“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention”

Key Club embodies this statement perfectly. Service projects such as raking leaves, planting new trees, staffing concession stands, creating encouragement cards, and raising money for charity projects are all commonplace to its members. According to Mrs. Kurtz (MASH Spanish teacher and Key club Advisor), they aim to lead by serving and to serve by leading. This means they want to help people who are willing to serve develop into leaders.

Key Club Officer Meghan Willis believes that they help connect our school with our community, as well as connecting younger and older generations. It’s a sadly common viewpoint that teens nowadays don’t care about the world or the environment around them, but Key Club just goes to show how untrue that is. Plenty of students join with hopes to help improve upon our community. Recently, MASH Key Club participated in International Key Club Spirit Week (Nov. 1st-Nov. 5th). During Key Club Week, members are encouraged to spread the word about Key Club by participating in themed days. The prompts for our school this year were Neon Day, Flannel Day, Fall Colors, Blue and Yellow/Key Club Shirt day, and Bulldog Pride/Black and Red Day. Students who participated in this event were entered for a chance to win a fun prize basket.

That same week they held a Caring Cupboard cereal box collection. Mrs. Kurtz and volunteers sat at a table in the first B wing hallway, collecting cereal donations that will go towards feeding hungry young people in our school and community. By the time of my interview with Mrs. Kurtz on Thursday November 4th, they had already collected 79 boxes. For each box donated, participating student’s names were entered into a drawing to win a gift card. Lastly, Key Club ended the week with a charity bake sale, the profits of which went to water, sanitation and hygiene resources for children in Haiti. According to the US National Library of Medicine, right now Haiti has the lowest rates of access to improved water and sanitation infrastructure in the western hemisphere. This problem was heightened by the earthquake there in 2010 and they’ve been dealing with it ever since, and now with the pandemic raging on, it’s good to give Haiti all the help they can get.

Key Club membership is always open, and they would love for more people to join. If you want to help make Meadville a better place, you can see Mrs. Kurtz or any of the Key Club Officers to sign up. Officers include President Ace Reese, Vice President Luke Burgess, Secretary Kailani Kawata, Treasurer Katie Say, and Social Media Coordinator Meghan Willis. They hold meetings every Thursday after school from 3:30-4:00 in Mrs. Kurtz’s room in the C wing. Soon there will be plenty more volunteering opportunities, including but not limited to, long term projects with Erie Homes for Children and Adults (EHCA), working with the Academy Theater, working with the Rec Complex, and volunteering to help out with upcoming Christmas events. 

Sources

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/05/29/as-haiti-braces-for-the-covid-19-pandemic-water-sanitation-and-hygiene-are-more-important-than-ever

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3795096/