THE DIGITAL DRAGON
HSMSE Key Club
January 2019 Vol 2 Issue 6
I pledge...
on my honor, to uphold the objects of Key Club International; to build my home, school, and community; to serve my nation and God; and combat all forces which tend to undermine these institutions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction
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Board & Committees
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Club Information
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Announcements
10
Events
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Contact Us
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Hey Key Club!
EDITOR'S MESSAGE
How do you feel... about the new year? A whole new year means a whole new year of service! As other people make New Year's Resolutions, our club is also striving to make this year better than the last. And with the new year comes major changes. Speaking of changes: elections! Congrats to Kiln Chen from our very own HSMSE for winning the LTG Election! Congrats to everyone else that ran too, and good luck to those running for club elections (which is coming up very soon)! As the service year comes to a close, our club is doing a lot of planning for LTC. We've already decided who's going to LTC, but work needs to be done still for holding more fundraisers to lower the cost, finish up the scrapbook, and work on awards. It might seem like a lot of work, but the pay-off will be worth it! Here's to another great month of service, Angelo Lontok
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BOARD MEMBERS
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William Leung President
Linna Cheung Vice President
Mengfan Wang Secretary
Julie Li Treasurer
Angelo Lontok Editor
Kiln Chen Webmaster
COMMITTEE HEADS Aaron Das Events
Mia Akhter Visual Arts
Aiko Gerra Events Luis Pagan Events Karen Wu Events
Hassaan Qaiser Visual Arts
Laura Song Visual Arts 5
how does key club work?
Key Club functions like an inverted pyramid, so those in higher positions (such as the members of the International board) work to serve those in lower positions (such as members)!
CLUB
DISTRICT
Each Key Club is hosted at a different high school. As you know, this one's hosted by HSMSE. Meetings are held every other Tuesday in room 103. Stay tuned for updates in the morning announcements!
The 29 divisions of New York make up New York District Key Club. Each Key Club district is led by a governor and has its own executive board. The governor for the New York district is Erica Swirsky. All the clubs in the district meet up once a year in March at the Leadership Training Conference (LTC) in Albany.
DIVISION The different Key Clubs throughout Manhattan and the Bronx form Division 11. Each division is lead by a Lieutenant Governor and has its own executive board. The LTG for this division is Mara Yella. All the clubs in the division meet up about once a month at a divisional, which is held at a different school each time.
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INTERNATIONAL All the Key Clubs around the world span five different continents and form Key Club International. It is led by International President Emily Rice. Key Club international meets up annually at the International Convention (ICON).
club goals Service gOAL
1,500 HOURS
FUNDS gOAL
$1,000
SERVICE BEST BUDDIES PROJECT INTERNATIONAL 7
how can our club help you?
Points are given for your work. You can get points doing things like going to meetings, divisionals, and events, helping out in committees, and more. Every 10 points counts as 1 hour of volunteering. HSMSE requires 200 hours of community service — that's 2000 points! Information on our points system can be found on our website. Key Club is more than just hours, though. Our core values are caring, leadership, inclusiveness, and character building, and being a part of our club will definitely help you grow with these!
how can you help our club?
There's lots of opportunities to move up and do more for our club! Even new members can do things like being project leader for events, joining committees, and or even be a committee head or run for board!
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Project leaders are responsible for taking attendance, taking pictures, and writing a scrapbook caption and a newsletter article. There's two committees. Events works to find volunteering events, plan fundraisers, and promote events and fundraisers on Facebook. Visual Arts makes posters to promote our fundraisers and work on our annual scrapbook for LTC. And helping the club helps you too; project leaders and committee heads get extra hours!
WHAT IS BEST BUDDIES INTERNATIONAL?
Every service year, our club chooses an organization to support, and for the 2018-2019 service year, we chose Best Buddies International! This nonprofit's goal is to help out those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
promotes both people with and without IDD to be advocates for those with IDD, helping reduce societal stigma and gain increased rights.
HOW WILL HSMSE KEY CLUB SUPPORT BEST BUDDIES? It's no secret that our club hosts many fundraisers! While some of them do go to costs of running the club, such as to pay for LTC and making the scrapbook for LTC, we will donate much of our proceeds to Best Buddies, supporting their cause financially.
HOW DOES BEST BUDDIES HELP OUT THOSE WITH IDD? This organization's 3 Program Pillars are One-to-One Friendships, Integrated Employment, and Leadership Development. Best Buddies creates mentorships and friendships for those with IDD, helping enjoy a better quality of life. In addition, Best Buddies also
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ANNOUNCEMENTS Elections for board positions will be CLUB held on February 12. Come and vote (if you've already paid dues!) The Visual Arts Committee is working hard on the hoodie designs. Stay updated for the final design and be sure to buy it for club spirit! Congratulations to the next LTG, DIVISION Kiln Chen! The third LTG in a row from HSMSE, her position starts in April. The February Divisional will held on February 12 at Hunter. Come to find information about LTC! Leadership Training Conference DISTRICT (LTC) will be held from March 29-31 at the Desmond Hotel in Albany. The cost to attend will be about $200. Here's to an awesome weekend! 10
PAST EVENTS
HIP2B HEALTHY MARKET 1.21
BOWERY MISSION SOUP KITCHEN 1.24
MULCHFEST 1.12
JANUARY DIVISIONAL 1.31
MULCHFEST This year's Mulchfest was a interesting and rewarding experience. Although it was freezing cold, I found that the work of myself and other Key Club members turned out to benefit the Fort Greene Conservatory in ways I hadn't expected. I found that this event was more personal to me, as I support environmental conservation wholeheartedly and enjoy seeing the
true nature within New York City. The event began on an unreasonably cold January morning. My friend Siddhaarta and I arrived at the visitors center within the Fort Greene Conservatory. Before the event had even taken place, I had been eager to explore more NYC parks, but I hadn't really, besides a few times during elementary school field trips. Once I'd started heading through the park, I found just how beautiful and vast they can be, despite their urban surrounding. I'd begun working with raking and collecting leaves, and already I saw the
great natural diversity within the park. Among others, I spotted a few people exercising, reading, relaxing and strolling through the park. What I soon realized I was doing was helping make this already free and welcoming environment even better by helping clean up and rejuvenate it. The rest of the event was just us cleaning and talking, although I was still reassured by the occasional passerby, being reminded that city people like me still seek out their local parks for activity. Later, we all gathered together as a key club to take our group photo, but also to access some of the free hot chocolate & cookies given to us by the organizers.
