STATE COLLEGE — High school junior Heidi Egerer was recently elected Pennsylvania District Governor of Key Club International, becoming the first ever State College Area High School student to do so since the Pennsylvania District’s founding in 1947.
Key Club is a student-led service organization sponsored by Kiwanis International. In Pennsylvania, 170 high schools have a Key Club and there are 9,500 members across the state.
According to Pennsylvania District Administrator, Bob Orlando, Key Club districts sometimes comprise an entire state, as is the case in Pennsylvania or a geographic region, such as the Texas/Oklahoma district. There are 33 districts worldwide, and District Governor is the highest elected position in each district.
Egerer was elected and inducted into the position at the Pennsylvania Key Club Convention held at the end of March in Harrisburg. Previously, Egerer served as a Lieutenant Governor, representing Division 6.
“She was a pretty darn good Lieutenant Governor last year,” Orlando said. “She’s very organized, very structured and full of enthusiasm.”
Egerer has been a member of the State High Key Club since her freshman year. She is also on the State High Field Hockey team and serves as president of Interact Club, another student-led service organization, sponsored by Rotary International.
The State High Key Club participates in a wide variety of service projects, including things like blood drives, the Kiwanis Blueberry Sale, writing cards for veterans and making stress toys for students during testing times.
Encouraged by a friend from the Philadelphia area who had served on the District Board and by her own experiences as an officer of Interact Club, she decided to run for Lieutenant Governor during her sophomore year.
“I have so much fun organizing these things and I thought, ‘Why not do it at a state level?’” she said.
As District Governor, Egerer said she will be responsible for leading 21 Lieutenant Governors and will serve on the International Council
In addition, Orlando explained, “Heidi will guide them in the promotion of the different service projects and fundraisers they’re going to do, and she’ll oversee communications with the clubs and with our parent organization, Kiwanis.”
Some of those district-wide service projects will include a book drive for the LiTEArary Society, a youth-led foundation that distributes children’s books to Head Start programs and supporting Caitlin’s Smiles, a Pennsylvania-based charity that provides arts and crafts activities for hospitalized children.
Egerer will learn more about her new role when she attends the four-day District Governors and Administrators Training Convention in Indianapolis this month, but meanwhile, she has already set some goals for herself.
“I want to boost engagement and get more participation. I want to grow PA Key Club as much as I can,” she said.
As she embarks on her Governorship, she said she is looking forward to meeting new people from across the country, which she will have an opportunity to do when she attends the Key Club International Convention in Orlando, Florida, in July.
Most of all, Egerer said, she is excited about continuing to pursue her passion for service.
“My parents have definitely been a big influence over me. They always taught me it was service above self and that I should always be giving back to my community,” she said. “It’s something that I am passionate about, and I really enjoy doing.”
