NATCHEZ &045; The tour guides giving information to prospective students and parents at Cathedral Elementary School were professional volunteers.

Ninth- through 12th-grade Key Club members volunteered to stick around after school hours Wednesday to entice the visitors to enroll in their school.

&uot;It’s good curriculum, good people and good teachers,&uot; tour guide Jessica Best said.

Best, a 10th-grader, is one of about 60 Key Club members at the school. Many of the members were hard at work during the open house.

Key Club President Mary Kate Byrne and Secretary Elana Malone were manning the club’s display in the multipurpose room, waiting to share information about their volunteer work with parents.

In addition to volunteering at school events like the one Wednesday, the club members have raised money for St. Jude Children’s Home, Unicef and cystic fibrosis and worked with the Natchez Children’s Home.

The club is currently raising money for tsunami relief and Relay for Life.

The members prepared a board displaying their activities in the last year.

&uot;We wanted to let people know what we do,&uot; Malone said.

Membership is open to any high school student and is not based on grades.

&uot;The greatest things about this school, is it is like a family,&uot; Byrne said. &uot;You know everybody and it’s really close knit.&uot;

The preparations for open house began early in the day on the elementary wings. Mildred Dauphin’s third-graders had their artwork on display in the hallway by lunchtime and several students worked to display their classroom materials for prospective students to see.

&uot;There are great teachers here,&uot; third-grader Gabrien Panteria said. &uot;And fund things to do.&uot;

The open house is part of annual Catholic Schools Week, which will last until Friday.