Key Club Unlocks Community Opportunities 

Key+Club+accounting+manager+Lulu+Lopez+sells+baked+goods+at+a+fundraiser+at+the+boys+basketball+game+Feb.+14.

Jadyn Arzola

Key Club accounting manager Lulu Lopez sells baked goods at a fundraiser at the boy’s basketball game Feb. 14.

Camille Rivera, Reporter

This semester Key Club has been building their brand and becoming more active in the community than ever. They have set up weekly events for students to have many volunteer opportunities to become active in the town. 

“Key Club is a volunteer organization led by students, so this year for our personal Key Club, we’ve been focusing on rebuilding the club and that means getting more funding and just trying to get our name out so then we have more volunteer opportunities in the future while also helping like other charities in the process,” Key Club vice president Aryana Curtis said.

Key Club is active in training service dogs in Kempner from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Saturday. March 2 there will be another fundraiser at the high school track meet and another fundraiser March 3 at the middle school track meet. 

“Coming up with the ideas for these volunteer events are usually created by our president, James Vasquez,  who has some pretty wacky ideas first, but then we’ll proceed to take a small chunk of that and build a really good premise that we get actually a lot of support from all of the students,” Curtis said. 

A lot of Key Club is getting people involved because a lot of people invite their friends and, personally, the way I like to promote it is [that] this is time you can spend with your friends while also helping the community and just also advertising it for NHS hours and stuff like that.

— Key Club vice president Aryana Curtis

Teachers can approach the club to ask for volunteers at events such as basketball and football games. Many Key Club and NHS members jump at the opportunity for extended hours and help in the community. 

“A lot of Key Club is getting people involved because a lot of people invite their friends and, personally, the way I like to promote it is [that] this is time you can spend with your friends while also helping the community and just also advertising it for NHS hours and stuff like that,” Curtis said. “But in the end it’s usually just up to the people if they want to help out or not.”

From these events, students can get required hours for many of the clubs and organizations throughout the school and community.

The bake sale fundraiser at the boy’s basketball game Feb. 14 raised $600. 

“So depending on our donations, a major part of them do go to UNICEF and the Children’s Hospital, but what we collected [Feb. 14] from the basketball bake sale was for funding,” Key Club accounting manager Lulu Lopez said. “We are really working on building the club.” 

Students interested in joining Key Club pay $15, but from these fundraisers Key Club can pay for new members who want to join the organization as well as provide food and clothes for the members for events that are larger and require more service time. 

“We want everyone to be equal and have equal opportunities, so that’s an option if you can’t afford the club expenses,” Lopez said. 

The election for next year’s Key Club officers is approaching as well. The club is spreading new wings to the students and community.