Key Club, one of Glenbard West’s oldest clubs, revolves around community service. The club benefits the community by participating in various community service events and fundraising projects in the DuPage county area. In addition to this, Key Club also “teaches leadership through serving others,” says Benjamin Peterselli, Key Club sponsor.

Key Club hosts several events throughout the year in order to help out the community. According to Key Club President and senior Andrea Giesman, a few of these events include Tavern Days – which allows members to help out the Glen Ellyn Historical Society, St. Baldrick’s – an event that raises money for childhood cancer research, and the annual Dodgeball tournament, which seems to be a favorite event amongst Key Club members.

Another fun event would be the food pantry scavenger hunt, which Key Club president and junior Marika Tamaru says that members were able to “collect 31 bags of food within a two hour period.” Events like these truly emphasize the goal of Key Club, which is to benefit the community by serving others but to also have fun while doing it.

It’s no wonder Key Club members such as Luis Almaraz, senior, recommend this club to other students of Glenbard West, claiming that Key Club “looks very good on college applications” and “it also helps the community and those that are not as fortunate.”

Aside from helping out the community, Key Club has other benefits as well. With Key Club having over 90 members this year, Benjamin Peterselli states that another benefit  of Key Club would be that “it’s a way to network and meet people.” Key Club welcomes all students, freshman through senior, making it easy to meet and collaborate with other students.

Along with meeting others, yet another advantage Key Club provides to members is the development of imperative social skills.

Senior Muhammad Anwar joined Key Club not only to satisfy his “passion for community service,”  but to also help “develop communication skills.” Considering how involved Key Club is in the community and how many events they partake in, it’s easy to see how a member of Key Club can participate in community service events to not only benefit others, but to also benefit themselves, in the social aspect.

Those considering joining Key Club should not shy away. This year, Key Club has a plethora of upcoming community service events that members can sign up for in order to reach the required ten hours of service.

According to Peterselli, some of these events include, “babysitting during a Glenbard Parent Series presentation,” Churchill’s fall fest, tutoring at the Glen Ellyn resource center, and restocking fish at Lake Ellyn. With so many events, Key Club surely has something for everyone.

To those still on the fence as to whether or not you should join Key Club, Andrea Giesman thinks you should join because “it makes you feel good, it’s good for college essays, it’s with a great group of people and there’s always fun stuff to do.”