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AUGUST 2012
table of contents
04 06 10 12 22 25
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10
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special messages service leadership fellowship sunny’s spotlights contact pledge of circle k international
I pledge to uphold the objects of Circle K International, to foster compassion and goodwill toward others through service and leadership, to develop my abilities and the abilities of all people, and to dedicate myself to the realization of mankind’s potential.
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calendar: august & september Sunday
Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
Saturday
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• Key to College @ DSSS
Kiwanis Convention District Summer Service Social 19
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26
27
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3
21
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28
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• Public Relations Committee Meeting
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• Club MRFs due!
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• FiFun Committee Meeting • Kiwanis Family Committee Meeting
• FiFun Committee Meeting • Kiwanis Family Committee Meeting
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• FiFun Committee Meeting • Kiwanis Family Committee Meeting
Disneyland Half-Marathon 7
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AUGUST 2012
from your d.gov
Hello Hello! Greetings to Sunny Cal-Nev-Ha!
WHY HELLO THERE!
Only a few months ago, we were celebrating our accomplishments of the 2011-2012 year in Woodland Hills, CA. It’s already August and our District definitely jumped into the new Circle K year head-on. With so many new accomplishments already, I’m excited to see what there is ahead for this District. Big thanks to all of you who attended Spring Training Conference North and South. Both events had record attendance and were amazingly executed by your STC Chairs, Ruben Ruiz and Stefanie Chow. I’m sure that you learned new tips and ideas that you can utilize to push your club forward for this 2012-2013 year. Implement all that you’ve learned! Thank you to everyone who played a key role in making STC possible: workshop hosts, event volunteers, advisors, and many more. Way to go Cal-Nev-Ha! At International Convention in New Orleans, Cal-Nev-Ha rocked the house all weekend with our spirit and energy. With representation from all three states, California-NevadaHawaii upheld the tenets of CKI by volunteering at the Large Scale Service Project, hosting workshops to members of other Districts, and enjoying Cajun cuisine while bonding with new friends. Huge congratulations to all of the clubs who applied and took home awards at the convention. Over 40 different awards and several clubs also took first place! However, we only had 11 clubs apply, so let’s work towards more clubs applying and more awards at next year’s ICON in Vancouver, Canada! Another congratulations to everyone who was chosen for a district committee. I’ve gotten a chance to sit in all of the committee meetings and the work that you’ve provided has been outstanding. It’s only been a few months since you were chosen and so much has been done already in every committee. Everyone in our district should be excited and prepared to witness what these committees have planned for this upcoming year. I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful summer with the sun treating you right, but I hope that you are taking this time to get active and take part in all of the service opportunities in your communities. If you’re not in the area of your home club, get a hold of a local Circle K club and see if they are doing anything this summer. Jump on board and see what they are offering for the summer. Service and meeting new friends at other schools? Sounds amazing to me! The District Board has been working hard to ensure that the members of CNH will have the best year ever. One of the ways that our board wants to provide to our members is to provide easy accessibility to all of the resources that the District provides. With our new resource center on the CNH Website, it does just that. The J-Cloud is an online database that contains all of the wonderful resources that our District has ever put forth. We hope this will serve you as a resource in finding whatever you may need for your clubs. For this upcoming year, there will be more ways that the District Board will serve you! Summer’s not over just yet as there still our District Summer Service Social in Santa Clara, August 16-19. With so much service, leadership, and fellowship in one weekend, this is an event that you don’t want to miss. I hope to see many members at these events because they will be unlike any other event that you’ve been to before. Check out the CNH website for the latest and greatest. Lastly, big props to your Publications Editor Jennifer Lai for putting together this amazing first issue of this year’s Sunburst! Send lots of love to Jennifer for a job well done! Till then! :] Jonathan Cao-Nguyen
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Editor's Notes Hello! As you may know, I’m Jennifer Lai, and I’m your District Publications Editor! It is my greatest pleasure to finally present to you the very first issue of the district newsletter, SUNBURST, of this 2012-2013 term! Hurray! I know many of you have been waiting for the SUNBURST to drop for quite some time now, so I duly apologize for not releasing it sooner! I had been abroad for a good month, so I was caught up in that frenzy. However, from the trip, I gained plenty of insight and inspiration to crop up what we have here. I’ll save those stories for another time though! I can only hope that this issue does not disappoint you! Thank YOU for being patient after all this time! I really could not have completed this inaugural issue without the help of your District Technology Chair and my co, Truong Pham! He’s actually the one who designed the beautiful cover, along with some of the ads in this issue! I would also like to thank my wonderful assistant, Corissa Chang, for being in charge of collecting various elements essential to creating this newsletter. I also want to make a shout-out to my dear Public Relations Committee, as they’re always PaRtying it up ‘cause that’s how we roll! Much love to District board as well, for providing help and support whenever needed. Y’all are the best! Love you guys! And of course, thank you to all the writers, authors, and everyone in between who contributed to this marvelous first issue. It really could not have been possible had it not been for all of you guys! I’m merely the one putting it all together for you. Since being appointed, my goal has been to create a newsletter for the members, by the members. The SUNBURST is all about YOU. So feel special! If you have any comments, concerns, questions, etc., please do not hesistate to let me know! You can email me at editor@ cnhcirclek.org, and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If you’d like to put anything to the SUNBURST, please keep a lookout for a Dropbox Submission Link soon! Oh! And if you’re not on the Member Bi-Monthly Mailing List, sign up! And with that, I bid you farewell - Just for the time being! Expect the next issue of the SUNBURST to drop in the Fall! See y’all later! :) Jennifer Lai
