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How Students Create a Difference Through Extracurriculars

Students take part in different clubs that work on making a positive impact in our community
These are all of Key Club's student Officers. Key Club is a student-led organization focused on community service. (Courtesy of Julien Gaumer)
These are all of Key Club’s student Officers. Key Club is a student-led organization focused on community service. (Courtesy of Julien Gaumer)

While all of the clubs at Logansport High School aim at different students, some share the same goal: to make a difference. But, the way they do that varies from club to club. 

For example, the Student Council is a popular club for all students that hosts student-centered events throughout the year. 

“We plan Homecoming,” Student Council sponsor Abby Lundy said. “Student Council does. So, we pick the themes for Spirit Week. We make the sashes for all the clubs. We do pictures for the banners. We do two blood drives through the Red Cross that goes to scholarship money for somebody in the Student Council. We give away a $500 scholarship every year to a Student Council member from the blood drive.”

All of the Student Council members posing for a picture. Just minutes before this, their elections for officers were held. (Visha Patel)

When asked why her club does all of this, her response was heartwarming.

“I just want to have a positive impact on our students,” Lundy said. “I want students to, you know, walk the halls of LHS and have a sense of belonging.” 

The same can be said for another popular club, Pep Club, the club responsible for the school’s student section at different sporting events. 

“We help make the atmosphere here at Logansport better or at various athletic and club events,” Pep Club sponsor Erica Plutat said. “We are trying to just show support for our fellow students. When you see a big group of students that support you, that feels good.”

Even though the student section is one of the major parts of the club, there’s more to the club than the fan section. 

“We also try to do different things for the senior nights for all the athletics,” Plutat said. “Another thing we are going to start working on soon is locker decorations. So, let’s say you’re in band or volleyball, we are gonna make, try to make all of the locker decorations for people in various teams and clubs so that they  can kind of decorate the outside of their locker and have something to kind of represent them and just kind of put more cheer in the hallways.”

A third club that means to make student’s lives better is Diversity Club. Its sponsor Elisa Banuelos explained her vision while in tears. 

“It was to make everybody more aware of the diversity in their community, how we were getting more diverse,” Banuelos said. “The beauty of our world is in our diversity. We just want every student to find that club where they feel welcome and that they can be creative and part of projects.”

Diversity Club’s three sponsors promote their club. These ladies are all diversity advocates and have shaped Diversity Club into what it is today. (Visha Patel)

This club also has a diverse amount of activities that members, no matter their talent, can participate in. 

“We do the Area 5, like the Cinco de Mayo celebration or the Kids Day,” Banuelos said. “We do have, for those who are bilingual, parent-teacher conferences. We try to get involved in anything we are invited to, but there’s a time when we don’t have enough students. We used to do the Light-Up Logansport. We try to help. We did the downtown cleanup. We had a group there to help. We do the Live United Day and the Turkey Trot. We do have kids who go lead the runners.”

Key Club also has a similar mindset when it comes to its activities. They go wherever they are needed. 

 “We have several organizations or businesses that will get a hold of us like, ‘Hey, we have an event coming up, and we were wondering if Key Club could be able to send a few students to help us,’” Key Club sponsor Julien Gaumer said. “As long as people give us sufficient time to organize the students, they let us know how many they need, and it’s not aligning with another commitment we’ve already made, then usually we are able to oblige and support that event.”

Their main events are hosted by the Kiwanis, which is the local organization that focuses on community service, “basically an adult’s Key Club” according to Gaumer. They have also held several events not related to the Kiwanis in the past. 

“So, we’ve helped several of our nursing homes in our community, the different elementary schools, Kiwanis, and the different events they have,” Gaumer said.  We just have become a well-known group that is making a positive impact on the lives in our community.”

Members of Key Club are also required to do a certain amount of community service hours: 20 for the juniors and seniors, and 10 for the freshman and sophomores. 

“I have a lot of kids that still will give 40, 50, 60+ hours a year,” Gaumer said. 

 Gaumer summarized what all of these clubs stand for.

“Sometimes, it feels like only bad information makes the news and it’s always nice when you have those positive things happening in your community and your community knows about it,” Gaumer said. “It is something that our community can look and feel encouraged that today’s youth is learning not to be selfish, but to be selfless.”

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