Key Leader Weekend a Huge Success

by Nicole McDermott (link to CapitalKeyLeader@gmail.com)

Key Leader is Kiwanis's values-centered, weekend leadership education program for high school students. The Capital District Key Leader weekend was recently held, April 23-25, at the Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center in Millersville, Maryland.

Seventy-three students and an additional ten student facilitators came together for a weekend focusing on service leadership and five principles: integrity, growth, respect, excellence, and community. Wendy Fraser from Washington state was our professional lead facilitator for the weekend and did an incredible job engaging and inspiring both student and adult attendees.

THANK YOU to all of the Kiwanis Clubs that sponsored students to attend this Key Leader weekend. You gave each student an incredibly valuable and unique experience that will stay with him/her for a lifetime. Kiwanis Clubs sponsoring a student will receive a Key Leader banner patch later this spring.

A big round of applause and thank you to the enthusiastic Kiwanians who attended as chaperones and participated in the entire weekend with Site Coordinator Corey Goggin and me - Governor Don Dudey, Governor-Elect Tom Varner, Robin Campbell-Bennett, Andy Deems, Millie Edgar, Yvonne Holley,  Jaime Jeffers, Corey Jerome, Judy Pantelides, Tom Wagstaff and Jeffrey Wolff.

We were so proud to sell out/max out attendance at this Key Leader for the second consecutive year. Because we have been so successful for the past two years, the Capital District will proudly host TWO Key Leader weekends in Spring 2011 (two separate dates) - one at the Jamestown 4-H Educational Center in Williamsburg, Virginia, and one at Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center in Millersville, Maryland!  More details to follow on these weekends.

For more information in the meantime, please contact Capital District Key Leader Chair Nicole McDermott at CapitalKeyLeader@gmail.com or 703.829.5481. Search Capital District Key Leader on Facebook and like it! Visit www.youtube.com/CapitalKeyLeader and watch live student testimonials about the quality of the program.