By STEPHANIE FORTH

stephanie.forth@leaderpub.com

Two Brandywine High School seniors have taken the initiative to start a Key Club for the up-coming semester.

A Key Club is a service program for high school students that is sponsored by the community’s Kiwanis International Club. Kiwanis International is a global organization of volunteers who work to aid those in need and offer support to other service organizations. Kiwanis operates in more than 80 countries and has more than 5,000 Key Clubs.

As a junior, Janki Devdhara, 17, received a grant from the Michigan Gateway Community Foundation after reaching out to the Kiwanis Club of Niles/Southwest Michigan about wanting to start a Key Club at Brandywine High School.

Since then, Devdhara and Wesley Watson, 17, have been working with John Grinnell, who is the current treasurer for the Kiwanis Club of Niles and the advisor for the Brandywine Key Club, to organize and establish the school’s Key Club.

“We wanted to start a Key Club because our school doesn’t have much other than the National Honor Society,” said Watson, who is the program’s president. “There is no GPA requirement so it will be nice for kids who don’t do well in school but want to give back to the community.”

Key Clubs are student-led organizations that focus on leadership, community service, character building, caring and inclusiveness. Members of the program are required to complete at least 50 service hours per year, pay member dues, and are encouraged to attend international and district conventions where they can elect new student officers and meet other Key Club members.

Key Clubs provide fundraising support to nationally known charities such as UNICEF, March of Dimes, and Children’s Miracle Network. Additionally, Key Clubs can also donate money to Kiwanis International projects or to local organizations.

“We do work with the Key Club at Niles High School and they have been helping us ring bells at Christmas time for the Salvation Army,” said Ginnell. “It’s a joint project between Kiwanis and Key Club so we are planning for Brandywaine Key Club to help us ring bells at Christmas time this winter.”

Because they are still in the process of recruiting other students to join the program, Devdhara and Watson do not have any official fundraising or service events planned out to start off the new school year. Instead, they have been preparing organizational matters and brainstorming ideas for service around the community. The two have talked about reading to the Brandywine Elementary students, cleaning up near by beaches and participating in Adopt-a-Highway.

“So far, we have gotten a lot of positive feedback from people we talk to about it with,” said Devdhara, who is the program’s vice president. “I wanted to have a car wash. We want to get donations, so we were also thinking about having bake sales and stuff like that because some people might be really generous.”

Devdhara is also the class president as well as the president of NHS, while Watson is the class vice president and is the vice president of NHS. The two are also active members of Brandywine’s robotics team. Watson and Devdhara both hope to attend the University of Michigan in the fall of 2018.

Brandywine students who are interested in learning more should contact Wesley Watson or Janki Devdhara during school hours on Tuesday, September 5.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Kiwanis Club of Niles/Southwest Michigan is encouraged to attend the organization’s weekly meetings at Hob Nob Restaurant Thursdays at noon or contact John Grinnell at (269) 930-1696.