Student Spotlight: Streator High's Shannon Paton has a skill for bringing people together

When Shannon Paton became president of the Streator High School Key Club, it had six active members.

"My main goal was to increase membership," she said.

She knew if she could get word out about what Key Club was about — the projects and how they helped people — she could get more students interested.

She designed promotional posters to hang around the school, she set up a Facebook page, posted on Twitter and Snapchat — anywhere students went, she got word out.

During her senior year, the club had as many as 60 people join, with 30 active members.

"Five people wasn't enough to make a big impact," Shannon said. "Now with 30 members, we have the numbers to do plenty of projects."

And the Key Club stays busy, from organizing a homeless sleep-out event to raise money for the Public Action to Deliver Shelter in Ottawa, to volunteering at the Central Church of Christ's Night to Shine prom for special needs students and helping with Christmas shopping for children during Shop with a Cop, among many other activities.

"The main reason I do what I do is to help people grow," Shannon said. "It helps me grow."

Reviving the Key Club from relative inactivity to a bustling service organization gave her confidence.

"I'm proud of myself," she said. "I'm proud of all the people coming to the meetings."

Shannon has a love for organizing events.

She took the lead in coordinating the district convention in Iowa with more than 700 attendees. She started working on putting together the event beginning last January that was scheduled to happen March 12, until it was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The convention serves as recap for the past year. It's an event where Key Club members recite accomplishments and receive awards.

"I like organizing events where people can get involved," Shannon said. "When people show up, it's rewarding to see them come and enjoy the event after you put all that hard work in, and get a good outcome. It's a great feeling, with a big payoff."

While the district convention is a big established event, Shannon said she had the most fun putting together Streator High School's first annual Sweetheart Dance.

The dance, which had a DJ, was scheduled in February and proceeds benefited St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. More than 100 students bought tickets.

"It was a good way for club members to volunteer, either by setting up the dance or selling tickets," she said. "It was very rewarding at the end."

Shannon hopes the dance will be an annual activity for students and a fundraiser for St. Jude.

Her knack for bringing people together led her to become the school's social media coordinator through the work program.

She attends sporting events, club events, foods classes, and several other activities around the school, getting photographs and posting messages on the school's social media sites.

"A big part of my job is to spread all the positive things our school has to offer," Shannon said.

The job is fitting, because she wants to work in public relations after graduating college and possibly help set up a nonprofit organization.

She's verbally committed to play soccer for Lincoln College. On top of Key Club, she's in Spanish Club, S-Club and Superfans Club, among others.

She joined Key Club her freshman year following in her sister's footsteps. Her sophomore year, she decided she wanted to be more active in it, so she joined the district board and served as lieutenant governor for the district, overseeing Streator, Ottawa, Marquette, La Salle-Peru and Woodland key clubs.

Her participation in Key Club has helped her grow as a leader, she said.

"Being involved has helped shape who I am today," she said.