Circle K Club encourages works of service
Minnesota State’s Circle K Club is part of Circle K International, the largest student-led collegiate service organization in the world. It is based on service, leadership and fellowship, and is committed to helping students become leaders through community service, global friendships, real-life networking and advocacy skills.
Club president Allysa Nelson, a first-year graduate student, said there are many benefits to joining Circle K, including gaining enhanced leadership skills and having access to volunteer and service work opportunities.
The club itself held a pumpkin painting event Tuesday at the CSU Flex Programming Space for its members and others interested in learning more about the club.
“We do all kinds of different things. And depending on where you’re at, or if you want to enhance your skills more, you can go up to the district level,” she said. “The district level is where our club is; the Minnesota-Dakota District. The district oversees all the clubs in those states. There’s so many different opportunities such as being a part of the district and overseeing the clubs. Or you could be a club officer and oversee the club at MSU. It’s all different and if you’re really into it, you can go up to the international level and the international level oversees all the districts and all the clubs, and they have president positions for that.”
Nelson said Circle K’s international reach is substantial. It has thousands of members on hundreds of campuses on five continents across the globe.
“Students make up the most volunteer hours in any other organization.” Nelson said. “But everyone, all the club members, make a difference regardless of where they’re at. Because of all of the time and effort they put into volunteering everywhere.”
Nelson said participating in Circle K can help new students develop confidence and build friendships with other members.
“My favorite thing about leading the club is probably seeing other people come out of their shell over time. I have served as president now for two years and there are people who join the club that won’t really talk much and then over time, you can see them slowly start to be more involved and get to know other people.’ Nelson said. “It’s just nice to see them learn how to talk to people and learn all of those skills that they might not have or that they had more reserved before.”
Senior Jordan Redman has been participating in the Circle K Club during her time at MSU and expresses her approval of Circle K being a close community and having volunteer opportunities for students.
“I felt that they had such a good sense of community here. And I like what they stood for. I think volunteering is so important and it’s nice that they have that outreach. I thought that was super cool.” Redman said. “I think they’re doing such a good job trying to recruit people as much as they can and trying to spread the word of Circle K. It’s a super fun environment.”
Circle K participates in services and events every month that are helpful to the community.
“My favorite thing has been doing the Kiwanis holiday lights. We usually stand and direct traffic. It’s super fun because you can dance with the music out and with the holidays, it’s such a fun atmosphere.” Redman said. “And then the Trick or Treat for Food. They do it every year. It’s also really fun too because during the holidays, everybody gets so festive. All the meetings are super fun too. They come up with new stuff every time.”
For more information on how to get involved with MSU’s Circle K, follow them on social media or visit their Linktree at linktr.ee/mnsucirclek
Write to Anahi Zuniga at anahi.zuniga@mnsu.edu
Header photo: Circle K Club is committed to help MSU students become leaders through community service, networking and building skill. (Nate Tilahun/The Reporter)