Key Club Earns Top Honors

Another sensational year of service for Jesuit High School’s Key Club concluded with outstanding recognition and awards at the annual Key Club Florida District Conference (DCON) in Orlando last week (April 4-7).

Collectively and individually, Jesuit earned several of the highest honors, most notably the 1st Place Region Platinum Service Award (with 101 service hours per member) and the Distinguished Club Award.

Other honors earned by Key Club included: Governor’s Service Citation Award; Distinguished Club President Award – Thomas Turner ’19; Distinguished Club Secretary Award – Trace Nuss ’19; Distinguished Club Treasurer Award – Tyler Petitt ’19; Key Club Endowment Fund Scholarship – $2000 awarded to Nuss; Kiwanian Advisor of the Year Award – Marty Koscso, P ’02, ’07; Florida Opportunity Fund Award - $1000; Governor’s Project Member Awards – Jesuit received 48 of the 213 presented; Distinguished Club Member For the Florida Region – 61 Jesuit Key Club members received this award for earning 75+ service hours this year; Governor’s Project Banner Award; and Pride Report Submission Award.

“These guys are truly ‘Men for Others,’” said Key Club moderator Amy Martin. “I am impressed with their hearts and their selfless giving and feel blessed to play a small role in their success. It was nice to receive accolades at DCON 2019 and see their hard work get recognized at the State level.”

In addition to receiving awards, Key Club continued one of its service projects from this school year while at DCON: helping the Tampa Bay Street Medicine (TBSM) team. Twice this year, Key Club teamed up with TBSM, which is comprised of students from the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida, to make a combined 850 hygiene kits for distribution to local homeless people.

Key Club collected some 2,000 donated items from its members, which were used to make an additional 225 hygiene kits during the DCON Service Fair. The items collected for the kits included socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, soap, body wash, hand sanitizer, and razors.

Representing Key Club at DCON this year, as they are pictured on the homepage and below, were (front row L-R): moderator April Bombka, Jimmy Grammig ’21, Nico Machado ’21, Nuss, Daniel Jung ’21, Eric Mullan ’21, Kiwanian advisor Koscso, Thomas Lahart ’20, Wyatt Swezey ’21, Jason Heiman ’21, Petitt, Brennen Gil ’20, Turner, and Martin. Top row L-R: Frankie Machado ’21, Miguel Coste ’19, and Ashton Buchanan ’22.

DCON culminated a fantastic year of service for Key Club, which has provided assistance and/or led initiatives such as the St. Jude Walk/Run, The Tampa Kiwanis Foundation's BBQ Fundraiser, served foster children and their families on Thanksgiving, the annual Putt-Putt Fundraiser, and the International Holocaust Remembrance event held each year in Ybor City.

Martin said DCON was a fitting conclusion to a phenomenal year.

“From the service fair where our project was the big hit, to Brennen Gil proclaiming himself as ‘Galactic Viceroy,’ to sharing our last meal at the Governor’s Gala, the District Convention gave us quite a few memories to cherish,” Martin said. “These past four years I’ve watched freshmen become senior leaders in the club, stepping up as role models for others week after week, encouraging our members to complete close to 16,000 hours of service.”

The 2018-19 Key Club officers were:

President – Turner; Vice President – Nicholas Haskell ’19; Secretary – Nuss; Secretary – Thomas Thiel ’19; Treasurer – Petitt; Board Member – Coste; Editor – Sean Doherty ’20; Webmaster – T.J. Perez ’19; Senior Class Director – Phillip Thompson ’19; Junior Class Director – Riley Buchanan ’20; Sophomore Class Director – Mullan; Freshman Class Director – Ethan Tiejema ’22.

After DCON, Key Club announced its officers for 2019-20:

President – Riley Buchanan; Vice President – Grammig; Secretary – Chandler Carnes ’21; Secretary – Mullan; Treasurer – Anson Rowe ’20; Editor –  Doherty; Webmaster – Henry Fleming ’20; Senior Class Director – Lahart; Junior Class Director – Nico Machado; Sophomore Class Director – Ashton Buchanan; Freshman Class Director – Frankie Machado.