December 2014 Newsletter

Burleson High School Character Building Leadership Caring Inclusiveness December 2014

Texas-Oklahoma District Division 1S

Volume 2 Issue 7

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In this issue Letters to the club Page 2 Key Notes Page 3 Review of Key Club Week Page 4-5 Miracle Minute Recap Pages 6 Canned Food Scavenger Hunt Page 7 DCON Announcement Page 8 Christmas Party Page 9 Magic Show, Notes of Appreciation, Special Announcement, & Contact Information Page 10

A letter from the Editor To the Burleson Key Clubbers,

This is my first year as Editor, but I have been involved in Key Club for three years now. I have seen my club grow stronger and stronger with the current officers, and our devoted members. I do believe that we have a lot to be excited and thankful for because of our strong club. We definitely could not be where we are in now if it were not for the lovely officers and our amazing members. We as officers would not be as successful if it were not for the members. With that said I want to thank all of our members for their dedication to this club. This year we have had some awesome events that have left an impression on those who we have helped, and there are many more to come. The club is growing in more ways than helping others. We have developed our planning and attendance skills. The amount of members we have now may seem small in comparison to other schools BUT our members have the same (or greater) amount of dedication as any other club. We as the Burleson High School Key Club have improved in the three years that I have been here and will continue to show others just what this club is about. ~Alie Shipman~

A letter from the Advisor To the BHS Key Club, There is an important question every member is asked at least once during the year. What is key club? This is a question every future member asks. It is a question many in the community ask. What everyone comes to learn is the routine answer to that question, “It is a community service organization.” Is that all? Is that the sentence that defines the Burleson High School key club?

Is this the definition we want for our club? Last year, and the year before that, key club was a small, invisible part of this high school. However, can that still be said now? This year we have raised $800 for the Eliminate Project; raised over 300 cans of food for charity; assisted in cleaning Burleson; spread the word at Founder’s Day; handed out candy at Burleson’s Boo Bash; celebrated a wonderful key club week; and, amazingly, made top 25 in the TexasOklahoma district for the second quarter. The definition is already changing.

The club is no longer just a community service organization. It’s a fire that is sparking back to life. Way to go key club! Don’t let up. Don’t give up. Keep spreading the word and making key club more than a club. Make it a home. ~Mrs. Hughes~

Thanksgiving riddle: What kind of KEY won’t open any doors?

A TurKEY 2

Key Notes Board Meeting 4:20 p.m.

Rm. 237

Breakfast with Santa @ BRiCk 6-11 a.m.

Club Meeting 8:10 a.m.

Lecture Hall

**Possible Toy Drive for Cook’s Children’s Hospital

Board Meeting 4:20 p.m.

Rm. 237

Christmas Party 4:20 p.m.

Rm. 237

Club Meeting 8:10 a.m.

Lecture Hall

Kiwanis DCM Eat at 6 p.m.

Meet at 7p.m. @ Dixie House Cafe

Joint Club/ Adopted Board Meeting Grandparent 8:10 a.m.

Gift Delivery Night Lecture Hall 6 p.m.

Beautiful Feet Hay Ride Time: TBA

**A Place for Grace gift wrapping **Toy Delivery to Cook’s Christmas at Unity Park

**Bake Sale Fundraiser

Happy Holidays ** Indicates a tentative event

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Call Me Crazy

By: Vanessa Castaneda

You can think what you want, but if you ask me Key Club week is one of the best weeks out of the whole year.

However, this year Key Club week (at least at my school) was exceptionally great. We twinned in our Key Club shirts, we had lots of visitors at our Key Club meeting (many who took home membership packets), we had a K-Family social where we ate pie and ice cream and that was also wonderful, but you want to know what my favorite thing about Key Club week was? My favorite day was Tuesday: Kudos to the Key Players.

