Every Key Club, which is made up of high school students of all ages and backgrounds, has the responsibility to conduct an active program of service for the school and community. Through this program, the members fulfill the objectives of the Key Club, which are:

                       To develop initiative and leadership,
                       To provide experience in living and working together,
                       To serve the school and community,
                       To cooperate with the school principal,
                       To prepare for useful citizenship, and

                       To accept and promote the following ideals: 
                                 To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to
                                     the material values of life. 
                                 To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all
                                     human relationships. 
                                 To promote the adoption and application of higher
                                     standards in scholarship, sportsmanship, and social
                                     contacts. 
                                 To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent,
                                     aggressive, and serviceable citizenship. 
                                 To provide a practical means to form enduring friendships,
                                     to render unselfish service, and to build better
                                     communities. 
                                 To cooperate in creating and maintaining that sound public
                                     opinion and high idealism which make possible the increase
                                     of righteousness, justice, patriotism, and goodwill.

Click here to go to the Rocky Mountain District Key Club web site.

Students in two preschool classrooms in Colorado Springs School District 11 have found a way to curl up with a good book thanks to the carpentry, sweat and labor of the Rampart Range Kiwanis Club.

Under the leadership of project chairman Jim Monk, club members have built two "reading lofts", one at Monroe Elementary School and the other at Audubon Elementary School.

The lofts are wooden platforms about 4 feet off the floor. With a 4-foot by 8-foot carpeted surface the students get the feel of being in a tree house. Sides of the platform are covered with clear Plexiglas so the teacher can keep an eye on her students but also provide a safety barrier so no one tumbles out of the loft. Club member Dru Wilson donated pillows covered with kids favorite cartoon characters to make it even more comfortable. She also gave a Cat-In-The-Hat hat for students to wear while reading.

The platform can be different heights. Raising the platform off the floor provides the teacher with some storage space underneath or creates a "cave", another place for students to retreat for a quiet reading time.

The school district supplies all the materials and the Kiwanians supply the labor.

They have a reliable set of plans and a good materials list and with a new school year beginning, the Rampart Range Kiwanis is ready to tackle some more reading loft projects. They would also be willing to share the idea with other clubs interested in similar projects.

These projects for preschool classrooms help meet the goal of Young Children Priority One and provide some satisfying results when club members read the colorful thank you letters from the children.

(This article appeared in the October/November 2000 edition of the Rocky Mountain Kiwanian.)