Regional Advisors' Contact Division
Name
Capital
Dan Germain
dan.germain@yahoo.com
Central Coast
Patrick Ballecer
patrickcki@gmail.com
Desert Oasis
Linda Marx
lmpgh54@yahoo.com
Foothill
Jack Luther
jlexlu32@gmail.com
Golden Gate
Phuoc Khong
advisor.phuoc@gmail.com
Magic Kingdom
Armando Velazquez
mondo80@gmail.com
Metro
Tom Ramirez
tramireztom@aol.com
Paradise
Boyd Sauter
boydsauter@hotmail.com
Sunset
Phuoc Khong
advisor.phuoc@gmail.com
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AUGUST 2012
service Jenny Cheung Pierce College Relay For Life, an event sponsored by American Cancer Society, is dedicated to help raise funds towards cancer research as well as commemorating those who have lost a loved one to cancer, survived cancer, has cancer, or knows someone in that situation. It was truly an amazing event for our members and our board. We had all levels of our local K-Fam participate in the event and really helped us learn and grow. For the majority of the event, our club held a bake sale and participated in a lot of club bonding activities with El Camino Real High School Key Club, our Kiwanis, and
Relay for Life CSUN Circle K members. We played lots of games, did icebreakers, even had an epic water balloon fight pitting one team against the other to much of our amusement. It was fun getting to know everyone not just as members, but as just as people on a deeper level. During the luminary ceremony, a slideshow was shown, and people gave stories and shared their experiences on how cancer had affected their lives. We were then asked to walk a lap around the track in silence and look at the names represented on the side of the track. The lap was very emotional as it hit a lot of our
members very hard. After the lap, we all huddled together and talked about our experiences and gave each other a shoulder to cry on. After all of this we knew we were all family and knew we were all here for one another. Through all the tears and hugs, we broke into a large game of capture and flag and ended the night talking and sharing stories. The event was a huge success as it was a club changing event. This event brought us closer than ever and will continue to strive through the coming months not as a club, but as a family.
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Stephanie Yu UC Berkeley
Watch that Sweet Tooth! Ace of Cakes... Cal Edition The sweet aroma of sugar and baked goods filled the room as UCB Circle K members gathered together on March 17th in preparation for the annual Ace of Cakes event. UC Berkeley’s Ace of Cakes, similar to the Food Network’s “Ace of Cakes” invited clubs across campus to compete in a cake-baking competition to advertise their clubs. Although the event itself was free, registration fees were collected from participating clubs and attendees paid $5 to place five votes as well as enjoy the dessert buffet, cupcake-decorating competition, and cookie jar guessing game. All money raised through voting was donated to our three District Fundraising Initiatives (DFIs). On the day of the event, Circle K’ers gathered two hours prior to the event in order to prepare the room. Cookies, cakes, and other goods baked by wonderful Circle K’ers, were laid upon the table for the dessert buffet, greeting attendees as they walked in. FeelGood, World Literacy Project, Dance Marathon, and Red Cross arrived to join the festivities, bringing cakes featuring their causes and themes. Activities at the event includ-
ed cupcake decorating competition, a cookie jar guessing game, and a cookie puzzle. Winners of the cupcake decorating competition and cookie jar guessing game won the entire Circle K cake and a Yogurtland gift card, respectively. Furthermore, Ace of Cakes was honored to have three amazing performances: Joe Mak, our very own JC Alhambra, and Theatre Rice. Mak sang covers and original songs, crooning to the music of his guitar, while Alhambra, an outstanding Circle K member, sang covers to the rhythm of his ukulele. Theatre Rice gave a hilarious performance, leaving members of the audience laughing until they cried. The event finally culminated with voting and the announcement of the winners with FeelGood placing first for the second year in a row, Dance Marathon second, and World Literacy Project in third place. Through Ace of Cakes, Circle K raised money, both for our DFIs and the causes of other clubs. From combating aids, to feeding the hungry, to building schools in third-world countries, Ace of Cakes accomplished this all in a single night.
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AUGUST 2012
service Angela Ngo UC San Diego It started out as just a regular day on Tumblr, searching through posts. Scroll, scroll, scroll, then OH, what is this? The Color Run?! A 5k where people run and get paint thrown on them? AND in Irvine, home of the infamous 85C Bakery? Instantly, I knew that this was an event that UCSD Circle K could not pass up and I talked to VPS Kevin Wong about volunteering. Since the event took place in Irvine, we had to meet up at Sun God Lawn extra early to account for transportation time. With everyone wired on about 4-5 hours of sleep, it seemed like we wouldn’t be able to match up to the energy that the event entailed, but as soon as we arrived, our lost enthusiasm reemerged. The event site was filled with booths and hordes of runners sporting their white tees and other various costume pieces such as tutus and afros, ready to have arrays of colors thrown on them. There was even a balloon arch! We were sent over to a station to put stickers onto
Run for your Life! the bags of sunshine yellow and hot pink powder paint for the end-ofthe-race color festival and of course, we positioned ourselves into an assembly line in the most sophisticated sweatshop-like manner. As the race was coming to an end, the volunteers were moved to the finish line to high five the runners with shirts now marked by explosions of color and hands sweaty with vibrant victory. Each runner was equipped with a handy dandy bag of powder paint so that at the color festival, they could throw the paint into the air to create a mass cloud of blended shades. Volunteers ran in to join the crowd and we came out with newly dyed hair colors and paint splattered clothes. The lively atmosphere and incorporation of paint added into making this one of the most enjoyable events I have attended. Next year, Lilian, Celia, and I plan to run, complete with afros and tutus, and anyone else who is willing should definitely join!
