On a red cotton tee, a lion roars, mouth opened wide, the golden letters “L E O” printed beside it. A handful of students wear the emblem on their shirts, as proud as the animal emblazoned on it.

Leo Club stands for leadership, experience and opportunity.

“Leo Club is the youth version of the Lions Club,” sponsor Ellen Ward said. “It’s an international club focused on leadership, service, giving students who are usually in high school but can be up to their mid-20s opportunities to give back to their communities. Also, hopefully, to eventually become a Lions member.”

The club focuses on volunteer work benefiting the community. Recent projects include gift wrapping and picking up trash on a highway adopted by the club.

“This year so far, we have helped plant trees in Conner Park here in town,” Ward said. “We have done an appreciation project for the non-teaching staff. We have gone to United Way. Pretty soon, we will be doing a fundraiser to benefit the Maverick Boys and Girls Club of Amarillo.”

Junior and Leo Club vice president Brooke McKinney said the club is planning a Valentine’s Day project.

“We are going to set up the teachers’ lounge area for staff,” McKinney said. “We’re going to have drinks, candy and stuff like that in there.”

While Leo Club officers are voted into their positions, Ward said many of the responsibilities are shared among the members.

“We have our class reps, and their job is to keep freshman, sophomores and juniors plugged in,” Ward said. “President runs the meetings, vice president takes on that role if they’re gone, secretary files reports. We also have a social media representative who puts stuff out if we have something going on and a historian who is making a scrapbook.”

From the 28 people on the roster for Leo Club, junior Rebekah Higgins was chosen as president.

“My favorite part is the people and the projects,” Higgins said. “The projects are a lot of fun because you get to help people and interact with them. You interact with the leaders and the community.”