Whiz Kids: Key Clubbers Bring Back Lessons From Statewide Conference

From April 8-10, a small group of Riverhead Key Clubbers attended a statewide leadership conference in Albany with about 850 other Key Clubbers from across the state. The conference allowed the group of seven Riverhead students to bounce ideas off each other and hear how other Key Clubs from around the state are effectively carrying out the Key Club's mission.

Key Club is an extension of Kiwanis International, an international service organization founded in 1915 in Detroit which currently spreads its reach across 80 countries. The Key Club is comprised of 250,000 teens globally; Riverhead's Key Club is comprised of 30 members, a number the group would like to see increase.

"There were groups up there who had hundreds of Key Club members," said the groups President, Samantha Gao. "And Riverhead has a pretty big high school. So we'd like to see that number increase."

Riverhead's Key Club reaches its hand into the community through various events and awareness-increasing projects.

Each year it hosts a 'homeless night' to raise money for and awareness about the local homeless population, by sleeping in the courtyard of the Riverhead High School for a night. 

At the end of May, the group is holding a Senior/Senior dance, joining senior citizens and high school seniors in a night of music, dancing, food and fun. During a presentation to the Board of Education on Tuesday night during which the group recapped its trip to Albany, Gao said, "it's real fun to get up and dance with the seniors. It's like they can re-live their senior proms."

This Sunday, the group is holding a car wash at Pizza Hut to raise money for an invitation the group earned to Phoenix. At the Albany conference the Riverhead Key Club earned first place in the poster contest, earning them a spot at the national Key Club conference. Sunday's car wash will run from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Key Club Vice President Melissa Kujawski said at the conference, the group also learned about other creative ways to raise money for a good cause. The group plans on selling pens in the form of needles to represent a shot that helps prevent infant deaths - part of the group's Project Eliminate.

In addition to first prize in the poster category, the group also earned a third place prize for their non-traditional scrapbook, which was a series of photos laminated with oversized decorations on the back of the photos. The Riverhead Key Club was also named a 'Distinguished Club,' and earned first place in the bronze division for a single service project, with their 'going green' presentation on littering to third graders.