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The volunteers were moved to the finish line to high five the runners with shirts now marked by explosions of color and hands sweaty with vibrant victory. . .
A Glimpse at Why You Should Pay Your Membership Dues The moment you pay your membership dues will change your life forever. You’re opening the ultimate door of opportunity...
• • • • • • • • •
Campus and Community Service CKI Magazine Club Mailings Education, Membership Recruitment, Public Relations, Promotion, and Training Information Experienced Counseling Friendship Leadership Development Member Handbook Professional Development
Sac State at Pops in the Park Vinh Ke Ton Sacramento State Delicious foods. Warm, almost blistering weather. Very little breeze. Yep! It sure is summer! But that doesn’t stop the people of Sacramento from enjoying their days at one of of the four days of Pops in the Park music festivals! Pops in the Park headlines each Saturday of June. There are various vendors and live bands playing, who wouldn’t want to kick back at their local park? This week’s festival was held at East Portal Park near Sacramento State. The weather was sweatinducing, but smoothies served by Florin High School Key Club did work when it came to cooling down the attendees.
Customers lined the tables at the Henna and Face Painting booth operated by Sacramento State Circle K International. Many customers left with large grins as Sac State Circle K body artists transformed them from regular Sacramentans into cuddly pandas and beastly tigers with floral henna designs wrapped around their wrists and ankles. Sacramento is the place where “It’s Pops!” is the only justification ever needed to convince someone to have a blast and chill with the rest of the community on a Saturday, and no scorching summer is ever going to change that!
Kiwanis One Day: UC Davis Helps Out at March of Dimes Nhi Tran UC Davis
The members at UC Davis Circle K started the morning with a Nutella sandwich in one hand and the directions for Pena Adobe Park in the other. For most of us it would be the first time we would be participating in the March of Dimes, an event that promotes the education of childcare to mothers and research the health threats for babies. Once we got on-site everyone started right away with helping set up. The members dispersed and started working of different tasks such as unloading the trucks, working on the balloon arc, helping out with the food station and helping out with registration. Members for Division 8 Key Club were present along with Vaca Valley Kiwanis making the event all the more fun. We cheered with the Key Clubbers throughout the event in celebration of participants who fundraised above and beyond expectations and for partic pants who were crossing the finish line. The Kiwanians grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone while smiling and joking with us. After cleaning up, we took a group picture in front of the balloon arc that we all had a hand in making. We cheered and laughed and said our goodbyes knowing that we had just made new friends. With the efforts of the volunteers, coordinators, and participants I could see how together we can make a difference.
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AUGUST 2012
leadership
Jonathan Cao-Nguyen
district governor uc san diego
David Limjoco
district secretary uc los angeles
Hans Meimban
district secretary uc riverside
Major: Human Development Favorite Movie: Finding Nemo Who (or what) inspires you and why?: My mom inspires me the most. Through all the obstacles that she has faced in her life, she continues to hold her head up high with no sense of giving up. Her character and values are truly reflected within me as I live my own life. She is such a strong person who continues to work hard in order to support me in my hopes and dreams.
Major: Neuroscience / Anthropology Favorite TV show as a kid: Gundam Wing Who (or what) inspires you and why?: Every person who I have been able to help. They show me that I have a purpose and that I can help many. They keep me serving and doing my best in all aspects of my life without burning out.
Major: Neuroscience / Statistics Favorite Animal: Narwhal Who (or what) inspires you and why?: My younger brother. Everything I try to do, I try to be the best role model for him that he can look up to.
meet your
district eboard
district committees WATCH OUT CNH! The following lists contain the names of all those on the 20122013 district committees! Look out for big things from them this term! And thank you to EVERYONE who applied, congrats to all those who were selected, and to those who couldn’t make it - There is always next year! Good luck to you all!