Now you’re probably wondering why in the world that was my favorite day; I mean I’ll admit it does sound crazy to have liked the day where we thanked people more than pie and ice cream. Call me crazy, but Tuesday was my favorite. What my club decided to do was write sticky notes of appreciation to all of the important people in our lives, especially within our school. So at the board meeting on Monday the officers divided up the counselors, secretaries, and principals amongst ourselves to make sure they all got a note from the Key Club and then after that it was up to us to decide who else to write notes to.

At the board meeting our advisor told us that we could come get sticky notes from her if we needed some. So as I was thinking about who else I wanted to write a note to I decided she definitely needed to be one of those people, but I didn’t want to be awkward and just hand it to her. I had to be sneaky, so I got a sticky note from my stash of sticky notes and wrote a note of thanks to her. I told her how even though she doesn’t think she does a lot for our club, she really does. She does all of the little things that a lot of times people don’t notice (but I do) and so she thinks they aren’t significant. I told her it’s all the little things that add up to the big picture and I highly doubt that we could be in the Top 25 clubs without her leadership. So after writing the note, I went into her room acting like I didn’t have any sticky notes and I asked her for some so I could deliver to my assigned persons. While I was in there, I stuck my sticky note for her onto her Key Club binder without her noticing. I figured she would find it eventually, especially since our meeting was the next day. So I took her sticky notes and actually did end up using them even though I had my own because I didn’t want them to go to waste.

Then I began writing my assigned notes. I was in charge of Kappa House- which is my house office- as well as the main principal and his secretary. So I wrote notes to my counselor, her secretary, my assistant principal, the principal, and his secretary. I made sure they all knew that they were loved and appreciated by our Key Club. I thanked our wonderful new principal for being so supportive of our Key Club, and I thanked his secretary for everything she does and I told her she was the real MVP...I hope she understood what that meant, haha. Then I went to deliver them. I think I just got lucky, but somehow I managed to deliver all of the notes in secret. For some reason or another the person was not at their desk or just happened to be looking away as I delivered the notes which was nice because I really didn’t want to get the credit. I put “<3 the BHS Key Club” on every note because I wanted the credit to go to our club to help build a good reputation for us; I really didn’t want any praise so it was amazing being able to deliver all of the notes without being seen.

After that I kept thinking about who else to write notes to because I was really getting into it. At first the whole writing notes to people sounded like a chore. but then it became really fun. It really made me thankful for all of the staff at our school; they’re all so wonderful and helpful and supportive of our Key Club, and it’s just amazing. As I was thinking, I realized I obviously needed to thank our other Key Club advisor whose sole purpose is to help with the newsletter. She is also the Yearbook sponsor and I’m also in Yearbook so we’re pretty close. So I wrote her a note. She’s always at the school incredibly late working on Yearbook stuff and helping us with the newsletter so I couldn’t leave her out.

I really can’t exactly explain to you why this day was so special to me but it was. It was just one of those Key Club moments where you feel like you’re really making a difference in someone’s life. Both of our Key Club advisors got my notes and thanked me. I didn’t even put my name on one of them, but she still knew it was me. Our main advisor, Mrs. Hughes, told us that a few of the officers wrote her notes and she cried when she read them. That just really warmed my heart and made me glad I remembered her. I even received a note from a member that was really sweet.

If you didn’t participate in this day or just didn’t experience the same feeling I did, I can’t really explain it. All I can say is that I wish we did this more often. Maybe a once a month thing that our Key Club did. I think that would be cool. I just know how much I love to feel appreciated and it felt good knowing that I helped someone else experience that feeling too.

As Mary Kay Ash once said “Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, ‘Make me feel important,’” for me Tuesday of Key Club week was the perfect opportunity to do exactly that- Make people feel important.

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Key Club Week at Burleson High School

Kiwanis and Cobbler

The Kiwanis and Key Club get together for a social

On November 6, Burleson High School Key Club got together with their sponsoring Kiwanis club for K-Family Day. This social was held at a local park in Burleson. The Kiwanis agreed to provide cobbler for everyone, and the Key Clubbers supplied the ice cream. The weather forecast had shown a cold front was to be expected. This was no big deal for the Key Clubbers.

