In his first year teaching at Bowling Green High School, Terry Mulgrew took on the Key Club.
Now, 15 years later, Mulgrew is ready to retire and hand the reins of a successful program over to
another adviser.
He recalls he was told by then-Kiwanis Club member Bob Scholl that his adviser’s role would only be for a
few years.
"Bob did everything the first couple years," Mulgrew recalled.
He started with perhaps a dozen students, and helped grow the club to 70 teens now.
Key Club is a leadership and service organization and a younger version of Kiwanis Club.
Mulgrew also is a social studies teacher at the high school.
Key Club members have taken the BG mascot at Kenwood and
Conneaut schools and have volunteered at football games, the Black Swamp Arts Festival, and elementary
ice cream socials. They’ve helped the chamber of commerce with its holiday parade, the library with its
lock-in, apraxia events at City Park, and Pancake Day hosted by the Kiwanis Club.
Mulgrew said he is particularly pleased with the "volunteer hours that these kids are willing to
step up and do."
"They like the idea of volunteering to help," he stated.
He has "mentored these young people and really taught them the meaning of serving others," said
Dr. Michelle Grigore, Kiwanis Club president.
The focus of Kiwanis is changing the community one child at a time, with Key Club being a service
leadership program to train young leaders on how to change the world.
"Terry has brought that concept to life at the high school," she said. "He’s basically
creating a whole new group of Kiwanis to grow up and take our place."
The Key Club also sponsors a dodge ball tournament with Otsego and Eastwood high schools. Funds raised go
toward the Eliminate Project, a collaboration between Kiwanis International and UNICEF. The project
seeks to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus, a disease which kills 60,000 babies each year.
This year, the BGHS club donated $200.
One of the club’s shining achievements is the high school courtyard, which members cleaned out and added
furniture and plantings.
"It’s been a phenomenal run. I’ve loved it," said Mulgrew, who does not get paid as adviser.
"The kids have kept me very active in it."
"He’s got the commitment and the desire to work with these kids outside his regular school
assignments," Grigore said.
Mulgrew said he will particularly miss seeing the excitement the students generate in doing projects.
"I’m just so pleased I got involved in it. People respect and like what Key Club has done."
Ryan Holley is currently one of two Kiwanis advisers to Key Club.
"He’s just had a tremendous impact on the program and the kids," he said of Mulgrew.
The members are learning leadership, professional development, and the importance of community service
and giving back.
When Kiwanis Club reaches out to the Key Club for volunteers "they just swarm over."