Human Of Texas-Oklahoma: Alex Collins My name is Alex Collins. I am Native American and the Vice President of the Randall High School Key Club. I joined Key Club when I heard about it from my friends, which just so happened to be board members of Key Club. I knew that it would look good on my college applications and that was honestly the first reason that I joined. After being a part of the club and realizing how much the club was able to help out other people it only furthered my interest in Key Club. Not only was it making other people feel better, but it was beneficial to me and my mental/emotional health. Helping other people makes me happy and I wish I had joined Key Club earlier! Volunteering through Key Club has improved my life exponentially. Not only has it affected me emotionally, it has helped me overcome some of the challenges that I experience mentally. Creating connections is a major part of life as an adult and Key Club has helped me understand how to do that. Through these connections, I will be able to connect with local volunteer centers no matter where I am. Being a part of Key Club has shown me that helping others goes both ways and if you treat others with kindness and give your free time to help others, it can not only impact their life, but yours as well. Another aspect that Key Club has personally helped me with is my leadership skills. After joining there was a chance to become part of the board, as a class representative. It meant that I would need to get 2 more hours of community service than was required for normal board members. This was an easy choice for me since I was already getting more hours than I needed. Although I am in leadership positions in other organizations, Key Club specifically has forced me out of my comfort zone and helped me grow into the leader that I want to be and will continue to help me further in my life. My favorite project within Key Club would have to be the one that is the most impactful to my personal life: Snak Pak 4 Kids. This is the most impactful to me since my family gets Snak Paks and I know my little brother enjoys them so much. It's also a very welcoming group of people that run it. Since it's only an hour per day, it's easy and repetitive. Near the end we fill bags and I can picture each bag going to a kid with the same expression as my brother when he sees the food in the bags, especially when there's a chocolate pudding cup, which is everyone's favorite.
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