Key Club is a service oriented club that focuses on community service activities. The club accepts members at any time throughout the school year.

Meetings for Key Club members are held on the second Monday of each month. The meetings start at 2:45 and are in room A211.

“We go over new business activities that we’re going to hold in the future. We have people sign up for luncheons with the Kiwanis Club of Altoona; we network with them. We go to their meetings to see where we can help with their local projects,” Key Club adviser Kristie Williams said.

A lot of the different community service projects the club takes on comes from the partnership that the Key Club has with the Kiwanis Club of Altoona.

“The whole basis of the Kiwanis Club of Altoona is its local business leaders giving back to the community by doing community service events that benefit children,” Williams said. “Key Club is the high school version of it, and Circle K is the college version of it.”

Williams and other Key Club adviser Sue Farabaugh both started advising the club in 2008. Williams believes that being a part of Key Club is very rewarding.

“We get a chance not only to give back to the community ourselves, but we give an opportunity to students to also give back to their local communities and to different organizations that they may use in the future, or they have used in the past as younger students,” Williams said.

The club does different activities each month such as helping with the Halloween parade, collecting donations for the local food bank, making cards and snacks to give to people in the veteran’s homes and participating in Easter for Eli. Last year the group helped to create over 10000 baskets for Easter for Eli, and they were given to local hospitals.

“I love how open everyone is and decorating the Halloween float made me feel excited for the future of the club,” junior Sarah Saylor said. “I think the club is a great way to contribute and connect to your community and provide services for those in need. I believe it is a very positive club and can help you be more involved in the school.”

According to Farabaugh, students seem to enjoy the Halloween parade the most in the past.

“I think they really like it because we get to decorate the entire float. We walk in the parade, dress up and just have a lot of fun with that activity,” Farabaugh said.

As stated by Williams, the partnership with the Kiwanis Club of Altoona is very welcoming.

“Dan Daniels is our main contact person, and he is our liaison between our club and their club,” Williams said. “He makes sure that we have any kind of information that we need to help out with their events.”

Key Club members have the opportunity to go to a Kiwanis Club luncheon that happens once a month on Wednesdays.

“It gives our members an opportunity to eat lunch and network with the Kiwanis Club of Altoona,” Williams said. “There’s usually a guest speaker. There’s a meal, and then, after that, we talk about different events that we’re going to help with, and how we’re going to help them.”

Key Club events are based around the ideas that the students in the club come up with.

“The kids in the club are given the freedom to choose what we do,” Williams said. “Their ideas become our activities. If someone would come in with an idea, we would pursue it. We’re always looking for new student ideas to run with.”