As I made my way back to the subway, I looked at all the progress we made. I'm grateful for our wonderful city parks, and what good volunteer organizations like Key Club can do to help them. Jack Lehman Freshman
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B 2 P HI H
H T L EA
Y
t e k r Ma
Although us volunteers helped to prepare food, this event was bigger than just juicing oranges or slicing fruits. It took place on Martin Luther King Jr. day, and served as a reminder that although we have come a long way, racial discrimination is still present not just against one ethnic group.
problem, we as humans have to stick together for each other.
It reminded the volunteers and the families that in order to combat thisÂ
The meals prepared by the volunteers were all healthy and contained no added sugar. These tasty but healthy meals and volunteers facilitating the physical activities encouraged young children to eat and stay healthy.
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Tahoor Arif Sophomore
bowery mission soup kitchen We arrived at the event around 5:30, one of the first events I've personally experienced starting in the evening. It was held in southern Manhattan, so it wasn't as far as some events can be. After getting our aprons on, we were either assigned to a specific food that we needed to give out to those who came, or to replenish food when someone ran low. When we started serving, people were constantly coming in. There was little time to rest, from serving each person who walked by, to asking the others to refill the food.
However, we still got to be surrounded by each other and joke about each other's roles, and how some had more popularity than others. At the end of the day, we swept the floors and cleaned out the bins and trays that had held the food. Overall, It felt satisfying to see so many people be grateful for what we were doing, and thanking us for our time. Ben Hatch Senior
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Helping people directly feels very different from other events to me, such as cleaning up an area of a park, because you can see the actual people you're helping and how happy they are. It gives a sense of accomplishment, and the idea that you truly are making someone else's day better. Ben Hatch Senior 16
january divisional Divisionals are a great way to show the spirit of Division 11. This one might have been held on a cold night in the Bronx, but about a hundred Key Clubbers from different schools were still willing come! And for good reason too: it was the last day to pay for windbreakers, and it was the day of the LTG Elections! I'm so proud of HSMSE. We might be a small club, but fourteen of us
managed to pull up to the Bronx, and one of our members (Kiln) won the election and will be the LTG for the next service year! But more importantly, I'm proud of all the Key Clubbers, from those who ran for LTG, to those who showed up to support the candidates, and to those who showed up for the fun of it! Division 11 is truly a group I can connect with, and I can't wait for the next divisional this February. Angelo Lontok Editor
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future events FEB 5 TUESDAY
Better Chinatown Firecracker Festival
Sara D. Roosevelt Park Chrystie St & Forsyth St New York, NY 10002 8 AM - 4 PM
February Divisional
FEB 12 TUESDAY
FEB 17 SUNDAY
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Hunter College High School 71 East 94th St New York, NY 10128 6 PM - 8 PM It's My Park @ Skyline Playground
Skyline Playground Clyde Pl & Prospect Ave Staten Island, NY 10301 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Find more info and sign up for these events on our website or on our Facebook group! Feeding the Homeless
FEB 24 SUNDAY
EVERY SATURDAY
EVERY WEEKEND
Awash Ethiopian Restaurant 338 East 6th Street New York, NY 10003 9 AM - 2 PM Meals on Heels at FAPC
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church 7 West 55th Street New York, NY 10019 9 AM - 1 PM Teaching Assistant at NYCS
New York Chinese School 62 Mott St #3FL New York, NY 10013 10 AM - 1 PM 2 PM - 5 PM
contact us Board Members William Leung 21isolic@gmail.com Linna Cheung lcheung1302@gmail.com Mengfan Wang mengfanwang724@gmail.com Julie Li julie.li3502224@gmail.com Angelo Lontok anelonto@gmail.com Kiln Chen kilnchen02@gmail.com Social Media Website: hsmsekeyclub.weebly.com Facebook Group: HSMSE Key Club Email: hsmsekc@gmail.com Remind: @msekc
Events Committee Aaron Das aaron.das1072@gmail.com Aiko Gerra alydiagerra@gmail.com Luis Pagan stemluis@gmail.com Karen Wu elizabethwu0514@gmail.com Visual Arts Committee Mia Akhter ztakhter-20@hsmse.org Hassaan Qaiser fashionsense1003@gmail.com Laura Song lauraws1234@gmail.com
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Thanks for reading!