Capital District Will Host THREE Key Leader Weekends in 2012!!!

by Nicole McDermott

Key Leader is Kiwanis's values-centered, weekend leadership education program for high school students. We are so excited to announce THREE Key Leader weekends for 2012:

#1 -- April 27-29, 2012
Arlington Echo Outdoor Educational Center
975 Indian Landing Road, Millersville, MD 21108
Site Coordinator: Corey Goggin (Kiwanis Club of Tysons Corner/McLean, VA)
 
 
#2 -- May 18-20, 2012
Jamestown 4-H Educational Center
3751 4-H Club Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185
Site Coordinator: Missy Zimmerman (Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg, VA)
 
#3 -- November 9-11, 2012
Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center
600 4-H Center Drive, Front Royal, VA 22630    
Site Coordinator: Jaime Jeffers (Kiwanis Club of Woodbridge, VA)

Key Leader events are open to any 9th-12th grade students (in or out of Key Club).  Once again, our goal for each event will be 60 students plus an additional 8-10 student facilitators.
 
Because our past events were so successful, we look forward to repeated success in 2012, times three! We encourage Kiwanis Clubs to put Key Leader in their budgets NOW for the 2011-12 Kiwanis year to ensure sponsorship of students to this incredible program. It is $200/student (or $175/student if the student is a member of Key Club or Builders Club). For such a small amount of money, Kiwanis can truly make a difference in a young adult's life. Please plan to send at least one student to the event most geographically convenient to your club. Kiwanis Clubs are welcome to send students to more than one event if if it possible financially and students have been identified - we would love that!  
 
Key Leader is a leadership education weekend for high school students focusing on the concept of service leadership and five principles: integrity, growth, respect, community and excellence. The weekend is casual and includes hands-on exercises; writing and reflection activities; cooperative, team activities; physical challenges and more. Students arrive between 4-6 p.m. on Friday and depart between 11 a.m.-12 noon on Sunday.  All adult chaperones have undergone background checks, and the weekend is run by a professional facilitator who has successfully completed a training course on the curriculum and who brings experience working with young people.
 
If you are interested in serving on the Key Leader District Committee and helping to promote Key Leader around the District and in your own area, please contact District Chair Nicole McDermott (Kiwanis Club of Tysons Corner/McLean, Virginia) at capitalkeyleader@gmail.com or 703.829.5481. We are currently looking for representatives from the following regions particularly: Presidential and Southwest Virginia. For more information about Key Leader, please visit www.youtube.com/CapitalKeyLeader and watch live student testimonials about the quality of the program. The students featured on our YouTube Channel are all Capital District "kids." Also, search Capital District Key Leader on Facebook and like it or visit key-leader.org.