by Glynnis Schmidt

The Kiwanis Club of St. Mary's County is pleased that many of the eight Service Leadership Clubs they sponsor have started the 2011-12 school year strong with a variety of service projects and fundraisers for charity.  The students also have a number of Kiwanis-family events that they will participate in alongside the Kiwanis Club members, including the annual Spirits of Point Lookout, St. Mary's County Oyster Festival, and Kiwanis ornament sales. 

(Above left) The Key Club of Great Mills High School included an ice-cream social in their first meeting of the year.  The event was well attended by approximately 75 students, and the student officers were excited to share news about numerous upcoming service projects and fundraisers.  They also showed a video about Key Club for the benefit of freshmen and new members.  Shown above right are Caroline Brigham (President) at right, and Julia Lynn (Editor).  Great Mills has recently participated in welcoming home events at the local navy base for returning military from Iraq and Afghanistan, carwashes and bake sales to fundraise for the Eliminate Project, and a reading night at a local elementary school.  They plan to participate in Trick-Or-Treat for UNICEF, and host their first ever Key Club week by planning daily Key Club activities at their school in November.   

The Key Club of Leonardtown High School, which chartered last spring with 20 members, is off to a very strong start with approximately 40 students attending their meetings so far this year.  They participated with Kiwanis recently at a bike rodeo for children in a local Cub Scout pack.  LHS Key Club's priority project this semester has been collecting money for the Eliminate Project at school sporting events, and numerous other service projects and fundraisers are being planned.   

The CKI Club at St. Mary's College of Maryland has already participated in service projects, including helping a local animal welfare league fundraise at a community event by selling cotton candy.  They also attend the Kiwanis meetings to keep our members informed of their activities.  CKI also is a co-sponsor with Kiwanis of the local K-Kids & Builders Club, and CKI students are very involved with mentoring the younger members of the Kiwanis family by attending their club meetings and working with them on in-meeting service projects.  CKI is also a strong partner for Kiwanis at the Spirits of Point Lookout because they are tasked with organizing and staffing the very busy children's games tent at the event, where a variety of fun activities including face painting, bean-bag toss, ring toss, twister, arts and crafts, and more keep children and their families entertained. 

In addition to the two Key Clubs and CKI club shown above, the Kiwanis Club of St. Mary's County also sponsor Key Clubs at Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy and St. Mary's Ryken High School, Builders Clubs at Margaret Brent Middle School and Spring Ridge Middle School, and a K-Kids Club at Lexington Park Elementary School.  St. Mary's Kiwanis is very pleased to sponsor these students as they volunteer their time and talents to serve their schools and our community.