Bradford Area High School’s Key Club has the honor this year to
be the host club at the Pennsylvania District Key Club Convention
in Pittsburgh at the end of March.
In past years, the host club has been from a school closer to
Pittsburgh. This year, a combination of factors led to the honor
for the Bradford High Key Club.
First, there was the desire and persistence of sophomore Patrick
Morrisroe, a member of the club, to actually apply for the chance
to be hosts, then add the fact that the statewide governor of the
organization is Bradford High student Joe Pettinato, the first ever
for Bradford High, and the fact that the current lieutenant
governor of Division I of the Pennsylvania District of Key Club
International is Katelyn Scanlan, also from Bradford High.
“The kids are very excited,” said advisor to the club Kathleen
Durner. “They wrote the letter and did the follow-up to be a host
club. I am excited when they take the initiative.”
Being host club includes a number of responsibilities.
They are asked to bring “goodie bags” filled with 200 donated
items from Bradford area businesses and to help other clubs get
registered for the convention, find their rooms, and provide
general customer service duties.
“The event is planned by the governor and the lieutenant
governors in the different districts,” said Durner. “It’s very well
run. They have been planning it for months.”
Durner said the convention events include for Friday,
“parliamentary procedural caucuses,” dinner with a main speaker,
smaller caucus groups; seminars all day Saturday which leads to a
banquet where scholarship awards are announced; and Sunday, the new
officers are announced after a breakfast is held with Pettinato’s
parents as host for other parents and board members.
As governor of the organization, Joe Pettinato said he has been
working all year to get the event planned.
“I am very excited about it – I planned for a whole year to have
this convention,” he said, adding about his duties at the
convention that he will present awards and talk about new projects
and present the end of the year report to the newly elected
board.
For the past year, Pettinato has overseen 22 different districts
across the state.
Some of the organizations Pettinato has helped include the Festa
Italiana, the summer festival and Meals on Wheels.
Scanlan is running for the lieutenant governor position for a
second term. She will find out this weekend whether or not she has
been voted in. If she is selected again, she would have been chosen
from one of six other school districts that are part of division
I.
“Being on the board and a member of the club (and many other
clubs) is a lot of work, but it is worth it – it takes a lot of
self motivation and dedication – the closest board member is more
than one hour away,” said Scanlan, explaining her need to be in
touch with the other school districts and their projects.
“But it teaches you to be more efficient and teaches you
responsibility,” she added. “It is so enjoyable, I have met so many
people. It’s awesome!”
The Key Club organization, according to the Pennsylvania Key
Club Web site, is the oldest, largest service program for high
school students. It is a student-led organization that teaches
leadership through serving others. The parent organization of Key
Club International is Kiwanis International.
The Bradford High Key Club is still accepting donations from
area businesses to help them fill their “goodie bags” for the
convention, which will be held March 23-25.
