HHS Key Club honored for many projects

Havre High School Key Club members returned from their state meeting in Billings recently with an armful of awards for their volunteer work over the past year.

The awards speak to the dedication of the students who participate in the club, which is sponsored by the Havre Kiwanis Club, said John Ita, a Havre High civics teacher and Key Club adviser.

He praised club members for the civic commitments.

"I don't have to do any work," he said. "I just organize things and the students take it over."

"I'm usually just along for the ride," he said.

He estimated that the students are involved in 60 projects or more a year - from minor one-time-only programs like helping newcomers to Havre unpack their goods, to major undertakings, such as raising money for two families with sick children.

He said that there are at least 50 clubs statewide. All the Class A and AA schools have clubs and most cass B schools as well.

Among the awards, the Havre club brought home the Governor's Award, a prize that pays special attention to programs involving children. The Havre Club was lauded for four programs it undertook:

• The Polar Plunge, an event for which people agree to jump into a vat of ice-cold water to help raise money for Special Olympics.

• Relay for Life, which raises funds for the American Cancer Society.

• Trick or Treat for UNICEF

• Breakfast for Literacy, a fund-raising and public awareness program for the "Plant a Seed ... Read" program, which provides books for young people.

The Havre club won the MEP Award, which highlights contributions to the three charities Key Club highlights - Trick or Treat for UNICEF, Relay for Life and the March of Dimes.

It also won top honors for its program to collect pop tabs. In all, 432 pounds of aluminum was collected, he said. It also won the top prize for most unique method of collecting pop tabs. Students work with elementary students to collect the pop tabs, he said. Classrooms that collect the most are treated to an ice cream social, Ita explained.

Jessa Pyette, the outgoing president, won the Outstanding President Award.

Ita praised Pyette for the new ideas she has brought to the club and the organizational skills she has used to help the club meet its goals.

"She is just so organized," he said. "She brings everything together."

The new president, Hannah Pepprock, is already following in her footsteps, he said.

Pepprock launched a new program in which high school students mentor young people at Lincoln-McKinley Primary School.

Like many of the projects, Key Club organized the effort, but many nonmembers are taking part.

Key Club is planning two events for the spring, he said.

To raise money for the March of Dimes, which fights birth defects, students are asking people to donate coins that will be placed end to end around the high school track.

And for the second year, club members will stencil a Blue Pony drawing on sidewalks in front of people's homes for donations.

That will start as soon as spring arrives, Ita said.

The work done by the students is symbolic of that attitude of most Havre High students, he said. There is a tremendous interest in community service.

He said sometimes newcomers to town ask if Key Club members can help them unpack their goods coming from the moving van.

"If no Key Club members are available, I can go out into the hall and find five guys who are willing to help," he said.

He said the Key Club is a great way to teach young people the value of leadership and community service while providing the city with volunteer labor.

But graduation doesn't have to mean the end of their service, he said.

Kiwanis Club, which sponsors Key Club, is also looking for members.

Anyone interested in joining, can call Dean Person at 380-0001 or Keith Maristuen at 265-8795.