Ahead of the rest, Key Club shimmies their way into the new school year, eager to begin to make the world a better place.

Last Wednesday, Key Club hosted its first official meeting. According to Key Club sponsor Lisa Julian, 55 members played Kahoots and ate pizza among other activities.

“Typically the first meeting is everybody who thinks they might be interested or [is] just interested in pizza,” Julian said. “After that, we sort of settle into … the people who are genuinely interested in service projects.”

Before their first meeting, Key Club had already begun to serve. On Aug. 22, about 14 existing Key Club members from last school year worked with the Flint Hills Breadbasket. Altogether, they collected 1,061 pounds of food and $189.43.

“We handed [customers] slips of paper that had the things that the breadbasket needed and they would shop for it while they were in there,” Julian said, “and on their way out they would drop it in the cart or drop money.”

This year, Key Club plans to achieve many goals. One of those goals is to continue working on their mental health podcast.

“Mental health is something we still see as an important … aspect of being human,” Julian said, “and as this community service organization, … we want to make sure we can do our part to help our community be mentally healthy.”

In addition, as one of their larger objectives this year, Key Club intends to work with other clubs throughout the school year to raise money for the Thirst Project — an organization that was brought to their attention during a previous district convention.

“[The Thirst Project] builds wells in developing communities, in developing countries, to provide access to clean drinking water,” Julian said. “Our goal, if we achieve it, is to collect enough money in our community and our school to fully fund a well.”

As the year continues, Key Club hopes to accomplish all that they can and is prepared to take on more as opportunities for change come up.

“Honestly, Key Club just does so many awesome things that I’m just excited to see where this year takes us,” Julian said. “I think at the beginning, we don’t even really know where we’re going. We just know we’re going to keep moving in the right direction.”