Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine is the only school in the Detroit Public Schools Community District with a Key Club. Key Club is an organization founded in 1925. According to their website, there are 270,046 Key Clubs. Benjamin Carson High School has just made that number increase.
According to the Kiwanis Service Leadership Program official website, “Key Club is an international student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character, and develop leadership.”
The Benjamin Carson Chapter of Key Club was founded by senior class vice president Oluwakemi (Kemi) Dauda on September 26, 2016. This chapter’s adviser is social studies teacher Cody Lown.
“I was actually in Key Club in high school and I had a lot of fun with it,” said Lown. “When Kemi approached me about starting one here I thought it was a great idea.”
“I found out about Key Club last summer at the 'Summer @ Brown' program I was involved with,” Dauda said. “I wanted our school to have a Key Club because I realized a lot of teens are not aware of societal issues and don't dedicate their time to useful causes.”
I think it's great to see high school students volunteering and helping their community,” Lown said.
The Key Club has participated in many community service projects since its founding. The most recent was a project with The March of Dimes.
“Partnering with the March of Dimes reassured me that our hard work was going toward great causes,” Dauda said.
The March of Dimes is a walk to help premature babies. The students of the Key Club participated by starting a fundraiser called change wars.
Different classes competed to collect the largest amount of change for the cause.
“This partnership not only educated the Key Club members and I, but the entire Benjamin Carson community,” Dauda said.
“We raised money to donate and then several of us from Key Club went and actually marched,” Lown said. “It was a lot of fun and was awe-inspiring to see students participating and getting involved.”
The Benjamin Carson High School Key Club is the only Key Club in the Detroit Public School Community District, even though all high school students in the district are required to have at least 200 community service hours in order to graduate.
“I think we’ve made a great start. Ben Carson can be a model for other schools who want to do something like this,” Lown said.
Benjamin Carson has committed to continuing the Key Club program next school year. “I want my peers to spread awareness about things that are not discussed in everyday conversations,” said Dauda.
