Boys & Girls Club Blog

June 6, 2023

Our Keystone Leadership Club has been busy these last few months! They’ve organized and completed their national project and have been finding ways to give back to the Oshkosh community.

Each year, members who are in a Boys & Girls Club’s Keystone Leadership Club must complete a national project as a BGCA requirement to be in Keystone. This year, our Keystone Club members chose to focus on “Creating Equity in Our Diversity” and organized a Diversity Fair for our Quest and Teen programs. They brought in representatives from the Global Studies program at Fox Valley Technical College and Central Boarding Academy who represented the countries of Columbia, India, Bangladesh, China, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia and Ghana. Club members took a journey around the world by visiting each country’s booth where they immersed themselves in different cultures by trying traditional food from Turkey, learning Russian dance, how to use salutations, local fashion, and even practices and traditions for infant care. To add to the experience, each member received a passport made by Keystone members to “travel” to the next country. It was a fun way for kids to learn that when you discover more about other cultures and celebrate differences, it brings us closer together.

Currently, our Keystone members are working on earning a trip to the Keystone National Conference in Dallas, TX. At the conference, our members will get to meet members from other Keystone Clubs and learn about their national projects. They will also have the opportunity to collaborate with other Clubs on their efforts to “create equity in our diversity”.

Keystone members have also been focusing on ways to give back.  In February, the group organized a food and hygiene drive and collected over 100 items to donate to the Hope Fridge. They also spent time stocking shelves at the Oshkosh Area Community Food Pantry where they brought our Torch Club members (our middle school age leadership club) to teach them about caring for your community and giving back.

The Keystone group has been taking on a leadership role in our Club’s Teen Center each month by planning our Teen Nights. Teen Nights are one night each month where our Teen Center stays open late to offer a variety of unique activities that are different than our daytime offerings. Some of the activities Keystone has planned included staff vs. teens dodgeball, Family Fued, Greek decathlon, and make-your-own homemade pizza night. By taking the lead on Teen Nights, our Keystone members are learning how to manage others, improve organization, be open to others’ opinions, and many other skills to help them become better leaders for the future.

Keystone is currently planning several fundraising events to fund their trip to National Conference. If you would like to help support our Keystone Club by helping them get to National Conference, contact Sydney Hall, Director of Teen Services, at (920) 233-1414, ext. 127, or sydneyh@bgcosh.org.