Key Club
By:  Nick Ellingham  

Have you ever wondered what key club is? Key club is an international organization where students participate in projects to better their community. They also work together with other clubs such as Kiwanis Club. There are 122 students participating in Key Club this year. All of them enjoy helping out their community. "Helping the people who need it the most and having fun doing it", is what Sam Trost said she liked the most about being a Key Club member.

The Key Club sponsor at Manteno High School is Mrs. Short. She has been for the last six years. When asked why she enjoyed being a part of Key Club, she said that she thought it was important for her and others to help out the community. Our Key Club members recently organized a canned food drive to send to the Manteno food pantry, which became a competition amongst all homerooms. Ms. Farmer's homeroom brought in the most non-perishable food items. Their contributions earned them a pizza party. All together over 500 total people have been served food by the food pantry.

The Key Club members have been passing out red ribbons this week to all the students at lunch for Red Ribbon Week. They have also made and displayed posters all around the school. Red Ribbon Week is an organizational project designed to help keep students drug free. A few Key Club members were sent to the elementary school to talk to the third graders about Red Ribbon Week.

There are many other activities throughout the school year including a visit to the Manteno Veterans in November and a coat drive later in December. In the spring their will be an annual fundraiser to help Spastic Paralysis, which is a disability that does not allow movement of the voluntary muscles due to a problem with the nervous system.

The class officers at Manteno High School are as follows: Secretary-Kristi Demonbreun, President- Carli Padgett, Vice President- Kendall Spiek, , and treasurer- Jessica Harris