They’ve met every Thursday after school for years: Scarborough High School’s Key Club, easily the largest organization at the school. A community service club and part of Kiwanis International organization, Scarborough’s Key Club boasts more than 80 members, each required to log a minimum of 30 hours of service a year.

“It can be really difficult, especially on weekends, to motivate high school students to participate in community service,” said Adrienne Damicis, a junior at the high school and president of the club. “Key Club is a good way to get them motivated.”

Together, the students log more than 2,500 hours – Damicis herself contributes about a hundred – through a multitude of projects that are either undertaken personally or organized by the club as a whole. At the end of the year, students are recognized for their effort and receive credit and a certification.

The club’s largest annual project is leaf raking. Each autumn about 30 members rake for 15 Scarborough senior citizens. They also volunteer on a regular basis for STRIVE, a South Portland-based program for young adults with disabilities such as autism. For STRIVE’s annual Dance-a-Thon, a 14-hour, all-night dance marathon, Key Clubbers have been known to be the biggest fundraisers.

Other, smaller projects include cleaning up the Scarborough Marsh, working at the Ronald McDonald House and Soup Kitchen, and helping Camp Sunshine, an organization for children with life-threatening illnesses. They also send a few students each year to the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of the club is that it is entirely student-run. It is just a group with a mission to “spread volunteerism throughout the high school and be active citizens of the community,” said Damicis.

They are always trying to find new opportunities to volunteer and new ways to reach members of the community. That’s why the club’s weekly meetings often include a long list of upcoming opportunities, none of which are mandatory but few of which go undermanned.

A quick look at their list of projects proves the club’s impact is not small or isolated, however quiet it may sometimes be.

“We’re just a group of really dedicated students really trying to make a difference in the community,” said Damicis.

Ali Pelczar is a junior at Scarborough High School who will be writing a regular column on activities at the school. She can be reached at apelczar@keepmecurrent.com.

Members of Scarborough High School’s Key Club, the largest
organization at the school, carved pumpkins in October for the Camp
Sunshine Pumpkinfest in Freeport. It was just one of the community
service projects completed by the club this year. (Courtesy
photo)