• <p>LWS K-Kids Club members.</p>
  • <p>LWS K-Kids Club encourages students to take on leadership positions. LWS fifth-grade student Giselle Zepeda (left) is chair of the Service Projects Committee and fellow student Kate Solano (right) is chair of the Fundraising Committee.</p>
  • <p>LWS K-Kids Club Faculty Adviser Kimberly Ritko ensures that each K-Kids Club student officer and committee chair has a binder to stay organized and informed about parliamentary procedure.</p>
  • <p>LWS K-Kids Club Faculty Adviser Kimberly Ritko ensures that each K-Kids Club student officer and committee chair has a binder to stay organized and informed about parliamentary procedure.</p>
  • <p>K-Kids have their own gavel!</p>
  • <p>At the K-Kids Club social planned by the LWS Social/Recognition Committee, club members enjoyed a movie and popcorn in the LWS LRC.</p>
  • <p>Fun at the K-Kids social!</p>
  • <p>Who doesn’t love a movie with friends and bean bag chairs?</p>

March 12, 2018

Developing Caring Leaders at LWS

The K-Kids Club at Louise White Elementary School is growing at a rapid pace.

K-Kids is part of the Kiwanis International family of clubs, which includes Circle K International for university students, Key Club for students age 14–18, Builders Club for students age 11–14, K-Kids for students age 6–12, Aktion Club for adults living with disabilities, and Kiwanis Club for adults.

“We now have 36 K-Kids Club members at Louise White,” said Kimberly Ritko, LWS K-Kids faculty adviser and LWS LRC paraprofessional. “We started with fifth-graders in January 2017, and then gradually added fourth graders and third graders.”

Ms. Ritko said she was interested in starting K-Kids at LWS because of her experience in Circle K at Illinois State University.

“If I hadn’t done this in college, I wouldn’t have understood how it can change a person’s life,” she said. “I came from a small town and lacked confidence when I first came to college. As soon as I realized I could make a difference in other people’s lives through service project work and leadership opportunities, I really thrived. In Circle K, I was a committee chair, club vice president, district chair, and lieutenant governor.”

In her role now as faculty adviser for K-Kids at LWS, Ms. Ritko said she wants to help kids learn about service and leadership. She credits LWS Principal Dr. Kevin Skomer for making this happen at LWS.

“I could not have done this without Kevin’s support. When I first talked to him about K-Kids, he was on board with the leadership aspect, not just service,” she said. “I want students to get out of their comfort zone, take on a leadership role, and see how they can make a difference. My job is to help them get there.”

Every K-Kids Club at a BPS101 elementary school, which now includes Louise White, Hoover-Wood, and Grace McWayne, has a Kiwanis adviser. At LWS, that adviser is Jamie Saam. Mrs. Saam is an active Kiwanis member and the executive director of Batavia MainStreet. She’s also the proud mom of LWS K-Kids Club member, Tucker.

“I was in Key Club in high school, so I am familiar with the structure,” said Mrs. Saam. “Kim [Ritko] does an excellent job running this club. To learn what a committee is like or to hold an officer’s position at the age of 10 is amazing!”

The LWS K-Kids Club holds elections for its fourth- and fifth-grade officers, which, Mrs. Saam said, is a good process for the students to go through.

“It’s great to see so many kids stepping up to run for leadership positions, and that no one gets bent out of shape if they don’t win,” she said.

When asked about her experience in K-Kids, LWS fifth-grade student and K-Kids Fundraising Committee chair, Kate Solano, said, “So far amazing. At the [LWS] Fun Fair, we sold Rainbow Loom bracelets that K-Kids made. We made $55.05. That may not sound like a lot, but it was a lot to us. We put in so much effort. Now, we’re working on ‘Pennies for Patients.’ That raises money for people with cancer.”

According to Ms. Ritko, the funds raised from the bracelets went into the LWS K-Kids account to keep the club free to all who would like to join and to continue to raise money for LWS K-Kids Club T-shirts.
“I know the students would wear a club T-shirt with pride and it would connect K-Kids with LWS and BPS101 when we are out doing our service and fundraising,” she explained. “It is also important to me that the students earn the T-shirts and that they not be given to them. We are going to get there!”

No doubt they will get there, especially with Kate Solano as the Fundraising Committee chair. She said she’s always been the kid who likes to go around and “get donations for Jump Rope for Heart and sell Butter Braids.” She seems like a natural.

Giselle Zepeda, also a fifth-grader at LWS and the K-Kids Club Service Projects Committee chair, shared that K-Kids meet once a month as an entire group and that committee members and officers have one additional meeting for small group work.

“A meeting is like a job that you want to succeed in. At our meetings, we think really hard and pay attention,” said Giselle.

According to Giselle, it was the chairperson before her, Madison Wilson who inspired her to run for her current position as chair of the Service Projects Committee.

“I saw how I could work with teachers and students to get things done and help others,” she said.

Giselle’s committee is currently working on a service project for Anderson Animal Shelter to collect supplies for the facility.

So, what’s next for LWS K-Kids? Ms. Ritko said she’s focused on keeping students active in the club and growing the membership.

“I often get asked by our first- and second-graders about K-Kids,” said Mrs. Ritko. “Word of mouth is really catching on.”

To learn more about K-Kids Club, visit KiwanisKids.org.