Santa Fe Trail students present KAY clubs' service projects and win grants for 2025-26

Student members of the district's KAY clubs presented the board with a year'end report on service and leadership activities and said they secured grant funding for projects in 2025-26. "The KAY show state theme for this school year was waves of service," a KAY presenter (S5) told the board, summarizing student work across school, community, nation and world service pillars.

Presenters said the clubs partnered with the Disabled American Veterans to raise $500, which purchased 48 flags displayed at the school for Veterans Day, and that the high school and junior high applied for and were approved for grant funding for 2025-26. The high school requested $2,800 to buy sensory items and movement devices and was awarded $3,300 by the KAY alumni network; the junior high received $6,000 to fund two projects: a safer playground addition (a replacement for a weathered pallet-based ball pit) and a vending machine stocked with healthy snacks whose profits will support grade-level field trips.

Club leaders also described hosting a unit conference under short notice and running school events such as a coed volleyball tournament during spirit week, a Thanksgiving food drive that collected 544 donated items, and winter clothing drives that supported both students and the Osage County Help House. They asked the board for help covering KLC delegate fees (listed as $375 per delegate) so SFT can send more student delegates to statewide leadership camp.

Board members thanked the students for their presentations and noted the practical impacts of the grants and service projects on school programming and student leadership development. The presentation concluded with trustees offering logistical support for photos and delegate funding discussions.