Gianna Barker and Alice Berman, two seniors at Fountain Hills High School, are rejuvenating the Key Club. The two are the co-presidents of the Key Club, which is under new leadership for the first time since it was created over 20 years ago.

The Key Club’s goal is to build character in students through leadership and service. Barker and Berman each have their own leadership styles, but they work well together. The girls have been friends since Berman moved to Fountain Hills in the eighth grade, and both have been members of the high school club all four years.

The Key Club has suffered big losses over the last two years. Barker and Berman said the club had between 60-90 members their freshman and sophomore years, but they don’t even have half that amount anymore. According to the two, there were about 15 members last year, and close to 30 this year.

Part of the drop-off is due to COVID. Key Club is a service organization, and volunteer opportunities were few and far between last year. There are still some lingering issues regarding health and safety measures, but the Key Club members were grateful to return to service earlier this year.

So far this year, the Key Club helped at the Hall of Fame dinner and the Fountain Festival of Fine Arts and Crafts. Both these activities used to be annual service events, but the Key Club could not volunteer at these events last year due to COVID.

“I feel like in the past years, no offense to Mrs. Pruett or anything, but she used to do it very structured and the same things every year,” Barker said. “This time we’re trying to make new traditions. We’re trying to make more projects and do other things instead of what we’ve done every single year. We’ll still have those, though.”

Kate Pruett started the Key Club at Fountain Hills and chartered the organization in 1993. According to the presidents and new advisor Delaney Kazee, Pruett is still involved and helps guide them during meetings. Barker and Berman want to start new traditions before they leave Fountain Hills, because not many students knew how the meetings were run before COVID, and even fewer remember the club’s volunteer service before the pandemic.

“We have two other seniors,” Berman said. “No one really has been around to see how it was run before. It’s only us, so we’re trying to pass it down. They’re all underclassmen, so they’re just learning how the club works. We have other juniors, but they were only sophomores last year.”

One thing the Club was able to do last year was make holiday cards for Fountain View Village residents. The Key Club is doing that again this year, and they are hoping to start volunteering with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars soon.

Both Barker and Berman admitted that running Key Club is harder than Pruett made it look. Pruett handled all the contacting and scheduling, and she kept points and attendance at meetings. Neither of them fully realized just how much work happened behind the scenes, but the hope is that Kazee will fit into the advisor role nicely after a transitional phase.

“When they had the advisor shift, they reached out to me,” Kazee said. “Mrs. Pruett comes to the meetings on Thursday mornings and helps us out. She guides me but still gives me the opportunity to do a lot of things myself. Right now, we’re trying to figure out what they want to do, because I know it’s easier to get kids involved in service opportunities when its something they actually want to do.”

The Key Club is looking for additional service opportunities. If you are aware of any upcoming events in the area that would benefit from student volunteers, contact Kazee at dkazee@fhacademics.org.