Since the beginning of the school year, MVHS Key Club has been working to be more proactive. One of the main goals that the officers have in mind is to increase the number of students in their club.

“This year, we’ve tried to focus on local events rather than far events because local events are easier for members to attend,” Key Club president senior Michelle Kwan said, “and also keeping and maintaining a large number of active volunteers.”

Volunteering clubs connect with the community so that members can reach out and help the public. Kwan describes some of the activities that Key Club is often involved in.

“We recently helped out at the Kennedy Fall Festival,” Kwan said, “ […] we also help out at the Palo Alto art center, which is an art center for children and families, and it was really fun. We helped them do arts and crafts.”

Even though making local events available is beneficial to busy members, junior Satoshi Ueda, a three-year member in Key Club, hopes that MVHS Key Club events are not just limited to local volunteering opportunities.

“Since it’s a pretty big club across the nation, we can do bigger things,” Ueda said, “and connect with the other clubs in the district.”

The International Convention, a conference, is a once-in-a-year conference where Key Clubs from all over the nation gather together and share their volunteering experience. According to the official Key Club website, the next conference will be held in Chicago during the summer of 2018. Pelkey believes that the convention will be beneficial to the MVHS Key Club members.

“[You would] be proud of your Key Club and you get to see what other Key Clubs are doing,” Pelkey said, “and you get to meet a lot of other high school students.”

Pete Pelkey has been the advisor for Key Club for more than eight years and he agrees with Ueda regarding the importance of incorporating both local and regional events.

“There is a big conference that [Key Club has],” Pelkey said. “I don’t know if they’re doing it this year. It’s a lot of fun, I’ve gone only once but it’s a lot of fun. It’s worth doing [it again].”

Below are Google slides with upcoming Key Club Events:

Slides posted with the permission of MVHS Key Club