing members than in years past. They face this with enthusiasm, knowing that their efforts will create a positive environment for community service to be promoted.
Junior Officer Jordan Wallace said, “There’s going to be a lot more pressure on the officers to keep everything in line and keep everything organized but along with that it’s also good because we’re going to get more organized and be able to improve our club since there’s a lot more members.”
With more members than ever before, Key Club is striving for success and is hoping to achieve a lasting impact through their service. As the club grows larger and is increasingly successful, it seems practically impossible that only a short time ago this organization barely existed at all.
Dusty Dennis said, “We just started two years ago with nothing; from scratch. Its really become something special, all through legwork of the students.”