KEY CLUB ADVISOR Getting Started. Out of the blue, you’ve been drafted into the ranks of Key Club Advisers. Whether it is by choice or an assignment.

KEY CLUB ADVISOR

Getting Started

Out of the blue, you’ve been drafted into the ranks of Key Club Advisers. Whether it is by choice or an assignment given to you by your principal, you are left wondering what the role of the adviser is and just exactly what is

Key Club???

Key Club International is the oldest

and largest service program for high

school students. It is a student-led

organization whose goal is to teach

leadership through helping. Key Club

International is a part of the Kiwanis

International family of service-

leadership programs. Many local Key

Clubs are sponsored by a local Kiwanis

club.

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time. Their members help shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, mentor the disadvantaged, and care for the sick. We develop youth as leaders, build playgrounds, raise funds for pediatric research, and more. Working together, members achieve what one person cannot accomplish alone.

Each Key Club member is expected to do at least 50 service hours per year, which equals more than 12 million hours of service annually.

UNICEF, March of Dimes, Kids Against Hunger, Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs, and Children’s Miracle Network are all preferred charities. Key Club members provide fundraising support for each of these groups.

The Kiwanis family, of which Key Club is a part, includes Kiwanis members, or Kiwanians, and all of Kiwanis’ Service Leadership Programs, which provide service and leadership opportunities for young people and adults with disabilities around the world. These groups include:

Elementary school students. Kiwanis Kids (www.kiwaniskids.org) provides three programs—K-Kids, Terrific Kids and Bring Up Grades—for students ages 6–12. In each, lessons of leadership and self-development are introduced through learning to plan, set goals, work with others and celebrate successes.

Teens. Kiwanis offers three meaningful, interactive programs that allow students to discover their own leadership potential—Builders Club (www.buildersclub.org), exclusively for middle and junior high school students ages 12–14; Key Club (www.keyclub.org), the largest high school service club in the world for ages 14–18; and Key Leader (www.key-leader.org), a weekend leadership experience for students age 14–18.

Young adults. Circle K International (www.circlek.org) is the premiere university and college service organization in the world, with clubs on more than 500 campuses in 17 nations. In Europe, Kiwanis Junior gives young adults a chance to volunteer for their communities.

Adults living with disabilities. Aktion Club (www.aktionclub.org) is the only community service club for these adult citizens, providing members an opportunity to develop initiative and leadership skills in serving their communities, while enabling integration into society.

WHAT WE STAND FOR

Mission statement

Key Club is an international student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character and develop leadership. Key Clubs are made up of caring and competent servant leaders dedicated to transforming communities worldwide.

The core values of Key Club International are leadership, character building, caring and inclusiveness. The motto is:

“Caring–Our Way of Life”

Objects

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 makes possible the increase of righteousness, justice, patriotism and good will.

WHAT KEY CLUB DOES

Key Club International is the high school organization sponsored by. Kiwanis International . Key Club assists Kiwanis in carrying out its mission to serve the children of the world. High school student members of Key Club perform acts of service in their communities, such as cleaning up parks, collecting clothing and organizing food drives. They also learn leadership skills by running meetings, planning projects and holding elected leadership positions at the club, district and international levels.

Key Club International brings together all Key Club's members' efforts and energies into an area that makes an international impact through the Major Emphasis, "Children: Their Future, Our Focus.” The Major Emphasis unites Key Clubs under the banner of service that deals with the most important part of our community, our youth.

The Key Club service initiative is the hands-on element of the Major Emphasis. All of the hands-on service provided to children by Key Club International members is directed to a single area of need, to make a substantial impact. The current service initiative, The Eliminate Project, allows Key Clubbers to join forces with Kiwanis International and UNICEF to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus worldwide.

HOW KEY CLUB WORKS

Key Club International is a self-governing, student-led organization. Each year, Key Club members elect their student officers at club, district and international levels during club meetings and district and international conventions.

Key Club members receive guidance and support from adult volunteers, including Kiwanis advisors, faculty advisors and district administrators. Additionally, the Key Club International staff trains and assists the district governors and international board members.

The organization is funded by nominal dues paid by every member.

The international, district and club levels operate under a set of bylaws that spell out their respective policies. You can find the International Bylaws in the Key Club Guidebook, the official guide for Key Club, which is updated and posted online every May.

There is almost no limit to the scope and nature of Key Club service projects. The Key Club website (www.keyclub.org), Key Club magazine, and conventions all offer ideas for service opportunities. Better yet, begin by looking around your school for existing needs.

Many clubs utilize a point system in which members earn points for attending meetings and projects. A best practice is the 50-hour rule: Every Key Club member should be willing to undertake 50 hours of service each year. Throughout the organization, millions of service hours are volunteered annually.

In an all-male or all-female school, it is permissible to have a club that is either all male or all female. In a co-ed enrollment, U.S. and Canadian schools are at risk of being in violation of existing federal and state/provincial laws prohibiting discrimination based upon gender. Clubs need a minimum of fifteen members with no more than half of the members graduating in a single year.

ADVISORS TERMS

DCON, KCI, Key Leader, PCM—learning to speak Key Club is sort of like learning a foreign language. In order to be an effective adviser, it is important to have a working knowledge of the specifics of the organization. For a glossary of terms, go to:

http://www.keyclub.org/Libraries/Administrator_and_Advisor_Resources/Guide_KeyClub_Terms_and_Definitions_for_Advisors.sflb.ashx