Club Spotlight: LEO Club Roars to Life

From left to right: Seniors Genesis Cabrera-Madrigal and Emma Duncan, sophomore Sarah Rafael-Javier, seniors Sarah Vincent and Dixie Lumsden, junior Evan Heins, and senior Patrick Trent come together for a LEO Club group picture. (Photo by Lily Lovette)

By Lily Lovette--Eagle Staff Writer

Leadership, Experience, Opportunity: all three sound beneficial to Franklin County. Luckily, the LEO Club at Franklin County High School provides just that. Despite being a fairly new club at FCHS, the LEO Club has already connected with the community.

Starting in the middle of September, the LEO Club became active as a junior version of Franklin County’s local Lions Club. The Lions Club is an international community service group. According to the Lions Club's website, there are over 7,400 clubs worldwide and more than 40,000 service projects in the works.

The club began its community service by donating buckets full of supplies for flood relief and has now expanded to other projects like the clothing drive, angel trees, and the lunch staff appreciation wall.

“We focus a lot on community service and giving back to our community,” senior and treasurer of the LEO Club Raven Smith explained.

The senior class filled several donation bins for the LEO Clothing Drive. (Photo taken by Lily Lovette)

The clothing drive has been one of the most well-received projects of the LEO Club, ranging from all age groups; most all donations were accepted and extremely appreciated. The seniors donated the most this time around and all clothes received will be given to people in need.

Being the treasurer of the LEO Club, Smith takes care of the funding and organization of fundraisers.

“Our club president, Emma Duncan, was the one who introduced the idea to me and offered me the position of Treasurer. I liked the idea of doing more community service but without the pressure of meeting deadline requirements. It's also really fun when you're doing service with your friends,” Smith enthused.

Freshman Noah Buckner, another member of the LEO Club, agreed.

“I wanted the opportunity to serve our community…[LEO Club] gives teens an opportunity to learn to lead and help their community.”

Senior Genesis Cabrera-Madrigal and sophomore Sarah Rafael-Javier get ready to load up their sorted donations. (Photo by Lily Lovette)

The LEO Club continues with new ideas in the works and is looking for more members.

“I would recommend LEO Club to everyone in high school. Obviously, we wouldn't be able to sustain everyone as a member but having this community service experience is beneficial in so many ways. Yes, it looks good on applications to scholarships and colleges, but it also teaches you valuable life lessons, introduces you to new people and experiences, as well as grounds you and keeps you down to Earth,” Smith concluded.

LEO Club welcomes anyone interested in joining. It meets during activity period in 227 Ramsey.

“I do recommend people to join. It's super fun,” Buckner said.