When Whitney Gaut and Brooke Fuller met in sixth grade, the two quickly got a taste of what was to come in their friendship.

“We had every single class together. I sat behind her in every class,” Fuller said. “We just kind of became best friends over the years.”

Gaut had a slightly different perspective, though.

“I was like, ‘This person is following me,’” she said, laughing.

Now the two, seniors at Shelby County High School, are looking back on seven years of friendship and hard work contributed to the community.

The two are leaders of their school’s Key Club, serving as co-presidents in 10th grade. While the two have distinctly different personalities, they’ve found a way to work together for the greater good, Fuller said.

“Because of our different working styles, we’ve always worked well together,” Fuller said. “I’m really good at talking in front of people and leading, and Whitney’s really good at the details.”

The two worked to rejuvenate their Key Club, increasing membership from seven people, several of which were graduating, to 20. They also came up with many more service projects, including helping teachers set up classrooms, helping the Kiwanis club with the Shelby County Fair, making Thanksgiving meals for needy families and adopting families for Christmas, among other projects.

“It’s really sad because most people these days don’t get involved with community service, and it helps you to become a better person,” Gaut said.

The two, who are heading to different colleges in the fall — Gaut to Jacksonville State University and Fuller to the University of Montevallo — said it will be bittersweet to leave each other, but they plan to get back together monthly.

Both said having the other, along with a small group of close friends, made all the difference when traveling the pitfalls of high school.

“I don’t think we could have done half the things we’ve done in Key Club without each other,” Fuller said.