Key Club is a student-led organization that consists of supporting the community through a range of voluntary activity. This can include fundraising, doing service projects, and joining other organizations to help them out.

At Lee, Key Club has approximately 40-50 members who meet every Monday after school to discuss upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. The president is junior Madeleine Quiroz, the vice president is junior Antonia Cook, the secretary is junior Rose Servellon, the treasurer is senior Nhut Vy Nguyen, and the editor is senior Rumisa Resha, the school sponsor is Spanish teacher Katie Chiotti, and the Kiwanis advisor is Louis Hofheimer.

Key Club is the high school branch of the Kiwanis organization. Kiwanis provides scholarships for senior Key Club members who have been very active in the community as well.

So far this year, the club has volunteered at DC Central Kitchen to feed the homeless, attended the George Washington Parade in Alexandria to promote the Kiwanis organization, had bake sales to fundraise for the Children’s Miracle Network, and participated at the Division meeting to vote for the new Lieutenant Governor and work on a service project.  Key Club has accumulated about 200 hours of service so far this year.

Quiroz explained the purpose of Key Club at Lee. “Key Club is an international organization meant to instill leadership into regular high-schoolers, and then also teach others apart of it how to become more communicative, more social, and do service projects,” Quiroz said.

Quiroz also says that Key Club really relies on the advisors. “[Ms. Chiotti and Louis] play a big role in our school and schedule events for us because we require a lot of commission from them,” Quiroz said.

Key Club at Lee has accomplished much this year as well, including the membership number increasing by 50% and better awareness and publicity through the use of social media. This includes Instagram, Twitter, and the use of flyers around the school.

One major event for Key Club is the Baltimore District Convention held on March 15, which is composed of one thousand Key Club members from high schools in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, and Delaware. These members meet up annually to vote on the new district Governor, lieutenant governors, and other officers for the new year. There will also be a talent show, awards, and service projects for the members to work on.

Junior Delina Nguyen is a Key Club member who has joined this school year. “[I] got involved because she saw other people joining, and also my friends told me to join to get service hours,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen was drawn to the sense of community and service. Specifically, she likes “all the people, [and] opportunities to get service hours,” Nguyen said.

So if you are looking for a club with opportunities to help out your community, gain service hours, meet new people, and gain leadership skills, consider joining Lee’s Key Club.