The Key Club Kickoff Conference (KCKC) is the first event on the Key Club calendar and is anticipated and attended by new and old members alike. This year, Miami Lakes Educational Center (MLEC) hosted the event for the second consecutive year on Saturday, September 17 for Zone K, all of the Key Clubs within a specific section of Florida.
“[It was] a really exciting event because we got to host workshops, and activities, and all kinds of things Key Club related for an entire county, it was an honor to be able to host ,” said MLEC’s Key Club sponsor, Mrs. Viada.
There was a great turnout, especially for MLEC’s division, 25A, which had all schools in the division in attendance. On the day of the event, students from throughout Florida enjoyed a day of learning and were able to socialize with students from their school and several others.
“I loved it. There were kids from schools I recognized, some I didn’t, but overall it was nice to meet people from a large spectrum of schools,” MLEC Key Clubber, Luis Mila, said regarding his first KCKC experience.
The days leading up to the event were full of work for MLEC Key Clubbers. They spent time painting posters with vibrant colors and glitter before hanging them around campus to welcome and guide their guests. The students also carried heavy crates of food, folded programs, and set up chairs, projectors, microphones, and other technical equipment to make sure that the day went off without a hitch.
Bright and early on the day of the event, the Key Clubbers of MLEC continued to set up and at 8 am, when the event started, they greeted their guests at the doors and registration tables.
“I had to make sure that I kept in contact with the Lieutenant Governor so I knew how many people were showing up to the school, I had to coordinate the workshops, the room numbers, make sure that the mics were working, make sure that any amenities we were using were working, we had food, everyone was signed in, we had signs telling everyone the directions and where to find things,” said MLEC’s Key Club president, Zahria Brooklen.
The objective of the event was to teach the qualities of a good leader and other Key Club core values, using several workshops to do so. Every student got the chance to attend two of these workshops and when each session ended, MLEC students were at the doors to usher guests to their next location.
After both workshop sessions were over, all of the schools in the same division as MLEC met back in the auditorium for a private session.
The session was headed by the division’s Lieutenant Governor, Daniel Iglesias, and started with an icebreaker in the form of extreme rock, paper, scissors to teach the values of cooperation and leadership. Iglesias also presented an idea for a project that the entire division would work on together.
All in all, the event appeared to be a success. The MLEC Key Clubbers were able to pull off a successful and enjoyable KCKC for the second year in a row.
