Order in the club! Order in the club!

Recently, members of the Granite Bay High School Key Club called their first official meeting to order. The after-school meeting took place in the classroom of their faculty advisor, Terrie Dawn Arnold, herself a former Key Club member.

Key Club is a community service organization whose members are high school-aged individuals and is a part of Kiwanis International.

I spent some time holding up a wall in the back of the classroom while the club met.

Their upcoming plans include putting together the craft activities for kids attending the annual Granite Bay Easter Egg Hunt set for April 8 at Cavitt Junior High School. They will also assist in the continuing landscaping of Ron Feist Park.

Another activity being considered by the club is to help in the Challenge Baseball League, a baseball program for developmentally disabled people.

As a parent of two who has already raised one child and is currently enjoying the mood swings and all the joy of being in close proximity to a 13-year-old male human, I found the attitudes and desire to contribute to the local community to be a pleasant and stunning surprise.

These kids actually want to make a difference in their community. Imagine that, a group of teenaged boys and girls who are working together to help other people who will not pay them money, buy them a new 30gig iPod or 2006 Cadillac Escalade with DUBS. (If you don't know what DUBS are, ask your teenagers, they'll explain.)

In the world I live in, this is a rarity. In their world it's business as usual.

Many of the kids in Key Club have been helping out in their communities since they were much younger. For them it is a way of life they intend to continue into adulthood.

After the meeting ended, I asked several club members why they are doing this.

Their answers were interesting in their variety.

Their initial answer was "To help us get into a better college!" which was immediately followed by laughter.

As I pressed each member further for more details, I learned something else; each one of the Key club members really likes helping people.

The club's self-proclaimed president, Emmanuel Lopez, has been involved in Kiwanis since he was "a kid," which I take to mean for more than a few weeks. (Actually it's been several years!)

He is a terrific young man who really has a desire to make a difference in the world. His goal is to become a P.E. teacher. Anybody who aspires to be a teacher has my admiration since it not an occupation noted for its lucrative salary.

He also has a gavel. That's right, a wooden hammer. The other members said that's one of the reasons he is president.

After spending a few minutes talking with him, I somehow believe there's more to it than his personally engraved gavel.

"I'm doing this because I like making a difference in our community," says Lopez. "I also like working with older Kiwanis members. They are really nice people and I hope when I'm old, I'll have friends that are my age, (almost 16). My father has been a part of Kiwanis as long as I can remember and so it just seemed natural to be a part of the organization."

His sister, Monice Lopez is the club's secretary. She is a part of Key Club because she likes helping out in the community and working with her fellow schoolmates. Like her brother, she grew up watching her father participate in Kiwanis and wanted to be a part of something bigger than herself.

When I asked her about her future plans, I was informed she wants to be an actor. She is outgoing, friendly and quick to smile.

I also spoke to Lydia Campisi, who recently moved from Elk Grove and felt joining Key Club would help her to meet new friends and get to know more people at her school and in the community. Like the Lopez siblings, Campisi wants to make a difference in the community and felt Key Club was a great way to meet that goal.

Campisi let me know her future plans as well.

"I want to be an interior decorator. I am really good at helping people to fix up their rooms and homes," she says. "My older sister is going to let me fix up her place. She will be my first client."

Regan Benoit got involved in doing community service through her church and liked the idea of helping in the community with her friends from school.

Lindsey Short joined Key Club because she likes doing community service.

"It makes me feel good about myself that I'm doing something that helps others and being able to give back to the community I live in," she says.

As an adult who has lived here for 18 years, I am so impressed with each of these teens. Their desire to be a part of something outside the normal circle of interests common to their age group is refreshing to put it mildly.

Perhaps if you attend the Granite Bay Easter Egg Hunt, you might take a moment to look for a few teenagers who are helping to make sure that the younger children are enjoying the occasion. If you do see them, thank them for me. They are tomorrow's leaders and fortunately for us, seem to genuinely care about the world around them.