Single-school event breaks new ground

A new Key Leader concept proved very successful this past spring when Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida, hosted more than 100 of its own students for a “lock-in” event.

To learn how your Kiwanis club can work with a school in your community, contact the Key Leader program by e-mail or by phone at 317-875-8755, ext. 330.

The idea, according to Cathy Lewis, Key Club advisor, member of the Kiwanis Club of Westside, West Palm Beach, Florida, and event coordinator, was to find out: “What would happen if a school could provide 100 eager students from every major leadership role within the school,” she says.

“Eager” is right. Within 48 hours of sending the information out to students selected by school administrators and staff, there was a waiting list. Only 11 were Key Club members, though the Cardinal Newman Key Club helped plan the event, the other participants were a mixture of representatives from sports teams, National Honor Society, and other student organizations.

While already identified as leaders, the students seemed hungry for everything Key Leader has to offer. In such a large school, the program’s community-building curriculum takes on special significance by helping teens become acquainted—and prepared to share the messages learned.

“Teens do not know one another within a large school,” Cathy says. “And if you send two teens to a meeting, only two come back to make very little difference in a large body, because no one else ‘felt the heat’ of improving leadership and team building. But this Key Leader sends 100 back to the student body. It’s like a vitamin, a body-building booster to your own family in your own school. One can be heard, but 100 will create a stampede!”

While the results might not be fully visible until school resumes in the fall, there is no question this first-of-its-kind Key Leader event was a success, according to Phil Yorston, Key Leader district volunteer and member of the Kiwanis Club of Flagler Sunrise, West Palm Beach, Florida.

“Awesome,” he says. “Excellent. Over the top; a once-in-a-lifetime unique experience. It rocked. … I guess I liked the event.”

Specifically, Phil says he liked how it brought the school together.

“It allows different cultures within a school that do not mingle much interact in a more personal setting; allows for the entire school to get thoughts about ethics, respect, integrity, growth, excellence, and develop sound core values that are consistent within the Key Leader communities, and then by extension consistent throughout Cardinal Newman next academic year.”