The LEO Club has grown to new heights in 2017 with more than 200 members, a social media presence and new volunteer activities created by and for students.
Every year students of every grade level at Haddonfield Memorial High School join the LEO Club expecting to log community service hours, but for some, such as LEO Club president Tommy Kenny, they graduate with an unexpected love of community service from the experience.
“Through LEO Club, I discovered my passion for giving back to the Haddonfield community,” Kenny said.
This is the legacy Richard Eastwick hoped the LEO Club would cultivate when he brought the organization to HMHS in 2004. He said when the organization started, he could fit all of the members into a single classroom with ease. In 2017, however, the organization has grown to new heights with more than 200 members, a social media presence and new volunteer activities created by and for students.
Eastwick was teaching and coaching at the high school in 2003 when he was approached about joining the Haddonfield Lions Club. As a member of the Lions Club, he learned about the Leadership, Experience, Opportunity Club — a service club for schools sponsored by the Lions. He said he thought the organization had the potential to fill a need a within the Haddonfield community by getting student volunteers involved in the Lions Club.
While clubs dedicated to volunteering weren’t a new concept to HMHS at the time, giving students free rein to run the organization was. Eastwick said one of the main bylaws of the LEO Club is the kids are autonomous.
“Adults are saying you folks, we are giving you free rein to make these decisions,” Eastwick said. “You’re smart enough and you’re savvy enough to make these decisions.”
Social studies teacher Margaret Gammie said when she stepped into the role of of LEO Club advisor this year, she didn’t know what to expect since the LEOs have developed a long-standing tradition within the community. She said she was excited to see that in the years since the LEOs were created, the fervor to keep improving the organization is reinvigorated each year with the incoming student officers.
Kenny said the LEO Club has become the largest, most active community service organization at the school. He said in his role as president he organizes more than 200 students, leads monthly meetings and runs the LEO Club Twitter account, @HMHSLEO.
“All of our events are centered around giving back to a town that has done so much for us,” Kenny said.
Kenny and his fellow officers implemented a new event this year, hosting the first annual game night for students. He said students today are so focused on academics they often forget to leave time to just relax and hang out, and game night offered that opportunity. He said students from all grades were able to sit down and play a few board games and have some snacks late into the night.
LEO treasurer Annie Lynch said two of the LEO’s long-established events — the Senior Citizens’ Valentine’s Day Dance and the Target holiday shopping spree with visually impaired kids — are the draws that continue to keep students signing up for the organization each year. She said the LEOs bring food and decorations and put on a dance for senior citizens from the Mabel Kay Senior Center for the Valentine’s Day Dance.
Kenny said the event he enjoys the most is the Senior Citizen’s Prom. He said experiencing the happiness on all of the senior citizens’ faces as they are dancing to the same songs they grew up with is what “inspires myself and the rest of the LEOs to do what we do.”
Lynch said the Target holiday shopping also draws a big crowd, and the event is rewarding for LEOs who get paired with visually impaired kids from the region to help them shop for gifts for their family and friends.
“The Leos connect [with] many different parts of our community, and we can interact with people that we don’t always have the chance to interact with,” Lynch said.
Kenny said he will continue to volunteer after graduating high school as a direct result of the LEO club. Gammie said Kenny’s attitude is especially indicative of this year’s batch of LEOs.
“They’re go-getters,” Gammie said. “When you ask them to do something, they jump on it right away.”
