Servant leadership starts at a young age. Whether you have just entered high school or seeking university admissions, it’s all about dedicating your time for others. Interact and Key clubs are two of the most prevalent organizations inspiring leadership in the youth. They may appear the same at face value. However, they are different from each other.
If you are wondering whether to join an interact or key club, then don’t fret. We’ve laid out the differences below and similarities below.
What are the similarities of Interact and Key Clubs?
At both of the organizations’ core, it is all about help and betterment. Whether it’s carrying out environmental projects or feeding the homeless, both interact and key clubs are after improving the lives of others. Both clubs want to involve teenagers and high school students.
It’s how they do it that makes these clubs different from each other.
Differences
Let’s look at their differences in terms of club overview, initial goals, common activities, and scale of projects.
Club Overview
In 1965, the Rotary International established the Interact Club. This self-governed organization is led primarily by high school students aged 14-18 years old. Its membership is global, consisting of over 200 countries.
Kiwanis International founded the Key Club way back in 1925. It is the oldest service program for high school students. Compared to interact club, key club’s membership is limited to Canada and United States. It is a student-led organization that is governed by school administrators. Moreover, Key Club is only for high school level.
Goals & Activities
Interact’s key areas of focus are the local community, global service, and understanding. The organization completes at least two community service projects a year. One service project is implemented on a local scale. The other service project furthers international awareness and understanding. Interact club involve themselves in projects such as Habitat for Humanity and environmental cleanups.
Key club’s areas of focus are community service as well as individual leadership training, character building, and inclusiveness. The club is more focused on developing projects on a local, more microscopic community of its choosing. Key club is often involved in local projects like clothing and food drives.
Key Opportunities
It all depends on what you are looking to do in the future in terms of community involvement. If you are seeking international leadership opportunities as well as Rotarian sponsorship programs, then you might be more inclined to join Interact club.
If you are keen on focusing your efforts on building your community as well as yourself, then joining key club might be a better option for you. Kiwanis, its mother organization, provides plenty of opportunities to its young members to constantly get involved.
Which is better?
It is not a matter of which club is more superior. In fact, both organizations offer distinct, and rewarding opportunities to its members. What matters is you know what you want to do. Moreover, you know what your strengths are.
Both clubs will give you incredible and unique chances to help your community in either a global or local scale. It goes beyond logging in all the community service hours required of you. Joining a club may just be what you need to learn what your higher purpose is after graduation.
