Key Club
M.A.S.T. Key Club Officers
Key Club
Key Club is the oldest and largest service program available for high school students to participate in. Its incredible success is partly due to the fact that it is a student-run organization that teaches its members leadership through helping and serving others. Key Club’s parent organization is the Kiwanis International – in charge of all the members of all ages who wish to carry out their motto: “Serving Children of the World.” Key Club is the high school sub-division of Kiwanis, with its own motto: “Caring – Our Way of Life.”
Today, Key Club exists on more than 5,000 high school campuses, primarily in the United States and Canada. It is a relatively new club at M.A.S.T., but nonetheless it’s the club with the most members out of all those offered at the Marine Academy. It’s constantly evolving, something that is evident in how the club officers are branching off into all the grades. It used to be that the officers were always seniors, but now the club has a few juniors in officer positions, and even had some sophomores last year.
The M.A.S.T. Key Club has been responsible for organizing many events over the years to help raise money for causes and those in need. These events can be anything: walks, rallies, dinners, bake sales, bowling, and some things as simple as volleyball or soccer games held after school. All the money that’s raised at any of the functions held by the Key Club is donated to the particular cause or child the function is held for. Members of the club invite their families, friends, and other M.A.S.T. classmates not in Key Club to participate in many of the fundraisers held during the school year.
Key Club is a very important component of the Marine Academy. It contains those students who want to help make a difference in the world by serving others. Everyone who wants to can join; new members are always welcome. M.A.S.T. Key Club often does very well at the conventions, but the community service the students do is more important to everyone than a bunch of awards. Caring is the club’s way of life, and not just a motto.
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Officers (click names for bios)
Lieutenant Governor: Thomas F.
President: Erica L.
Vice President: Kelsey W.
Secretary: Lauren V.
Treasurers: Leona M. and Ashley P.
Editors: Stephanie M. and Jessica M.
Webmaster: Kelly H.
Senior Class Representative: Andrew F.
Junior Class Representative: Kristi G.
Sophomore Class Representative: Jaclyn H.
Freshman Class Representative: Bobby G.
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Tom is a junior at M.A.S.T. and has been an incredibly active member in Key Club since his freshman year. He was his class’s representative both freshman and sophomore year, and is now Division 8’s Lieutenant Governor. He plans to run for NJ District Governor next year; good luck Tom! He has attended District Convention the past two years, and competed in the Oratorical Contest in his sophomore year and won! His favorite event our club has done so far is the CSH Walk “because it’s such a big event and very popular. We always raise a lot of money, which is for such a great cause.” He also attended International Convention both as a freshman and a sophomore. Within the district he helps the other LTG’s plan big district projects, talks with them about how to involve the whole district, and makes sure our division is totally connected with the district. “Key Club is a big part of my life and I hope to continue to be involved in college and afterwards.”
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Erica is also a three-year member of Key Club. She was our Secretary last year as a sophomore, and is doing a fantastic job as President this year. She has attended Convention for two years, and performed a jazz dance to the song “James Dean” by Daniel Bedingfield in the Talent Show last year (placing 3rd!). Her favorite event is the upcoming CSH Dance-A-Thon “because it will be a really fun way to raise money and I love dancing.” She also participates in community service outside of our club. Every year, Erica invites us to participate in a ten-mile walk in Central Park for the Kidney & Urology Foundation of America.
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Kelsey has been an active member of Key Club since her freshman year at M.A.S.T., and as a senior is now our Vice President. Last spring she was head of the CSH Walk committee, and helped her fellow committee members to host a very successful and fun day on Sandy Hook. Her favorite event we’ve held so far was the CSH prom “because it was a wonderful experience, talking and dancing with the kids at their very own prom – something they’ve never had before. People usually treat them so differently and it just felt right to be there, giving them something they really enjoyed.”
