Over spring break, Key Club, one of Dimond High School’s largest service organizations had flown out of state to Seattle, Washington to attend D-Con, or District Convention.

D-Con, as its name suggests, is where many district service clubs in the Pacific Northwest come together as one large community and talk about what their clubs and organizations have done over the year.

The groups within the Pacific Northwest that attend District Convention are: Alaska, the Yukon, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Key Club sponsor Mary Beth Hammerstrom retold her experience at D-Con and gave more insight to the activities that Dimond had done.

Hammerstrom said, “D-Con is a chance to train new officers, learn about service projects other service groups in the country are conducting, and to raise more money to bring awareness to doing service for a given community.”

District Convention took a period of two days in Seattle, with the first night normally consisting of guest speakers and and a convening of the service clubs.

The second and final night of D-Con is considered the awards night of the convention, when clubs and individuals within those clubs are recognized for their efforts with awards ranging from first club to get all their fines and fees in, to hours put in.

According to Hammerstrom, the “Six-Sixty” award is bestowed to an organization that has six individual members that have all allocated 60 hours or more to community service.

Hammerstrom said,“The most important reason why Dimond Key Clubbers should go to D-Con is so they can vote for the new Key Club Governor, Secretary, Treasurer and Bulletin Editor.”

Dimond Senior as well as active Key Club member Keely Holt shared her journey with Key Club along the years, as well as spoke about her recent acquisition of a scholarship for her participation in the service club.

“The scholarship was worth $1,000,” Holt said, “but the application I turned in was for five different Key Club scholarships, so I’m not quite sure what I got.”

Through her taking part in Key Club alone, Holt was able to reap the benefits of the effort she put in towards making her community a better place.

For Holt, the application process for the scholarship was fairly simple, requiring only that she fill out the application forms and acquire letters of recommendation from her teachers such as Mrs. Hammerstrom.
“I joined Key Club as a freshman, and I have enjoyed being able to help the community and make it a better place.”

As a member, Holt, throughout her entire high school career has greatly impacted the way the Anchorage community operates, through her numerous service hours while in the club,

Holt said, “I plan to use the money I received to pay for my tuition at Colorado State University.”

As a result of Key Club, Holt was able to broaden her future, and the prestigious award of receiving a scholarship will greatly benefit her along her future journey.