Every new school year has a plethora of events centered around introducing students to the various clubs, departments, and organizations the school has to offer. First is freshman orientation, then open house, and finally TIE (Tiger Information Extravaganza) Night. Each event has a familiar scene set in the commons: cafeteria tables lined up along the perimeter, each scattered with decorations, posters, candy, t-shirts, and sign-up sheets – materials gathered with the goal of catching the eyes of a few passers-by. Regardless of the regularity of student organization recruiting events, there are many clubs yet to be discovered by the common student. This includes, but of course is not limited to, Key Club.
Key Club, from the outside, seems straightforward. One may think, at first glance, that members only join when they need an avenue to earn service hours for another organization, such as National Honor Society or one of its subject-specific offshoots. Upon further inspection, though, a prospective member might find out that this is the perfect club for a community-oriented, service-minded student. Key Club is full of passionate, enthusiastic leaders and members ready to search for service opportunities and grow bonds in places beyond this campus.
Senior Alaina Birran may be president of Key Club now, but her understanding of the value of the organization was face-value when she first joined three years ago, inspired by her tour at freshman orientation.
“People said it was a very good resume builder and good for volunteer hours,” Birran said. “And I’ve always wanted that for college, but now I’ve realized it’s a lot more than that.”
There is much more to Key Club than just a group of students organizing service projects and gathering for socials; members gain the opportunity to lead, plan, serve, communicate, and facilitate change in the community, and to earn that opportunity, there is necessary effort.
“They [students] should expect that if they really want to get involved, they have to go to volunteer events outside of school,” Birran said. “Sure, helping with socials and stuff in the Key Club classroom is good, but if you really want to see all the possibilities for it, you need to go to outside volunteer events.”
Some leaders, like Birran, even have the chance to serve in positions with influence beyond the school chapter. Birran serves on the Texas-Oklahoma District Project Committee which involves virtual meetings with other members to make plans for the larger community of Key Club members.
“It’s like one big service project,” Birran said. “So this year, it’s STEMulating hearts. We just need to come up with monthly challenges to keep everyone in the division engaged.”
As president, Birran also has plans to make Key Club even better and more member-friendly than in years past.
“I want member meetings to at least have games, always have food or some kind of social volunteer event that people can do so it’s a long and effective meeting,” Birran said. “I want to get involved district wide, because we were kind of confined to our school last year. And hopefully we can go to LEDCON, which is the state convention leadership conference with Key Clubs from everywhere, and then hopefully win awards for the club and make it more commendable, for everyone else to join.”
Overall, Birran can testify that the impacts of Key Club both at the school and district level run deeper than many may think.
“I’m a lot more comfortable with people in general, because I really had to plan officer meetings, and just couldn’t afford to be shy or anything like that,” Birran said. “It’s very easy to get involved in the community if you’re in Key Club, especially in The Woodlands. They have so many events all the time, and I would never have known about them if I wasn’t in Key Club.”
