The Key Leader experience helps students build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership, as a former participant can attest.
Jordan Kirby joined the White Station School Key Club when it was founded in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his Key Club experience consisted of cleaning walking trails with his club while practicing social distancing. But the Key Club maintained a strong relationship with its sponsoring Kiwanis club, and post pandemic a Kiwanian introduced Kirby and his fellow members to the Key Leader program.
“I had no idea what to expect of the event prior to my first year attending,” Kirby says. “I honestly thought it would be a small event in a recreation hall, where we would be lectured about how to be a leader. However, it was quite different, with more hands-on group work than any other event I had been to. You have the opportunity to learn how to be the best leader you can be and meet with students from all over your district who are passionate about improving their leadership skills.”
After that first Key Leader event, Kirby returned in a student facilitator role as a junior and senior. During his involvement with Key Leader, he gained confidence as a leader while learning more about relationship-building, communication strategies and teamwork.
“I already held multiple leadership roles prior to attending Key Leader, and afterward, I kept expanding on those positions and rose up to many higher roles in those organizations.”
The skills still matter
By high school graduation, Kirby had served as the secretary, vice president and president of the White Station High School Key Club. And the skills he gained in Key Leader still serve him well as a sophomore at the University of Tennessee at Martin, where he holds a variety of leadership positions representing several clubs, his department and his university.
“I took a ton of ideas away from [Key Leader] events,” Kirby says. “I still use all of these in every position, every workplace, and with every student, officer and professor I work with.”
While Kirby does not currently hold a leadership position within CKI at UT Martin, he remains involved by attending meetings and participating in volunteer events. Several leaders of UT Martin’s CKI club also attended Key Leader and, like Kirby, they still benefit from the experience.
“It is so amazing seeing everything they learned from the event and how they use the tools they learned years ago today,” Kirby says. “[Key Leader] was one of the most influential events I attended through high school, and I am grateful for what I learned and the friends I made along the way.”
To find your nearest Key Leader event and register, go to key-leader.org/register.
