Who We Are
What is Key Club?
Key Club International is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization that teaches leadership through service to others. Members of the Kiwanis International family, Key Club members build themselves as they build their schools and communities.
What is Key Club's History?
Key Club was started in Sacramento in 1925 and was comprised of the key boys in the school, thus called Key Club. It was modeled off the Kiwanis club. It soon expanded to include the whole school and became a service organization. In 1939, Florida became the first established district. The year of 1947 held changes for Key Club. In May the first Keynoter was published and in December the first Key Club week was observed. In 1952, Key Club reached 1,000 clubs. By the year 1967, the first international club was chartered in the Bahamas. In 1977, girls were permitted to join Key Club. (Hooray!) In 1997 Key Club became technologically advanced by creating their first website.
Today Key Club consists of over 270,000 members, in 38 countries, with more than 5,300 clubs.
What Do We Stand For?
Mission statement: Key Club is an international student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character and develop leadership.
Vision: We are caring and competent servant leaders transforming communities worldwide.
Core values: The core values of Key Club International are leadership, character building, caring and inclusiveness.
Pledge: I pledge, on my honor, to uphold the Objects of Key Club International; to build my home, school and community; to serve my nation and world; and combat all forces which tend to undermine these institutions.
Motto: Caring–Our Way of Life
Objects:
To develop initiative and leadership.
To provide experience in living and working together.
To serve the school and community.
To cooperate with the school principal.
To prepare for useful citizenship.
To accept and promote the following ideals:
To give primacy to the human and spiritual, rather than to the material values of life.
To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships.
To promote the adoption and application of higher standards in scholarship, sportsmanship and social contacts.
To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent, aggressive, and serviceable citizenship.
To provide a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render unselfish service and to build better communities.
To cooperate in creating and maintaining that sound public opinion and high idealism which makes possible the increase of righteousness, justice, patriotism and good will.
