On Jan. 30 Key Club hosted their first ever lip syncing competition to help fund research for the cure for Maternal Neonatal Tetanus. Maternal Neonatal Tetanus is a form of tetanus commonly found in newborn children. This event was one of many that will help raise funds for UNICEF, which is an organization that helps bring awareness for a cure as well as raise funds for research. Other Key Club fundraisers for The Eliminate Project were a pumpkin smash event last October, and car washes. An upcoming talent show in February will also fundraise for The Eliminate Project. This is the last year Key Club is sponsoring The Eliminate Project so they are doing many events for the cause. “Kiwanis likes to pick a project for an extended period of time, and for this time it was The Eliminate Project. It’s been that for years am years and this is the last year that we are actually sponsoring The Eliminate Project,” stated Key Club member Lorina Morton.
Students were encouraged to sign up to lip sync a song at the competition. “We went on the announcements every single day this week,” stated contestant and Key Club member Naadiya Hutchinson. Tickets were sold for one dollar to students wanting to participate for the event. Key Club members volunteered to be on the committee in charge of organizing the contest and attended after school meetings in order to plan for the contest.
Three groups participated in the competition. First the judges performed “respect” by Aretha Franklin before the contest. The judges for the contest were Ms. Hemann, Ms. Simon-Savage, and Ms. Kee. “There is going to be a prize, a trophy for the first place and second place.” stated Key Club project manager Victoria Furnari. The three groups that performed for the contest were the 7 queens, which were seven members of the color guard team, junior Maddie Littlejohn with school president Austin Williams, and lastly Hutchinson. The 7 queens, who lip synced “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, won first place with Littlejohn and Williams winning second.
The event helped raise money for the Eliminate Project in a new type of fundraiser, while also letting the school be aware of the cause. Key Club will remain raising funds for the Eliminate Project until the end of the year.