KAY CLUB APPLAUDED FOR SERVICE
The Kansas Association for Youths, also known as KAY Club, helps students build character, and advance their leadership skills. This club has been around since 1920, and is continuously working on helping students improve their communities.
This year, the Kapaun Mt. Carmel KAY Club was awarded the Blue Award at the McPherson Regional Conference on Nov. 6.
"At the conference, schools are recognized for the work that their KAY Clubs do with different colored awards," said senior Hazel Zagula, president of KAY Club. "We earned the Blue Award by having monthly meetings, having a certain number of participating members, and completing projects throughout the year."
This award helped lift many of the members' spirits and helped encourage them to keep track of their achievements, said sponsor Angela Etheredge.
The meeting also gave students an opportunity to regroup and find new ideas, said Etheredge.
"It is a way that we can track and celebrate our successes of the current and past year. In a way, it is like our state championship," said Etheredge. "I also love taking the students to conferences at different schools. It gives a chance to find new ideas and to meet other KAY members around the state."
KAY Club members participate in many different activities and service projects to help make their schools and communities better. All the KAY Club awards are displayed in the KAY display case upstairs.
"I felt a sense of pride and honor when we won the Blue Award," said senior Charlie Higgins, vice president. "We put in a lot of work throughout KAY Club, and to get recognized for that work, itâs nice to see."
Receiving the Blue Award helped recognize the KAY Club members for their hard work and dedication to making a difference in their schools, community and world. It encouraged them to continue serving their community to the best of their abilities, said Zagula.
To join KAY Club, students can visit the KAY Club table during the Activities Fair next year, or reach out to Etheredge. KAY Club meets once to twice a month, making it an easy club to commit to, and it only costs $5 to join. As well as being easy, it also helps improve your college applications, and can give you an opportunity to win a $1,000 scholarship.
"I think it's a great club to join because it's easy," said senior Lily Boeding, a club member. "It's not super hard commitment, normally only one to two meetings a month, and it looks really good on college applications. You get to learn leadership and community services."