By Janine Alven
With the end of the school year rapidly approaching, everything is wrapping up for the students and staff at Minarets. Many clubs and organizations have spent the last few weeks preparing for the upcoming school year. One of those is the Minarets Key Club. Earlier this month the Minarets Key Club held its annual installation night on May 24, 2022. Installation night is the event the Key Club holds to formally install the board members that were elected earlier this semester and to say goodbye to the seniors that were a part of Key Club.
This year's installation night was an important one for the Minarets Key Club, as it was the 10th annual installation night. To celebrate this, former Key Club advisor Therese Righter, reached out to all former presidents of the club and invited them to attend or send in a video about what Key Club meant to them and what they have done since graduating from Minarets. A majority of the former presidents sent in videos, while the 2020-2021 president Madison Wuensch was in attendance and spoke at installation night. It was also at this event that the Minarets Key Club said goodbye to their advisors, both the Minarets Key Club advisor Therese Righter and the Sierra-Oakhurst Kiwanis advisor Dori Hartman. Key Club also welcomed new advisor Jennifer Garner as the Minarets advisor and Jim Botheras as the Kiwanis advisor. In a way, this is sort of an end of an era for the Minarets Key Club, as next year the board and their advisor will have to work to rebuild and better the club moving forward.
As this was advisor Therese Righter last year as the key club advisor she spoke about what this year’s installation night means to her, “I have mixed feelings about this year's Installation Night. I am reflective and so very proud of what all of the Key Clubbers over the past 10 years have accomplished. The club members have served over 9,257 hours within their community, nation, and world. They have also raised over $11,000 for organizations such as The Children's Miracle Network, Valley Children's Healthcare, The Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Central Valley, Unicef, the American Cancer Society, and more. I'm also thrilled to have contacted all of the past presidents, who are spread out all over the United States doing great things. I'm honored that some of them took the time to create a video to share with the club members about what they are doing with their lives now, and how Key Club impacted them. On the other hand, I am sad to be leaving. Working with such giving young men and women has been a thrill and an honor. I have had the opportunity to share many laughs and new experiences with Key Clubbers over the years. I am also very excited to know that I am leaving the club in the very capable hands of Mrs. Jennifer Garner! Mrs. Garner will be an excellent advisor for the club!”
Though it is the end of Righter’s time as Key Club advisor, she also shared her thoughts on the 2022-2023 board of directors, “The Key Club Board of Directors for 2022-2023 is an excellent group of servant-leaders! Each of them, in their own right, is a committed, organized, and giving human being. When all of these fantastic humans work together, their impact on the community is synergistic! I know that they will continue to grow Key Club into a membership of almost 10% of the school, create new service opportunities for the members, and support one another as they navigate this next year. The Board has already visited both Hillside and Spring Valley Schools to give a presentation to the 8th graders about Key Club! They are on the move!”
As she is new to Key Club and this will be her first year as the Key Club advisor, Garner also spoke her thoughts on the board and what she is looking forward to next year and in the future as Key Club advisor, “I am very excited to work with the board. They are a kind and involved group. They all appear to have a desire to serve others, which I love! They also seem to work well together. I am looking forward to serving the community and school in a new way. This is a fantastic group of students and I am confident they will do great things. Ms. Righter has big shoes to fill so I am grateful she is able to provide some guidance. I believe we will have an amazing year. I cannot wait to start planning!”
With the new board officially installed and already preparing for the upcoming Key Club term, the Minarets Key Club is excited to see what they will do with the club going forward.
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