Awards
District Fall Training Finance & Convention Conference Fundraising
Ashley Valez
Stefanie Chow
Ruben Ruiz
Hans Meimban
Junie Vuong (CSUF) Kevin Chiong (UNLV) Nam Hoang (UNR) Sirivalli Chamarti (UCLA) Skylar Pagenkopf (UCSD) Vivian Kha (UCSD)
Ally Bogan (CSUF) Andrew Shin (UCR) Angel Rodriguez (OCC) Ann Pham (CSUF) Colin Wu (OCC) Filip Hess (UCSD) Heren Wei (CPP) Jessica Nguyen (UCI) Kristine Le (UCSD) Michelle Nation(OCC) Nathan Duong (UCI) Sojeong Moon (UCSD) Stephanie Yu (UCB) Teresa Nguyen (CSUF) Tommy Koo (UNLV)
Angela Apinyavat (UCB) Catherine Ho (UCB) Crista Cabahug (UCR) Grace Go (UCB) Jeraldine Gutierrez (LMC) Kay Kim (UCB) Kevin Amatayakul (OCC) Kevin Lou (Mt. Sac) Kristel Eclarino (CSULB) Lucas Chen (UCB) Mcfrancis Sta Cruz (UCI) Michael Domingo (OCC/ SFSU) Mimi Ton (UCB) Steven Nguyen (UCSD) Tina Nguyen (OCC/UCB)
Celia Fang (UCSD) Erin Szelagowski (UCD) Frankie Floresca (UCR) Garvey Su (UCLA) Gerard Gaw (UCLA) Kay Kim (UCB) Lisa Watson (SDSU) Michael Zuniga (UCLA) Ngannu Nguyennguyen (UCD) Phillippe Ly (OCC) Stephen Pino (OCC) Vinnie Kang (UCSC)
Kiwanis Family
Membership Public Development Relations & Education
Service
Andrew Tom
Lauren Kim
Jennifer Lai & Truong Pham
Leonne Chung
Annie Yu (UCD) Arjun Gupta (UCB) Candace Chu (UCSD) Connie Lam (UCLA) Dylan Sarnowski (UCLA) Goldie Tang (UCI) Jennifer Que (OCC) John Delshadi (UCI) Renee Eguia (CSULB) Tim Davis (UCR) Victoria Silva (UNR)
Alex Natua (CSULB) Alexander Chu (UCI) Alexander Pham (UCLA) Angela Ngo (UCSD) Anthony Tran (UCI) Erin Szelagowski (UCD) JC Alhambra (UCB) Jessica D. Nguyen (UCI) Joe Reguindin (CSULB) Neil Yonzon (UCLA) Tina M. Nguyen (OCC/ UCB)
Adrian Francisco (UCI) Alan Chung (OCC) Catherine Ho (UCB) Corissa Chang (UCB) Dylan Sarnowski (UCLA) Triana Crighton (UCD)
Andrew Danh (UCD) Brian Kan (UCLA) Cristina Magdaleno (UNLV) Jannette Alvarez (ECC) Kath Kim (UCB) Kathy Dong (UCI) Kevin Wong (UCSD) Luke Tanaka (UNR) Matt Palamos (DVC) Roger Pan (UCSD) Sean Peters (Mission) Teresa Datar (LMC/UCD) Vincent Ng (UCR)
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AUGUST 2012
fellowship
d n e k e e W
of
Awe s ome n
es s ! d n e k e e W
Lily Ung UC Riverside This past Weekend of Awesomeness Weekend (WAW) was hosted by UNLV (Univserity of Nevada, Las Vegas). If you have not gone to a WAW weekend--especially one in Vegas-- I highly encourage you to do so! Not only do you get to do service and learn in workshops, but you also get to meet new people and of course walk the strip! It hardly feels like working at all when you’re having so much fun. And you get hours for it! So on Friday night, we departed from Riverside, heading to UNLV for their Relay for Life. Fraternities, sororities, and many other organizations had booths for food and drinks and tents set up as it was an overnight
event. There was even a monsterpong tournament (for fundraising!). And because “Cancer never sleeps,” neither did we; we had at least one person from Circle K walk the track holding UNLV’s flag at all time. Of course, we switched off from time to time. It was an interesting experience for me as I never pulled an all nighter before; I would usually try to go to bed before sunrise. After Relay for Life, we headed straight to Lake Mead for Kiwanis One Day. It was great seeing K-fam coming together and doing our part-- even if it meant having to put up with the sun breathing fire down on us. We were all broken up into
groups--going off with key clubbers and Kiwanians, getting to know each other as we picked up trash. Some of us even walked all the way down to the lake to skip rocks. By the time it was lunch, we were all exhausted; no sleep, no shower. But, with our Circle K spirit (and smell--hehe), we picked ourselves up and headed on over to Nevada State College to help with their Heritage Festival by selling ice cold water, which turned out very well. Gotta stay hydrated in this heat! Finally, thanks to some wonderful Circle K-ers from UNLV, we were able to wash off seventeen hours of whatever stuck to our bodies and rest up for more service and fun!
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After a long day and a few hours of shut-eye, we treated ourselves to Fuku Burger and desserts at Serendipity! What’s better than sitting around with amazing Circle K-ers and eating and joking around? Definitely the best part of the trip.
Las Vegas Edition
After a long day and a few hours of shut-eye, we treated ourselves to Fuku Burger and desserts at Serendipity! What’s better than sitting around with amazing Circle K-ers and eating and joking around? Definitely the best part of the trip. But what was different than the other WAW weekends in Vegas was that we didn’t get to walk the strip. It was too warm and everyone practically had sugar crash. Instead, we went back to
Brandon, Kevin, and Michael’s house (thank you for opening up your home to us!) to rest up. The next morning, we opened our eyes and were greeted by the sound of bacon and eggs sizzling and the smell of freshly made pancakes. Joining together in the living room we all enjoyed our morning breakfast with a side of Legend of Korra (um, team Makorra) while the presidents from each club had their President Council
Meeting. With only a few hours left before the end of WAW, we ended the weekend with a workshop on team building/communication and Divisional Council Meeting. This was one of the most interesting WAW I have been to particularly because it was super hot. But that didn’t stop us! Circle K is unstoppable! Thank you to UNLV and thank you to Crista and Justin for driving us! Hope to see you all at the next WAW!
