My Key Leader Experience

by Natalie Jamison in Fairfax, VA

My high school, Chantilly High School, didn't have a Key Club and I had few experiences with Key Club other than a couple service projects. So when my neighbor, Mr.  Jerome (Tysons Corner/McLean Kiwanis), came telling me about this great weekend camp that he thought I should attend, I was excited to get more involved. That was my first Key Leader camp. Key Leader is not just a camp, however. In reality, it is a school, a family, and a support group.

Like school, Key Leader is a place to learn. You learn how to be a "servant leader." A servant leader is a leader who leads by doing. They don't sit on their pedestal and yell orders; they are down in the dirt helping. They are also not afraid to let others take the lead. These are skills I learned and refined at Key Leader. One major difference between school and Key Leader, however, is the way in which we learned. It's fun and gets you out of your chair to learn by doing. One activity in particular breaks you up into your small groups called neighborhoods - which were led by a student facilitator (like me during my second Key Leader weekend) - and you have to draw with markers what a good leader looks like. You have to find creative ways to visually show what leadership would look like as a person. We decided it would have big ears for being a good listener and three hands because it is always ready to lend a helping one. Things like that were used either to get us thinking before a lesson or help us reinforce what we had learned in a lesson before. Activities like these kept us engaged and working together. They allowed us to learn and practice leadership at the same time while forming invaluable support groups.

The friendship, camaraderie, and support that I got in both of my Key Leader experiences was something that amazes me even now. To this day, I still keep in touch with many of the friends I made at Key Leader. How people who have never met before can group together and create such close bonds in such a short time is something I will never know, but Key Leader certainly accomplishes it. After experiencing this, I wanted to have something like that at my school and share my experience with others. I wanted a place where kids could come because they want to make a difference and have that sense of family and fun that I had at that camp. The first Key Leader I went to got me on the path to starting a Key Club. The second Key Leader reminded me why I had started the whole thing and gone through all the hard work to bring Key Club to my school. The people I met at Key Leader were so supportive of my new Key Club and were just full of good wishes and kind words. Never have I met a better group of people. But I think that is just the kind of people Key Clubs and Kiwanis draw. I would have never had the courage to stand up and start a club, let alone stand at a podium and speak about it, before attending Key Leader. Before I went to Key Leader, I would loathe any kind of public speaking. I would keep to myself. Key Leader helped me come out of my shell.

My experience with Key Leader was so great, I practically dragged my younger sister to one. By the time it was over, she had a blast. When she talks about Key Leader to the Chantilly High School Key Club, the first thing she says is, "Before Key Leader, I would have never talked in front of all of you." She says it really taught her a lot and she's glad I dragged her to it and can't wait to go back. Even though she wouldn't consider herself the typical leader, she now feels comfortable as a leader and has found her own leading style just as I did.  Not only did I get my sister involved in the Kiwanis Family, I also helped get my parents involved - they are going to be chartering members of the Centreville/Chantilly Kiwanis Club currently in formation, in hopes of being there to help my school's growing Key Club.  But Key Leader stated it all. Seeing my sister and other people transform in just one weekend was overwhelming. That is why I think that this program is so important and why I would go back 1000 times if I could. But because I can't, I'm going to try and get as many people to go as I can.  

As a result of Natalie's Key Leader experiences, both a new Key Club and new Kiwanis Club are in formation - the Key Club of Chantilly High School and the Kiwanis Club of Centreville/Chantilly, Virginia. Help spark that kind of change in your community and considering sponsoring a non-Key Club member to attend Key Leader this spring!