Prior to Sept. 21, Key Club was called Students Helping Others (SHO). During this time, the club was not part of the Kiwanis organization. At the heart of Key Club is the desire to benefit  and serve the community.

“We are focused on local services,” Meng said. “We’re connected with organizations like RANH, RHPL, OPC, Rainbow Connection, Sunrise Senior Living, and activities within the school related to Rotary and NHS.We always do mini activities at our meetings like packing gift bags or making paper roses for the Children’s Hospital or decorating candy canes for the homeless,” Meng said.

Despite the similarities, there are still certain aspects of Key Club that give its members an upper hand, according to Key Club Officer senior Amy Meng.

“[The advantage to being Key Club] is that we are able to receive sponsored events from the Kiwanis organization and students will receive a certificate at the end from Key Club,” Meng said.  “Also, since Key Club is more well known, it is much easier to connect our local chapter with other community organizations like RHPL, RANH, OPC, Rainbow Connection, and more.”

However, this recent change has caused confusion among students.

“[The disadvantage is that] members that were already part of SHO must adjust to a change with the way meetings were ran, and people that wanted to join SHO might not know what Key Club is about,” Meng said.

The return of Key Club to RHS was a process undertaken by Meng.

“To bring it back, I contacted the regional representative from Kiwanis personally,” Meng said. [Then I sent] it off to O’Toole for the application fees and paperwork.”

The work to bring it back has proven to be worth it. Key Club not only seeks to help the community, but its members as well.

“[Students] are able to volunteer for a variety of events in a safe and fun environments,” Meng said. “[They are also] able to make new friends through these experiences. It’s also a process to increase personal happiness by helping other people in need and seeing how our actions can truly impact others lives.”