Community Spotlight: Leo Club
Photo from Leo Club
In September, a new club was added to Hamilton High School’s list of activities called the Leo Club. For some context, the Leo Club is a national club with 1.4 million members across the United States. The Leo Club was formed in Pennsylvania in 1957, and has been promoting volunteering for 50 years. Hamilton’s chapter of the Leo Club was founded by a former principal, David Furrer, who saw the need for students to engage in more volunteer experience to learn the importance of volunteer work.
The club works in conjunction with the Sussex Lions Club, and is mainly led by a board of students that decides on charity events and fundraisers for Sussex to participate in.The club meetings are run by the club president and advised by the adult leaders. Every year, the club does service projects and fundraisers. The volunteer group has raised $500 for the American Foundation for Suicide, $350 for the Womens Center, and $400 for the Alzheimers Association. In 2019, Leo Club was awarded the Volunteer Group of the Year Award by Sussex Village.
Like all of Hamilton’s clubs, adjusting to COVID-19 was hard. Sarah Kidd, a Hamilton junior andthe club president, said, “During COVID, our group was challenged because all of our events are normally in-person, and were cancelled. Our meetings had to be moved to Zoom, and officer elections for the 2020-2021 school year had to be virtual via a Google Form as well.” Even with COVID-19 challenges, the Leo Club was able to persevere and continue to make a difference in the community.
Despite the work the club has done in the community, this year was the first time that it was included in the activity fair. This is because the club isn’t school-affiliated. Each club in Hamilton has to meet certain requirements in order to be recognized as a club, and each club has a certain level. Level one clubs are directly sponsored by the school, and level two clubs are community based. The Leo Club is a level two club. Both levels come with their own advantages and disadvantages; for example, level two clubs don’t have to worry about transportation from the school, while level one clubs have to get transportation from the school. Now, with the Leo Club in the activity fair, it will be able to attract more attention. Although the Leo Club will get more exposure, there are some drawbacks to not being school sponsored. Since the club is not affiliated with Hamilton, it can’t be featured on announcements.
Regardless of such drawbacks, The Leo club members were excited to be on the activity club lists this year. “We were very excited when Hamilton added our club to the club fair. We have been asking to be a part of the Club Fair for years, and the fact that we were finally able to be a part of it was awesome. We are always looking for new members, especially those from Hamilton. Our club has gained 30 new members since then!” says Sarah Kidd.