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AUGUST 2012
fellowship
Stay Socially Connected with Us! Official Website: http://cnhcirclek.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cnhcki Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnhcki YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/cnhSUNBOX Subscribe to our Member Bi-Monthly Mailing List: http://bit.ly/mbmml Stay connected with one another through these Mailing Lists! Presidents: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cnhcki-presidents1213 Vice Presidents: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cnhcki-vicepresidents1213 Secretaries: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/cnhcki-secretaries1213 Treasurers: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/ cnhcki-treasurers1213
Bonding over S’mores: CSUF hosts Beach Bonfire Natalie Do CSU Fullerton The July Beach Bondfire social was a remarkable success and our biggest social thus far. Not only did we have old and returning members, but also potential/new members at the event! Activities such as playing in the water, frisbee, volleyball, skipping rocks, and collecting seashells were held throughout the day. In the evening, we had our monthly summer meeting where everyone got updated on old and new service projects, leadership, and fellowship events. At the end of the meeting, my co-chair, Teresa Nguyen, and I taught everyone our club’s infamous “F-U” cheer step by step. For dinner, we did a traditional bonfire cookout and cooked burgers, hot dogs, and KBBQ spicy chicken. For the rest of the night, we made s’mores, told jokes, and bonded around the fire pit. Despite all the stressful planning, what really made me happy was seeing old, returning, and potential/new members bonding and having fun together throughout the day.
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Relaxing on the Grass with UC Irvine Sam Barke UC Irvine If you were taking a walk through UCI’s Aldrich Park Park Social 4: Avatar (Last Airbender) after 1:30, you could tell that Circle K had been there for Unfortunately, nothing much was done for this theme, Park Social, solely because of the only blanket shaped but I would like to think that I challenged many people patch of grass untouched by UCI lawnmowers! to Agni-Kais… Park social was started by my Spirit/Social Co-Chair, Lany Dao, and me to give people a chance to meet up consistently throughout Spring quarter to relax, do homework, or just hang out with other Circle K’ers. Each week, Park Social (other than the first one) has had a unique theme to make each Park Social a little different than the one before it:
Park Social 2: Harry Potter
There is a Tree in Aldrich Park with a massive trunk, branches, and roots poking out from the ground. While I am not at all familiar with the name of the tree, the tree looks very similar to the Whomping Willow from the Harry Potter Series. It was this tree that inspired us to start making themes for our park socials. For Harry Potter, we brought chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, Butter Beer (Cream Soda), and I sorted Park Social 5: Pokemon vs. Digimon everyone into different houses upon their arrival to Park POKÉMON VS. DIGIMON! The most epic battle of the Social (Houses included Home Depot, Starbucks, Toys R century! I created a game for park social attendees Us, Block Buster, and etc.) where participants randomly chose a character, which would be a Digimon or a Poke’mon, and players then had to challenge each other to an epic duel of rock paper scissors. There was a special point and level system set up, and the winning teams and winning individuals from each team would receive a special prize!
Park Social 6: Super Smash Brothers
Park social 3: Avatar
Incorporating the club theme from last year, the park social, which I am planning as I write this, will incorporate the theme as so: families who have the most participants who dress in “Super Smash Bros” attire or where their club family shirts will win a prize!
Blue. Blue. Blue. And more blue. Week 3 of Park Social Overall, I felt that Park Socials were somewhat sucwas AVATAR, the James Cameron Avatar, but unfortucessful, and hopefully we can bring them back when nately, we got terrible Wi-Fi by the giant Whomping Willow and had to relocate. Clothing was supposed to be fall comes around! blue, Food and Drink was also all blue!
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AUGUST 2012
district events
dcon service Cody Stapornkul UC Los Angeles Why am I still a part of Circle K? Why do I still continue going to meetings? I’ve always asked myself this until I attended the only two events I’ve been to (yes, I’m shamelessly admitting this): DLSSP and, most importantly, DCON. District Convention was definitely a different experience that I didn’t expect to have. I’ve been to Key Club DCONs, but Circle K’s DCON was not the same at all. I pictured myself sitting there off to the side, just observing everyone as they cheered on, trying to be louder than other schools. I didn’t think I’d have long conversations with anyone, particularly people from other schools. Part of this was because I hardly even knew anyone from my own club, so how would I even get to know people outside of UCLA if I just sat there looking antisocial? Little did I know, things turned out to be different. When I stepped foot into the Marriott, I saw groups of people interacting with each other and thought to myself, “What did I get myself into? This is going to be a long weekend.” Surely enough, I ended up awkwardly standing there by myself near a couch trying to figure out what to do. Everyone from UCLA seemed to know each other, some were blowing up the dinosaur balloons, and other schools were blabbering away. Eventually I met up with Leonna and a few other people, and somehow glitter hairspray ended up on the right side of my fohawk and a dinosaur scratch was going across my face. I guess from that point on, I got pretty pumped up, more than I should have been. The friendly smiles I got from UCLA CKI-ers didn’t help to tone down the mood at all. When it came time to yell out cheers during the first general meeting, I tried my best to spit out what I remembered from half an hour earlier (which was when I first learned most of the cheers).
