Key Club International is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization that teaches leadership through serving others. Members of Key Club, a part of the Kiwanis International family, build themselves as they build their schools and communities.

History: The organization was the brainchild of California State Commissioner of Schools Albert C. Olney, and vocational education teacher Frank C. Vincent, who together worked to establish the first Key Club at Sacramento High School in California, on May 7, 1925. Female students were first admitted in 1976, eleven years before women were admitted to the sponsoring organization, Kiwanis International. In 2002, the KCI International Board officially adopted caring, character building, inclusiveness, and leadership as the core values of the organization. Today, Key Club exists on almost 5,000 high school campuses, primarily in the United States and Canada. It has grown internationally to the Caribbean nations, Central and South America, and most recently to Asia and Australia.

Mission Statement: “Key Club is an international student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character, and develop leadership.”

The Levels of Key Club:

Individual Members: You. The people who go to events. This is the most important aspect of Key Club.

School: You, your classmates, your friends. As a school, you work towards Divisional Goals.

Division: A group of schools who work collectively towards goals to raise money for charities such as UNICEF, PTP, and many more.

District: This is typically defined by state or nation, and tends to match a similar Kiwanis district. Each district is chaired by a government who is elected by delegates every year at the District Convention (DCON). The district is split into divisions.

International: Key Club extends beyond just the United States. It’s prevalent all around the world. An International Board of Trustees works to help organize it.

The official colors of Key Club International are blue, gold and white. Each color symbolizes an aspect of Key Club International’s objectives: blue shows unwavering character, gold symbolizes service, and white represents purity.

The Objectives of Key Club are as listed:

• 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 make possible the increase of righteousness, justice, patriotism, and good will.