We grow service leaders

A Builders Club provides students with opportunities for a service journey during these vital middle years. Members find a place to belong — and to learn about their own skills and interests. The Builders Club experience helps them make a difference and develop essential life skills such as empathy, teamwork, public speaking, planning and problem solving. Students become confident leaders, learning about the needs in their school or organization — and in their community — and then contributing in meaningful ways.

Service Leadership Model

The K-Kids program is built on the themes of the Kiwanis Service Leadership Model:

  • Learn: the process or experience of gaining knowledge or skills.

  • Engage: to become involved with others.

  • Serve: to be useful, to help.

  • Lead: the ability to listen, communicate, serve and guide.

A club’s service integrates all of these themes. The activities in the Member and Officer Toolkit and Service Toolkit build each of these four vital themes into the life of the club—and the life of a member.

Learn

Youth in their middle years are ripe to discover who they are and explore what they care about. Through Builders Club, students explore and use their talents, build essential skills and learn about the needs of their community and world. They learn empathy and teamwork and how to plan and implement service projects.

Engage

Builders Club gives students a safe place to listen and work with peers and adults. They collaborate on teams and committees. They ask adults for donations of items and money. They engage in their community as they meet leaders of community organizations and the clients they serve.

Serve

In Builders Club, students make service and leadership a regular part of their lives — whether they already have service experience or find themselves serving others for the first time. Members learn to conduct high-impact service by exploring community needs, planning and carrying out service projects, and evaluating their impact. Builders Club is a place for students to.

Lead

The middle years are a time of leadership development. In Builders Club, members lead in large and small ways. Officers (the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer) facilitate meetings, welcome members, keep records and track the budget. Committees are led by chairs. Members are responsible for various tasks for club operations and service projects.

When Builders Club members graduate from middle school, they can continue to grow as service leaders in high school and beyond! Learn about Key Club and the next step of a lifelong journey of service here.