They decided to rise to the occasion and just serve hot chocolate to keep everyone warm.

The Kiwanis brought two kinds of cobbler: apple and peach. There was plenty of food to go around for everyone, even enough to have second helpings. The Key Club board had planned ahead of who was to bring what serving utensils. With this said, there was somehow a miscommunication between the Key Clubbers and Kiwanians, and the serving utensils were not brought. Never fear though, the wonderful Kiwanis member Bernice Williams brought her personal spoons from her home. This was a great time of fellowship for the K-Family.

Member Naomi Mitchell drinks hot chocolate to warm up.

Key Club members and Kiwanians wait to be served their treats.

Member Payton Hudak enjoying her cobbler and ice cream.

Key Club member Payton Kinsey serving the cobbler and ice cream.

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Change for a Cause Key Clubbers collect change for the ELIMINATE project Baseball boys running up the stands, students digging in their backpacks for lose change, sixty seconds on a clock ticking away. These are just some of the thrills that come with each miracle minute. During the pep rallies that the Burleson High School has had during the 2014-2015 school year there has been a full minute dedicated to collecting as much change as possible. The Burleson Key Club has used this change collected, during these few minutes, as donations to the ELIMINATE project. The goal for the ELIMINATE project is to completely rid the world of neonatal and maternal tetanus.

The K-Family goal is to raise $100 million before the end of 2015. The Burleson High School Key Club is committed to helping achieve this goal. On September 26 the Key Clubbers only raised $36.00. This was the first miracle minute of the year. With each pep rally the donations just seemed to climb higher and higher. The largest amount that the Key Clubbers raised in one minute was from the October 10 Miracle Minute, where they raised over $200.00. All in all, the Burleson High School Key Club has been able to collect a little over $500.00 from all of the Miracle Minutes. This is fantastic for only five minutes of time.

Cheerleader, Jamie Jordan, holds up the ELIMINATE poster at one of the pep rallies.

Editor Alie Shipman and President Taylor Jeffery explain the October 17 Miracle Minute.

One of the baseball boys looks for donations .

For more information on the ELIMINATE project, use this QR code.

Treasurer Nithure Rema explains the October 24 Miracle Minute.

One of the baseball boys holds out the Miracle Minute bucket for the donation.

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Hunt to Help!

Key Club members collect canned goods for the local community On November 8, the Burleson High School Key Club had a canned food scavenger hunt. The goal was to collect as many non-perishable food items, as well as toiletries, as possible. Key Club members gathered at the high school before going to different neighborhoods. The members split up into groups of two-four people each, so that there were four groups total. They split up and walked around the neighborhoods of Burleson for three hours that Saturday afternoon, knocking on door after door, asking for canned food. Each member was asked to bring something to carry their cans in. Many had bags and backpacks, a couple of Key Clubbers had suitcases, and one group even had a wagon. Member Vanessa Castañeda says “yeah one lady almost told me to go away because she thought I was selling something because I had a suitcase, but I told her ‘wait I’m really not selling anything’ and she ended up donating like four cans which was nice.”

All afternoon Burleson residents answered the knocking at their doors only to find the Burleson High School Key Clubbers there asking for donations.

The Key Clubbers were collecting the canned goods for the local food pantry ‘Promises food pantry,’ so many people were happy to donate knowing that it was benefiting their local community.

When the suitcases and bags were filled and the Key Clubbers ran out of places to hold their cans, they met back up at the high school. The groups were given a piece of paper to document the amount of cans that was collected. Depending on what type of food it was, the group received a different amount of points. For instance: Peanut butter was worth more than double the amount of points that canned peas were worth. In the end it wasn’t about who won, it was the fact that the Key Club was able to collect over five hundred non-perishable food items in just three short hours with just over ten key clubbers. That only goes to show that it only takes a few people willing to give up a few hours to make a big difference for a community.

Key Club members put away the cans that they collected from donations.

Key Club members talk to the house resident about their mission for canned goods.

Key Club members stash away their cans after leaving a house.

