NILES — Each Tuesday, a group of high school students gathers after school to discuss ways to achieve a simple goal: bettering their community.

Brandywine’s first Key Club, a youth version of the Kiwanis Club, was implemented at the start of the school year with a goal of providing valuable service to the greater Niles community. Since then, the club has expanded to 30 members, all of whom have participated in a number of service initiatives throughout Michiana.

Janki Devdhara, a senior, was one of the founding members of the youth civic organization.

“I think [Key Club] really gave everyone an opportunity to give back to the community,” Devdhara said. “There is no GPA requirement or certain grade [allowed in the club].”

On Thursday, all 30 members were inducted into the inaugural Key Club chapter at a ceremony in the high school’s media center. Family and friends were invited to watch as students explained what they have been working on, and were formerly recognized for their service to the community.

Key Club members will recently spent their Saturday creating blankets for cancer patients, expanding on the Aiden Project, for which club members recently made blankets.

“Everyone’s so passionate and helpful and come up with great ideas,” Devdhara said, listing several other projects planned for the future. Soon, club members plan to create animal toys out of tennis balls donated by Lakeland Health Club.

Devdhara said she has been pleased with the rapid growth of the organization, and all that its members have been able to accomplish in a short time.

“We had an amazing response with the number of people who joined in the first year,” she said.