Written For the Argo by Lauren Simon

The Circle K zoom meeting is about to begin, and you can hear Sarah Harvey cheerfully greeting the members as they enter the online meeting room. She bears a big,  pearly white smile as she speaks. Harvey wears long and wavy brown hair. Her brown eyes gaze through her dark-framed glasses as she reads off the meeting agenda. In the background, a navy blue Circle K banner proudly hangs in the club’s office on campus. This is where Harvey works diligently to complete the missions of the club and serve the Stockton student community.  

“Being in Circle K has helped a lot with confidence,” Harvey said. 

Harvey reminisced on how she became involved with Key Club in high school. She said that this all began with a “Get Involved” Fair during her freshman year of  high school. She recalled her first community service experiences in eighth grade. At the school where her mother works, she was involved in creating a garden at a veteran’s park. 

From Key Club president in high school to Circle K president at college, Harvey has demonstrated her leadership skills throughout her school career. The Distinguished Club Secretary Award she has won recently is a new milestone in her leadership journey.

As a political science major, Harvey envisions her future career possibly working with a human rights organization or becoming an international lawyer. 

As the President of Circle K, Harvey keeps good working relationships with the other leaders of  the club. And in return, she has won their respect.  

“Sarah is really a solid person…someone you can count on,” said Julia Thompson, Vice President of Circle K and close friend of Harvey. “She has good vibes.” Thompson said Harvey’s fine sense of humor adds to her charismatic leadership style.  

Busy as she is, Harvey’s mind is always full of the club’s future service projects. She spoke about collaboration plans with the JAG Career Association to turn at-risk high school students into young leaders. Projects that improve the online club environment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic are also in progress. 

As a student leader, Harvey leads by example and has developed pro-active strategies to help the  club members adapt to the loss of connectivity imposed to prevent the virus spreading. She kept the club’s “Happy Thoughts” ritual alive online with her idea of using the website Mentimeter, where members could type and share their thoughts and emotions. Service-A-Thon is the first  large-scale project she and Thompson ran together online this semester. She and Thompson learned from this experience how they could improve advertising techniques for greater student  involvement. 

Harvey’s favorite community service projects include interacting and playing Blackjack with the  residents of Spring Village nursing home and working with the Special Olympics. She enjoyed  connecting with the Stockton community during the MLK Day of Service as well. 

Harvey encourages her fellow students to follow their passion for becoming community service  leaders.  

“Be confident in yourself,” she said, offering advice to the upcoming generations of student leaders.