Out of all the clubs in high school, one in particular has a unique claim to variety. After all, with a mission as simple yet vast as helping your community, there are so many ways to go about it that it can encompass almost anything. 

Key Club is an international, student-led community service organization. Typically, they help out certain nonprofits and do volunteer work wherever they’re needed. However, due to COVID-19, they were severely restricted in terms of activities until recently.

“There just haven’t been a whole lot of volunteer opportunities the last couple years,” Mrs. Leah Peach, Key Club’s sponsor, said. “Again, so many events got canceled, but a lot of those things are starting to happen again.”

One thing they are planning to reinstate is the well-loved tradition of visiting nursing homes to spend time with the elderly.

“Before COVID hit, we pretty much had a standing occasion with Meriwether and with Hillcrest, Shadow Lake,” Peach said. “We had Sundays at Meriwether and then we would go and do events at Hillcrest, like bingo and stuff with them, and the kids really loved that.”

There will also be more chances to make friends with fellow club members.

“I like the social part of it,” Jared Huffman, Key Club Vice President, said. “I mean, there’s times where you’re standing out in the cold ringing bells and you just get to talk with the person you’re doing it with, and, you know, you get to do something good while at the same time maybe meeting a new friend.”

In general, with the return of old traditions and the beginning of new ones, there’s guaranteed to be something for everyone in Key Club.

“Key Club is just a good opportunity to get out in your community, do some good things, and help round you as a person,” Huffman said. “It can also help you with other things, like if you need community service hours for other reasons too, you can also get those in while doing Key Club.”