“What does it mean to bring home a victory after an eight year losing streak?” This is what I thought to myself on the evening of November 9, 2024, on the whole bus ride home from the most important Key Club event of the year, Fall Rally South.
Key Club is the largest student-led community service organization for high school students, but also a place to make new connections. A handful of high school Key Clubs make up a Division, and every November, hundreds of Divisions from Southern California, Nevada, and Hawaii journey to Six Flags Magic Mountain to compete at Fall Rally South. Thousands of Key Clubbers come to compete at Spirit Sessions and Spirit Battles with chants and cheers that celebrate our community service efforts, fundraising for charity, and Key Club Spirit. The main event is the Spirit Sessions that take place at an amphitheater in the theme park throughout the day. Here, a few dozen divisions face off to win the coveted Spirit Stick, with chants and cheers that have been meticulously written by Spirit Coordinators and rehearsed by members for months. Etiwanda High School Key Club belongs to the Division 15 North Giraffes, along with eight other schools from the Inland Empire area. On November 9, 2024, Division 15 North took home the Spirit Stick for the first time since 2016.
As a Freshman, I fell in love with Key Club as we were practicing for Fall Rally South 2021. I felt so excited, alive, and connected to the new friends around me who made me feel like I was worth something, as we jumped and cheered together. I also looked up to the hardworking officers who showed me kindness and saw potential in me. That year, we had made it to the third round, but due to time and safety constraints, we were unexpectedly cut from the round. My Freshman year was just the beginning of my journey.
During my Sophomore year, I was picked to go on as an Emergency Cover, and cheer at the front of the Division with the Spirit Committee at Fall Rally South 2022. While I was just an understudy, it mattered to me. I was happy to just be a part of our division as another enthusiastic voice in the crowd, but getting recognized for the love and passion I harbored within me felt like a massive honor. We proudly made it to the final round, but couldn’t swing it.
In Summer 2023, when applications for the Spirit Committee opened, I submitted an audition as soon as I could. I was selected as a Regular Spirit Coordinator, and once again felt honored to be part of the team. In my Junior year, I also served as Vice President of our home club, which came with its own challenges. In October 2023, there were major arguments between officers across our division. These public quarrels were between a teammate of mine on the Spirit Team, my own friends, and the leaders who were meant to be guiding our division. I felt as if this unrest went against every core value we were meant to be exemplifying as officers. If we as officers could not uphold the values of leadership, inclusivity, caring, and character building that our organization is built on, how could we ask our members to do the same?
Ultimately, when we went to compete at Fall Rally South 2023, we were not operating at our best. The effects of dissent among our officers, disorganization in how we taught chants, and spotty leadership manifested in the way we placed fifth in our Spirit Session. I couldn’t help but mull over our mistakes. I realized that I needed to lead by example at all times. If I wanted to see positive change, success, and a high level of commitment happen within our division, it needed to start with me.
Suddenly, it was Summer 2024. Applications were open again. I had been elected and installed as the President of Etiwanda High School Key Club. I submitted my audition for Main Spirit Coordinator, and hoped for the best. I was selected as one of two Main Spirit Coordinators, the other Captain being a younger fellow officer who I have so much love in my heart for. Our Spirit Team of six, scrappy, spirited kids used the months of August and September to write two, strong, memorable one minute chants, and also to get to know each other. Before our eyes, we realized we only had eight weeks from the first Key Club Meeting of the year to get our members informed, prepared, and ready for Fall Rally South 2024.
This was a challenge that I didn’t know if I could take on. It became exhausting to spend every week organizing, planning, and facilitating events, members, and meetings, to then spend every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday working at community service events, teaching high energy chants to groups of teenagers, or, when I was especially lucky, doing both in one day. However, I got to make countless memories. Eight weekends of service and social events meant eight weekends of getting to know members, laughing loudly with them, seeing them serve with passion and exuberance, and watching my members and officers become close friends with each other. In these eight weekends, my Spirit Team and I taught our Division two Main Chants, and around 10 shorter Battle Chants.
After these eight whirlwind weekends, it was the big day. It was surreal to realize I was in the shoes of the Presidents and Spirit Captains who came before me, and had each inspired me so deeply in my youth. Our Division did everything we could to leave it all on the floor. We made an effort to secure a front-row spot in the amphitheater, practiced hard, and tried to keep our spirits up. Lucky for me, I came down with a cold the night before, so I conserved my energy, and ate real food before going in for the Spirit Session, so that I could give our chants my best effort.
In my mind now, it is difficult to recall exactly what it was like in our Spirit Session, as those moments were so transcendent and overwhelming that I can hardly remember them now. It was like we filed into the front row, I blinked, and suddenly, the final tallies were being added up. In another blink of an eye, I hear our Division, my Division 15 North, get announced as the winner, and all of us couldn’t help but spring up, scream, cheer, and celebrate our victory. I started sobbing uncontrollably. I had been fighting for a Spirit Stick, a championship, a title for four years, and that whole time I never even knew what the Spirit Stick looked like. Holding it in my hand filled me with an indescribable feeling. The hours after our win didn’t feel any more real, as I embraced my friends, took pictures, cried some more, and most shockingly, realized our Division hadn’t won in eight years.
I acknowledge that it is objectively a silly thing to care so much about. Stomping, clapping, cheering, and chanting at a theme park for a chance to win a cardboard Spirit Stick with plastic flowers hot glued on it is inherently unserious. In the grand scheme of things, this is far from the most important thing happening on the planet. However, I believe that it is everything we did together to win that stick that matters most.
The true victory can be seen in the smiles on my returning members’ faces when they leave an event where they got to make a difference in our community. It can be heard in the loud laughter of my members when they find people who make them feel like they belong. It can be found in the way I’ve watched my officers grow into confident leaders, caring friends, and passionate young people who are emboldened to make the world around them a better place. The true victory is knowing that I did it with and for the younger selves who exist within me, and in honor of the officers who put me where I am today.
I got to call Division 15 North my home for four years. Knowing that four years of spirit and service culminated in a historic victory is the most awe-inspiring reminder of the memories, spirit, and love that I have for this club. “What does it mean to bring home a victory after an eight year losing streak?” I now know that it means an unforgettable sense of gratitude, for every officer, member, and friend who fought with us for eight weekends to take home our first win in eight years. It means that we can call it ours, and really mean it.
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