Key Club Takes on DCON

Santaluces+Key+Club+officers+and+their+sponsor+before+the+governors+banquet+and+ball.

Ethan Jayne

Santaluces Key Club officers and their sponsor before the governor’s banquet and ball.

Ethan Jayne, Staff Writer

The Santaluces Key Club is a club based on service and leadership. Every year, the officers attend their District Education and Leadership Conference, better known as DCON, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando.

DCON offers many opportunities for officers to grow their clubs, learn what others are doing in their community, vote on the new district board, and more. DCON also offers a lot of fun events to attendees.

“My favorite part was the talent show because it was so interesting to see how much talent other Key Clubbers around the state of Florida have,” stated Grace Dorman, 11th grade class director.

Some of the workshops at DCON are officer training sessions that allow newly elected officers to learn the in and outs of their position.

“I learned how to delegate leadership and how to communicate with my club and officers. I also learned how to lead in a respective and assertive way,” said Zoe Farrell, club Vice President.

One major takeaway from Key Club’s conference are the distinguished officer awards Santaluces won while at the conference:

  • Ethan Jayne won the Distinguished President Award
  • Zoe Farrell won the Distinguished Vice President Award
  • Grace Dorman won the Distinguished Class Director Award

These distinguished officer awards are given to officers who show a true dedication to their school and community by attending district meetings every month, attending the district conference, having hundreds of hours accumulated, having continuous communication with their Kiwanis club, and many more requirements.

On top of these distinguished officer awards, Santaluces also won a series of banner patches:

  • Banner patch for raising over $250 for UNICEF
  • Banner patch for being only one of twenty high schools in Florida to receive a FLOF grant, allowing Santaluces to build a little free library in the community
  • Banner patch for 100% divisional report submission

Overall, DCON was a great experience for the officers that went. They learned leadership skills and new ways to get involved in their community.

Key Club is the biggest club on campus. Interested in joining? Meetings will be on every other Tuesday next school year.