Key Club  

Key Club is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. What makes Key Club so successful is the fact that it is a student-led organization that teaches leadership through serving others. Members of the Kiwanis International family, Key Club members build themselves as they build their schools and communities. Today, Key Club exists on almost 5,000 high school campuses, primarily in the U. S. and Canada. Growth efforts, however, have taken the Key Club experience internationally to Canada, the Caribbean nations, Central and South America, and most recently to Asia and Australia.

Key Club International is an organization of individual Key Clubs and is funded by nominal dues paid by every member. Its officers are high school leaders elected by the members at district and International conventions. The organization offers a wide range of opportunities to its members such as:

• Leadership development
• Vocational guidance
• College scholarships
• Service-learning
• Personal enrichment

Originally, Key Club adopted as its motto, “We Build,” the same motto as its parent organization, Kiwanis International. In 1976, the organization opted to change its motto to “Caring – Our Way of Life” because these words more clearly conveyed members’ reasons for helping others.

There are currently some 25 Key Clubs in Iowa, six of which are in Divisions 13 and 16. In the central Des Moines metro area, the only high schools that do not have active Key Clubs are Hoover, Valley, and Dowling.

The Downtown Club has sponsored a Key Club at Lincoln High School for over 15 years. Its members have been very active over the years; some of their projects include decorating for the annual Homecoming Game, sponsoring the Valentine’s Dance, and raising money to provide a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner to needy families. The Downtown Club provides an annual scholarship to one of the graduating Key Club seniors each year.

Sam Gelb and Tina Potthoff are our Club Liaisons to the Lincoln Key Club. The Club’s faculty advisor is Andrew Gross.