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2012 legacy For the rest of the first general meeting and the whole weekend, I tried to remain enthusiastic while yelling out bits and pieces of cheers, and I guess I played it off well since I got Star of the Moment. Now I don’t want to bore you all with what you already know went down at DCON, so I’ll just end my little blab here. Even though I personally did not completely fulfill the point of DCON (service, leadership, and leadership), I still enjoyed my time there, especially meeting new people and participating in the talent show.
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. . . But I guess I wanted to try something new and DCON brought out a side of me that I myself didn’t even know I had.
I met and got to know people outside of UCLA. After meeting UCI students in the lobby, we ended up making board games together; where else would you get to do this? DCON provided me with the opportunity to expand my connections as well as allowing me to do something I’d never do: perform a hip-hop piece in front of a large crowd. I didn’t expect myself to even be part of the talent show, but I guess I wanted to try something new and DCON brought out a side of me that I myself didn’t even know I had. I didn’t think I’d be that social; in fact, I didn’t even think I was that social during DCON until people were telling me afterwards. From late night talent show practices, to getting my face and hair painted, to getting Denny’s before the 8am caucus, to chanting cheers I didn’t even know, to meeting new people, to the workshops, to the talent show, to the dance, and to staying up talking and making posters with UCLA and CSUN students in the lobby, attending DCON has convinced me to continue on with Circle K. Thanks for the memories, UCLA CKI-ers, especially certain people (you know who you are)!
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AUGUST 2012
district events
Stefanie Chow UC San Diego Spring Training Conference (STC) South was undoubtedly an exciting and motivating (not to mention minion-ful) kick-off to the new Circle K year! A record-breaking 450+ Circle K’ers and Kiwanians gathered at Orange Coast College on Sunday, May 6th, 2012 to build leadership skills, network with other members, and support their divisions and District. The sunny weather and positive attitudes definitely contributed to how much information was absorbed in just one day! After reading through all the evaluation forms, I was proud knowing that members enjoyed the wide variety of workshops/panels and the knowledge that each host or panelist had to share. From learning about committees to learning how to plan a roadtrip, there was something for everyone at this District event! Of course, none of this would have been possible without the help of all my workshop/panel hosts, volunteers, and special helpers. Next to Orange Coast College, I believe that UC San Diego Circle K played the next most important role in making STC South a success! Sojeong Moon and Steven Nguyen were my dynamic duo in drawing the Despicable Me characters displayed ALL over the event, from the program to the room signs. Everyone loved how much the event matched the theme, and those two were the main reason why we had so many great images to show off! As for workshop and panel hosts, Roger Pan, Candace Chu, Kristine Le, Steven Nguyen, and Darren Syu were among the HIGHEST-RATED workshops and panels out of the fifty offered at STC South. Thank you SO much for all your hard work! And lastly, I really appreciate everyone who attended the event and showed their support to our Paradise Division and the CNH District. I hope you learned much from STC South and took back that information to share with others. For those who could not make it, there are still many District events in the future, so look forward to them. With all this experience and knowledge under our belts, let’s get even more involved and super pumped for the rest of the year!
District Service/Fundraising Initiatives Each year, the Cal-Nev-Ha District of Circle K International endorses a Service Initiative in order to focus service efforts across the district towards one unified cause. For this year, the District Board has chosen to adopt Living Healthy, Living Life as the official District Service Initiative. The focus of this initiative is to promote healthy lifestyles through exercise, smart food choices, education, and much more. Our main goal of this initiative is to educate and assist children and adults to change unhealthy habits and replace them with healthy lifestyle. Aside from the District Service Initiative, the CNH District of Circle K also endorses three DFIs in order to focus fundraising efforts across the district: Pediatric Trauma Program (PTP), The Eliminate Project, and Not For Sale. The Pediatric Trauma Program’s mission is to develop local projects, which will reduce the number of children in our district who are killed or injured by trauma. With the Eliminate Project, Kiwanis International and UNICEF have joined forces to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus. Not For Sale is a California non-profit organization determined to educate, advocate, and take action to endmodern-day slavery.
Arjun Gupta UC Berkeley
As hundreds of dedicated Circle K’ers shuffled in through the double doors of UC Davis, the bright sun above them shone down, acting as a warm embrace. The attendees who piled in excitedly to sign in and start the ‘Toy Story’ themed Spring Training Conference North (STC), chaired by Berkeley’s very own Ruben Ruiz. While for many this as their second, third, or even fourth STC, there was a plethora of first timers who looked forward to the program that STC offered. STC North only lasted one day, but in that day, much was learned and gained by all who were present. At STC, there was a large amount of workshops that were held through various blocks of time, ranging from position specific workshops to workshops that taught how to stay motivated, and improve speech making. Of course, in addition to the workshops, the
presence of the District Service Project made STC feel complete. During STC, not only newly installed board members, but also general members were able to attend various workshops that were all held in separate time blocks. The workshops not only taught skills which could be applied to everyday life, but also were ripe with interactive activities that everyone could partake in to test out newly learned skills/lessons. All of these productive and exciting workshops were possible thanks to many hosts, countless volunteers, innumerable Kiwanians and the chair, Ruben Ruiz. During STC, the three divisions, Capital, Golden Gate, and the newly formed Sunset all had their individual DCMs. During each, new divisional board members were introduced and short term, as well as long term goals were put forth and set. Golden Gate capped off their
DCM by shouting popular divisional cheers, getting fired up for the final session of STC that was about to take place. As STC winded down, the enjoyment only grew as many rushed to last minute workshops and panels so as to maximize their time and experience. By the end, there was not one person who could be found in the hall ways. Everyone was either leading or attending a workshop. After everyone was seated at closing session, the enthusiasm reached a fever pitch as cheers were heard from every school for an amazing end to a great STC. Truly, the event was greatly rewarding, not only for the attendees, but for the hosts as well. Everyone came away from STC that day with greater knowledge, a new set of skills, a group of new friends, and of course, refreshed enthusiasm for service, fellowship, and leadership.
