Key Club of La Jolla Country Day School

Key Club is a service organization for high school students.

Key Club is unique because it blends service with outstanding leadership training. The projects and activities undertaken by Key Club provide learning experiences outside of the classroom and encourage students to become involved in their school and community.

Key Club, along with serving the community, also provides many services to the school. Participation in Key Club service activities help develop initiative, leadership, and good citizenship. Involvement will help heighten your awareness of your community's needs.

Key Club was started in May 1925 in Sacramento, California, by the local Kiwanis club. The original purpose of Key Club was to provide an active, vocational guidance program for the student body. Later, in response to many other opportunities for service in the school, Key Club began to expand; today Key Club is the largest high school service organization in the world. It has become the high school service club.

At the outset, Key Club grew with the help of Kiwanians who visited the Sacramento club and came away with the idea of introducing the high school service club to their own communities. This idea spread quickly, and soon Key Clubs began to form across the United States.

By 1939, Florida had enough clubs to hold a state convention and form an association of Key Clubs, thus starting the first district. In 1943, other districts, which had since formed, traveled to Florida for the first International Convention. There, Malcolm Lewis, from West Palm Beach, Florida, was elected the first International President.

Key Club experienced a banner year in 1946, during which the first Canadian club was established, and the official publication of Key Club International, KEYNOTER, was first published. Also in that year, at the convention in New Orleans, the Key Club International Constitution and Bylaws were adopted.

With the Constitution and Bylaws as a guide, Key Club International has since spread across North America and to seventeen countries, been divided into 31 districts.

Key Club International comprises three organizational levels: international. district, and local club. Elected officers who serve on all three levels are high school students just like you. The international and district organizations exist mainly to strengthen the local clubs. The following is a brief description of the three levels and how they work:

The International Board consists of fourteen trustees, a secretary, and the president, who is the spokesman for all of Key Club International. The International Board sets policy, develops major emphasis programs, represents the opinions of its counseled districts, and provides all the necessary materials and services to districts and local clubs, These officers are elected at the annual International Convention in July.

There are thirty-one districts in Key Club International. Districts comprise all the local clubs within a geographical area, usually determined by state or region of the country. Districts exist to maintain and expand Key Club service within that area. Each district is subdivided into divisions, which elect a lieutenant governor responsible for the clubs within that division. Other district officers include a treasurer, secretary, and governor, who serves as the spokesman for the district. Some districts elect officers to other positions as well.

There is no doubt that the local club is the most important level of Key Club International. This is where the actual Key Club service takes place. Each club holds meetings, social functions, and conducts service projects to improve the school and community. Club officers include treasurer, secretary, vice-president, and president, who are the spokesman for and leader of the club. The club also elects a board of directors, which includes a representative from each grade level.

The above information is accredited to "Key Club of Union Area."