C.D. Hylton Senior High School with an enrollment of approximately 2,200, is located in the eastern part of Prince William County, Virginia, and is in the process of reestablishing its Key Club Charter with Kiwanis International. We are sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Woodbridge, Virginia. Because Key Club is new and unfamiliar to the students at Hylton, we decided to simplify the meaning of Key Club at Hylton to make our new club more easily identifiable. If our main objective is to provide opportunities to serve the community, and if serving others makes us smile ....then perhaps a yellow happy face is the attention-getting logo we needed. So, before the first day of school, Sarah and LeAnn posted happy faces all around the school building. Each day, for the first week, more happy faces were added. The morning television announcements included some fun mystery building talk to build up the suspense about the new club coming to our school. Students all over the building were asking, "What's up with the happy faces?" Our first Key Club meeting in September attracted 120 students, eager to be a part of the happy, do-good club. We've established a "happy thoughts table" on Fridays during our lunches. Students write down happy thoughts on slips of paper, and our principal reads some of the happy thoughts during her morning announcements the following Monday. The students seem to perk up when asked to share a happy thought at the table, and the positive attitude seems to be infectious. It's nice to know that the staff and students at Hylton think of our Key Club as a happy and positive group.

We are still new and learning what it is our students want to do with all of their positive energy. We've just elected officers, and our new Student President is twelfth grader, Andrew Noble. Andrew and our other officers and members are eager to provide service to our community, and we have been meeting at least three times per month. We have raised money to support a school family in need, we've helped the ACTS (Action in the Community Through Service) organization, located in Dumfries, Virginia, with their "Operation Turkey," (We helped sort and bag food that was donated by the citizens and businesses in the community, so that over 1600 needy families could enjoy a Thanksgiving Day meal.) and we've raised money through a Veterans' Day bake sale to support our local Winter Drop-In Shelter for homeless men. Our students helped host a Halloween dance for mentally challenged young adults, and they also enjoyed making "happy thoughts" cards for a local retirement home, which we will deliver in early December. Our students look forward to tutoring younger students, supporting our local homeless shelter, and providing cheer and support for many local citizens in need.

Our Principal and Guidance Counselors are pleased to see the positive impact that this Key Club is already having on the atmosphere of our school and the attitudes of our students. We look forward to accomplishing many acts of caring and helpfulness in the months ahead.