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AUGUST 2012
district events
Big Service in the Big Easy Jonathan Cao-Nguyen UC San Diego
Big Service in the Big Easy! The 2012 Circle K International Large Scale Service Project is one event that I will never forget. Located in the diverse and music-filled city of New Orleans, Louisiana, the Large Scale Service Project, or LSSP, is a four-day event filled with fellowship activities and service projects that gave back to our host convention city. Prior to flying hundreds of miles to this location, attendees took a quick survey on what type of projects they were interested in. Whether you were crafty or handy with tools, there were projects that satisfied everyone’s desires. Remember that everyone had a different agenda at LSSP as everyone had different projects that catered to their interests, so this was my service-filled day. This was my first International event and I didn’t know what to expect. When I arrived at the airport, I was overwhelmed with excitement from being in such a historic city, filled with jazzin’ music and delicious food! I was extremely motivated to serve and I couldn’t control my energy on giving back to the host city. On the very first day, there was an in-house service project where we helped make bookmarks to donate to Better World Books, one of our International Service Partners. I was notorious at the event for taking so many bookmarks and hogging them all to myself. Like I said, I was very excited for the service that I was doing so I wasn’t thinking clearly! The following day, we took school buses to numerous locations throughout the city. One bus went to a project inside a local children’s hospital,
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I was extremely motivated to serve and I couldn’t control my energy on giving back to the host city. . . .
one bus went a warehouse renovation center, and much more. My bus went to the Animal Shelter of New Orleans, and our project was to clean out the animal shelter while interacting with the animals that stayed at this shelter. The project was amazing, up until I found out that I was allergic to cats and dogs, and then my day went downhill. It’s okay though. I powered through my constant sneezing and watery eyes to finish the job, and I was proud of that. Day 3 was a giant Habitat for Humanity project. Because of so many Circle K volunteers, we had six Habitat sites being built simultaneously in the city of New Orleans. For my location, what was heartwarming about the project was that the person who was going to receive this house was serving alongside all of us. We were all able to talk to him and get to know his story. His actions were humbling as he continues thanking us all day long for our hard work and generosity. The last day was also an in-house service project where we made ELIMINATE corsages and bouquets for the Leadership Luncheon during ICON. LSSP was a wonderful experience. The one thing that I will always remember from this event is the weather. Every single day, it was over 100 degrees and 90% humidity. If you think serving on a hot day in CNH is tough, try doing it in this kind of weather! You will be sweating bullets non-stop! But overall, I am truly honored to have experienced this event. I met new friends while serving at projects that I’ve never helped at before. I highly recommend that you attend any of the future Large Scale Service Projects that Circle K International hosts. I hope to attend next year’s LSSP in Vancouver, Canada because no matter where I go, if there is service to be done, I am so there!
21 Andrew Tom UC Davis New Orleans, Louisiana – one of the most authentic and culturally rich cities in the United States – was the location was Circle K International Convention 2012. This year, I lucky enough to travel with thirty other members of the CNH District to where Circle K members came together to vote on matters crucial to our organization. At ICON, we had the opportunity to meet members from around the world, learn about the latest developments in CKI, and cast votes for the next generation of international leadership. I had an amazing time with CNH showing off our cheers throughout convention, and it was so inspiring to be part of a District that brought home 40 awards! After some lengthy flights and shuttle rides, I arrived at the hotel realizing very quickly that ICON is very different from the District Conventions we know and love. Since it does involve traveling further away, there are fewer Circle K members that can attend. However, nearly every member who attends represents their club as a delegate! Nearly 200 members met this year in the House of Delegates, presided over by the International President. There, we voted on amendments to the bylaws, as well as our international candidates – all by electronic ballot! The debates and questions that candidates answered were also very interesting to watch. Another big difference was the convention itself! For the first time ever, this convention was held in conjunction with Kiwanis Convention, and Circle K members had the opportunity to experience a day in the life of Kiwanis firsthand. From flashmobbing Kiwanis Opening Session, to participating in the Leadership Luncheon, Kiwanis International proved the most gracious of hosts to their collegiate counterparts. Last but not least, it was a pleasure experiencing New Orleans and meeting so many people. From sampling world famous beignets, to making friends from the East Coast and Canada, ICON provided an incredible once in a lifetime experience. It was awesome being able to bond with Circle K members from across our own district as well. I highly encourage those of you to consider attending ICON next year in Vancouver, Canada. There, you’ll find CKI gear, fellow servant leaders from around the world, and most importantly, the incredible chance to represent your home club on a worldwide level.
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AUGUST 2012
District Totals
sunny's spotlights
what is “sunny’s spotlights”? Sunny’s Spotlights is a corner where CNH recognizes the clubs that stand out and go above and beyond in the areas of service and fundraising. Stay tuned for the next issue to see if your school is featured!