President Taylor Jeffery and Vice President Anisa Vidic count their cans.

Members wait patiently for the house owner to answer the door.

Nithure Rema and Gabriela Samaoya keep track of their cans.

Key Club members count their cans after returning to the high school.

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Get Excited! DCON 2015 is almost here! Mark your calendars for April 9-12, 2015

What is DCON? DCON is short for District Convention. District Convention is an annual Key Club convention where the district- Texas and Oklahoma- gathers for a weekend of fun, fellowship, and learning. For this conference, Key Clubbers from all over Texas and Oklahoma gather in Dallas, Texas and stay in the Sheraton Hotel for the weekend. In addition to getting to stay in this gorgeous hotel, the Key Clubbers gather together for forums where they share different ideas on how to improve their clubs as well as themselves as people or as Key Club officers. Last year a few forums included Stress Management, Being a Servant Leader, and Key Club 101 just to name a few. These forums give the Key Clubbers a chance to share what they did well in their own clubs as well as improvements they plan on making. Key Clubbers attending DCON have the privilege of hearing an amazing motivational speaker to excite them about the new Key Club year. DCON is the place where the district board for the 2015-2016 school year will be elected. DCON is especially great for upcoming officers, but DCON can be beneficial for any member who aspires to one day become an officer or just become a better leader in their home, school, and community.

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Key Club Christmas Party

What? A Key Club Christmas party complete with food, fun, and games. Each attendee is only asked to bring a gift (valued at $5-$10) to participate in a White Elephant gift exchange Where? Room 237 (Mrs. Hughesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Classroom) When? December 15th after school beginning at 4:20 p.m.

Why? It will be loads of fun, and it is a great opportunity to get a last minute Key Club point if you are lacking in that area.

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Magnificent Magician Burleson Kiwanis club host a fundraiser

The Burleson Kiwanis hosted its annual magic show on November 1. The magic show is a major fundraiser for the Burleson Kiwanis Club. This money is used to help cover the cost of service projects as well as various events for the clubs they sponsor.

The show was held in the BHS auditorium with over a hundred attendees. Many enjoyed the truly magnificent magician and his awesome tricks.

Secretary Skyelar Armstrong said, “I’ve seen this show twice now and it’s still very interesting. I can’t wait for next year!”

The magician demonstrates the trick where he spins his head like a robot.

To those who supplied food at the K-Family social!

Thank you to the KIwanis for supplying the pies for our social.

To those who provided rides for the Scavenger Hunt!

The magician demonstrating one of his many tricks with his lovely volunteer from the crowd.

Kiwanis member helps by holding open the door as the crowd gathers into the auditorium.

Congratulations to the November Member of the Month: Naomi Mitchell

Thank you to those of you who dropped off the groups at their designated areas and picking them back up.

To the baseball team

Thank you to the baseball boys for running around at the pep rally collecting money for our Miracle Minute.

To the cheerleaders

Thank you to the cheerleaders for holding the Miracle Minute signs at the pep rallies.

Club, Divisional, and District Contact Information Taylor Jeffery President bhskeypresident@gmail.com

Nithure Rema Treasurer bhskeytreasurer@gmail.com

Payton Kinsey Webmaster bhskeywebmaster@gmail.com

Samuel Kinnin District Secretary secretary@tokeyclub.com

Anisa Vidic Vice President bhskeyvicepresident@gmail.com

Alie Shipman Editor bhskeyeditor@gmail.com

An Bui Division 1S Lieutenant Governor ltg1south@gmail.com

Colin Gonzalez District Treasurer treasurer@tokeyclub.com

Skyelar Armstrong Secretary bhskeysecretary@gmail.com

Vanessa Castañeda Historian bhskeyhistorian@gmail.com

Kaitlyn Wilson District Governor governor@tokeyclub.com

Emily Zhao District Editor editor@tokeyclub.com

Would you like to have an article or picture of yours featured in next month’s newsletter? Email your ideas to Alie, Nithure, or Vanessa by November 12th

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