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Lauren is a senior at M.A.S.T. and a four-year member of Key Club. She has attended District Convention every year so far, and will definitely be a part of it this year. She has attended almost every event we’ve held, and constantly stays after school to work with the other officers on anything that needs to be done. Her favorite event was the CSH prom “because you get to actually see the impact you’ve made on the children’s lives.” Lauren loves Key Club, and has already made definite plans to be a part of Circle K in college.
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Leona, a senior, has been a member of Key Club since her freshman year. She and another senior have been in charge of the Read and Lead program at our school for three years now – since they’ve been sophomores. They get students to volunteer to read to the children at the Child Care center down the street, and go over themselves to read whenever they can. Her favorite event was the CSH prom, because “Even though I didn’t get to attend, I think it’s really great for the kids at the hospital and it’s something that they really appreciate and enjoy.” Leona also collected gloves from members of our club for Navajos in New Mexico this year, something she brought from outside of Key Club after visiting NM this summer.
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Ashley has been a very dedicated member of Key Club since her freshman year at M.A.S.T., attending District Convention all three years so far. She helped run the CSH Walk last spring, and is helping with the upcoming Dance-A-Thon as well. Her favorite event was bowling for Michael’s Feat in her freshman year “because it was a lot of fun and was a great way to raise money for a good cause. I am also excited to see how the Dance-A-Thon turns out!” Outside the club, Ashley is part of the planning committee for Relay For Life and wants to get the whole school (especially Key Club) involved.
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Stephanie is a junior at M.A.S.T. and has been a member of Key Club since her freshman year. She attended District Convention both in her freshman and sophomore years, and will be entering the newsletter competition this year. Her favorite event so far has been the CSH prom “because I love the little kids – I loved seeing them react – and it was a great experience.”
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Jess is another dedicated junior and member for three years. She is helping to run the Dance-A-Thon this year, and will also be competing in the newsletter competition at Convention. Her favorite event was the CSH Walk in the fall “because I thought it was for a great cause and it was nice to walk outside with friends.”
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Kelly is a four-year member of Key Club, and has been to convention all three years so far. She has attended many spaghetti dinners; kickball, wiffle-ball, and volleyball tournaments; pizza parties; walks; and as many meetings as she can. She loves helping out whenever possible, and also plans to be a part of Circle K in college. Her favorite event so far has been the CSH prom “because I love kids and seeing them all so happy showed me how special and meaningful the prom was to them.”
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Andrew has been an extremely dedicated member of Key Club since his freshman year at M.A.S.T., and attended Convention every year as well. He helped run the CSH Walk last spring and this fall, and was also in charge of the Spaghetti Dinner at the Keyport VSW for a soldier who lost both of his legs in the war in Iraq. His favorite event was raising money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand at the Monmouth Racetrack in his sophomore year “because it was fun being at the track for the day with friends while raising money for a great cause at the same time.”
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Kristi is a junior at M.A.S.T. She has been a Key Club member for three years, has gone to convention twice, and plans to attend again this spring. In her freshman year she and a friend sand “Tangled Up In Me” by Skye Sweetnam in the Talent Show at Convention. Her favorite event that we do is the CSH Walk “because it gives us all a chance to hang out with our friends, be outdoors, and help people all at the same time.” This year she has also asked the club to help her collect artwork for the Fisher House Foundation Fundraiser.
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Jaclyn has been a member of Key Club for two years and attended Convention last year as a freshman. She is part of the CSH Dance-A-Thon committee, and helps to run the PTSA Bookfair that Key Club participates in ever year. “I really like the walk and the CSH prom because they are for such a good cause and were really fun.”
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This is Bobby’s first year at M.A.S.T., and his first year in Key Club. He loves it so far, and wants to bring outside projects into the club as soon as he gets more information. His favorite events are the beach sweeps because “I've done many of them and they are not only a big wake up call about our oceans, but they are also fun. They are opportunities to learn, help, and to have fun at the same time.” He likes to spread his involvement across all our activities and events, partaking in as many things as he can.
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