Kiwanis International Student Leadership Weekend Experience
Key Leader as a weekend experiential leadership program for students from 14-20 years of age. This life-changing event focuses on service leadership as the most meaningful leadership-development experience. A Key Leader will learn the most important lesson of leadership—it comes from helping others succeed.
Participants attend large and small group workshops, discussions, and team-building activities throughout the course of the weekend. Students have opportunities to learn leadership skills that will help them to change their schools, communities, and world for the better. While exploring leadership in a whole new way, participants will make amazing new friends and have experiences they will never forget. Positive, ongoing interaction with other Key Leader graduates offers continuing reinforcement, encouragement and growth of leadership skills.
Since April 2005, Key Leader has served more than 21,000 students at 450 Key Leader events in 39 U.S. States, 5 Canadian provinces, Malaysia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, El Salvador and Singapore.
Wisconsin and Upper Michigan Kiwanis District Key Leader
Our event is held at Camp Wawbeek, an Easter Seals affiliated camp located in a wooded area near Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The camp is accessible for students of all physical abilities and features enclosed buildings with modern amenities.
The event has been held in September, at the beginning of the school year since its inception. Our weekend date is scheduled during the few weeks between the close of Camp Wawbeek's regular season and before Camp closes down for the winter--you know--"turns off the water!"
Our event is managed by a dedicated team of Kiwanians who work to make this event a life changing event for everyone involved, including us!
The Key Leader Team is:
- The Key Leader Coordinator, a District position, responsible for the overall event
- The Key Leader Site Coordinator, a District position, responsible for preparing the event location
- Key Leader Chaperones which are trained to support the participants during the weekend and to manage the logistics of the event. Over the course of planning the event, chaperones may choose to take on an additional role during the weekend as well (registration, announcements, lighting the campfire, etc.)
- A professional Key Leader facilitator will lead the event. This facilitator brings to the program excellent experience working with young people and has successfully completed a training course on the curriculum.