(as of August)
Total Service Hours: 33,242.6 Total Kiwanis Family Events: 679 Total Interclub Events: 784 Total Members: 2582 Keep up the great work, CNH CKI!
Service: UH Hilo Azhar Deen UC San Diego The University of Hawaii, Hilo has truly been a beacon of the Circle K tenets across the Pacific Ocean. Situated on the Big Island of Hawaii, these Circle K-ers exemplify that Paradise Ohana Spirit. With 29 dues paid members, UH Hilo is a pretty small club, but that doesn’t stop them from achieving gargantuan feats. In April they totaled 162 service hours; by June they had doubled that to 299 service hours. And in the the course of one month, by July that had doubled that again to 683 service hours. With a club size of 29, that amounts to approximately 23.5 service hours per member. To put that in perspective, the two strongest schools in Paradise have 10.4 (SDSU) and 14.7 (UCSD) ser-
vice hours per member. Not only that, the club has strong relations with the Kiwanis Family in the area, from their own sponsoring Kiwanis club to other SLPs. The club even makes an effort to bring people together to video chat in at DCMs and other schools General Body Meetings. The club has a very social environment, often watching movies together as a club and discussing their social ramifications. This level of success would not have been possible without the leadership of President Francis Sakai-Kawada and his board. Each and every one of these members are on top of their work and enjoy it as well. For this reason, I would like to honorably recognize them for their efforts. The University of Hawaii, Hilo has certainly distinguished itself and is a pride of the Paradise Division. To find out more about Circle K at UH Hilo, visit https://www.facebook.com/ckiuhh.
Fu ndraising: UC San Diego UCSD CKI ‘CARES’ about eliminating maternal/neonatal tetanus! This year for our CARES campaign, we decided to sell bracelets and finals week ‘care’ packages to benefit one of our DFIs, UNICEF’s Project Eliminate. It was a great opportunity for fun, fellowship, and fundraising for our club. Spreading awareness to the campus about the Eliminate Project’s initiatives was also extremely rewarding. This year in support of the CARES initiative, we came up with two innovative ideas to educate people about the Eliminate Project while advocating a heart for service and showing our fellow UCSD students we care. The first of the two was our bracelet design, depicting the importance of protecting the bond between a mother and her child. Secondly, we wanted to show some love to our fellow colleagues by selling finals week ‘care’ packages stocked with lots of goodies—granola bars, candy, teabags, and nice notes!
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Your #1 resource to building and developing your club to great heights.
what are the cki service partners?
Circle K International is proud of its partnerships with March of Dimes, UNICEF, Better World Books and Students Team Up to Fight Hunger (STUFH). By working with these powerful organizations, CKI members are able to help more children.
Better World Books
March of DImes
Better World Books’ mission is to help break the cycle of poverty through education and literacy…one book at a time. Better World Books (BWB) is a for-profit social enterprise that collects used books and sells them online to raise money for literacy initiatives worldwide.
The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. March of Dimes was founded in 1938 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, but was originally known as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The March of Dimes Mission is “To improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.”
Students Team Up to Fight Hunger
UNICEF
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, was Students Team Up to Fight Hunger (STUFH) is dedicated to linking food banks with local created after World War II to provide emergency colleges and universities for two purposes: to aid to children in Europe and Asia. Today, UNICEF collect food for those who need it most and to works in more than 150 countries and territories—supported entirely with voluntary contriraise awareness of these needs upon the local student population. It is the mission of STUFH to butions. Across the globe, wherever vulnerable increase this gathering of food at college camchildren are struggling to survive, UNICEF is puses throughout the country, which will link the there with medicine, vaccines, clean water, and hearts and souls of college students with their nutrition. Over the years, UNICEF has saved more children’s lives than any other humanitarless fortunate hungry neighbors. ian organization in the world.
Camille Goulet
contact
District Administrator administrator@cnhcirclek.org
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Executive Board Jonathan Cao-Nguyen District Governor governor@cnhcirclek.org
David Limjoco
District Secretary secretary@cnhcirclek.org
Hans Meimban
District Treasurer treasurer@cnhcirclek.org
Lieutenant Governors Fiona Cheng
Kevin Gordy
Capital capital@cnhcirclek.org
Central Coast centralcoast@cnhcirclek.org
Kevin Goble
Chloe Shih
Mikael Miller
Stephanie Nguyen
Sean Nguyen
Azhar Deen
Tony Wang
Foothill foothill@cnhcirclek.org
Metro metro@cnhcirclek.org
Golden Gate goldengate@cnhcirclek.org
Paradise paradise@cnhcirclek.org
Desert Oasis desertoasis@cnhcirclek.org
Magic Kingdom magickingdom@cnhcirclek.org
Sunset sunset@cnhcirclek.org
District Chairs Ashley Valdez
Stefanie Chow
Ruben Ruiz
Andrew Tom
Lauren Kim
Brett Butler
Jennifer Lai
Leonne Chung
Truong Pham
Awards awards@cnhcirclek.org
Kiwanis Family kfamily@cnhcirclek.org
Publications Editor editor@cnhcirclek.org
District Convention dcon@cnhcirclek.org
Membership Development & Education mde@cnhcirclek.org
Service service@cnhcirclek.org
Fall Training Conference ftc@cnhcirclek.org
On To International Convention icon@cnhcirclek.org
Technology technology@cnhcirclek.org
a Kiwanis-family member www.circlek.org
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