NINJA NEWS D13S | Region 8 | Volume 1, Issue 4
SEPTEMBER 2014 NEWSLETTER
Letter fromThe Editor... Hi Ninjas, I hope you all are enjoying the remainder of your summer break. Hopefully you all didn’t procrastinate, unlike me, and did all your summer homework! Any who, I hope your passion for service still burns as we transition into the school year. Use that passion to help guide others to serve and join this amazing organization, “be that drop of water to cause the ripples.” Inspire others to serve and help their home, school, and community. If you’d like to write an article about any of your Key Club experiences during September please email me at d13s.cnhkc.dne@gmail.com! Don’t forget to send pictures too! Articles and visuals are due September 10th at 6pm! Thanks. Have a great day! Crystal Kem
District Convention, also known as “DCON”, will be held March 13th-15th in Anaheim, California. During District Convention you’ll have the opportunity to meet Key Clubbers throughout California, Nevada, and Hawaii! As well as learn more about the organization through workshops and general sessions. Although District Convention will be held in Southern California, it will still be on the pricier side. The price for District Convention has not yet been announced but it would be smart to start saving up NOW! I hope you ALL consider attending District Convention because it’s an amazing experience that you won’t want to miss out on!
July 11th brought the annual Kiwanis Karnival, held at Thompson Park in Bellflower. With St. John Bosco’s campus just a block up the street, we had many volunteers who helped with this event, and even gained some new members. Our club had volunteers presented for all three days of the carnival. Starting on Friday afternoon, our volunteers arrived and began to set up tables and chairs for the carnival goers as well as food booths. At 5 o’clock the carnival officially began, and the air was filled the smells of roasted corn and the sound of giddy children eager to have a good time. Once our set-up responsibilities were complete, our work shifted to maintenance and security. Club members helped to pick up trash at the carnival, and to watch the gates to make sure everyone was following the rules when they entered the carnival. On Saturday, our volunteers drummed up attention for the carnival with signs, and on Sunday helped with clean-up.
On Thursday, July 24th we had our July DCM at Cerritos Regional Park! The DCM consisted of fun activities such as a water balloon fight, potluck, and tons and tons of fun ice breakers! We began the DCM with the pledges and quickly followed with Club and Division updates. We had a great turnout and the members seemed to enjoy the day.
On Saturday, August 16th, Division 13 South gathered at Bolsa Chica Sate Beach for the August DCM. We planned to have a bonfire but unfortunately we weren’t able to snatch a pit. But that didn’t stop us from having a fun time! We had a great time getting to know each other by playing ice breakers such as “Bang!” and the “Blanket Name Game.” Everyone seemed to have a great time and it was a great way to have our last summer DCM!
We had set up our own park clean-up this month on July 9th at Simms Park in Bellflower. Park cleanups are great and simple service projects that members can participate in for a good old fashioned volunteer event. It is a fairly simple event that actively contributes to the local community and another step towards helping the welfare of the general population. It is also a nice opportunity for a school's Key Club to get closer to all its members, old and new. This would even be a good chance to ambush initiating key clubbers coming out to their first event with icebreakers that we have all come to love, or for some will in time. Park cleanups provide experience for members to actively help and physically get involved while making for a productive day in all as they can get to know each other. We encourage every school's Key Club to host their own
Right off the bat, we had the opportunity to start off the first week of July by volunteering with the Cham-
ber of Commerce and several other local churches to work at the Phantom Fireworks Stand selling fireworks for families' fun and festivities on their Independence Day celebrations. Throughout July 1st-4th, we had many members from our club volunteer in the booth set up in the heat of the summer. Over the course of these four days, though few but dedicated, we were able to accumulate an outstanding number of volunteer service hours totaling 78.5 hrs collectively as a group of 16 key clubbers. Members worked the stands for multiple shifts a day towards the upcoming Fourth of July. Hustling to meet the American people's needs for their fiery traditions, our Key Club assisted our community in their annual recreations during this lively time of the year. This event with Chamber reinforced their trust in longtime relations with Key Club's service leading to their continued offer on further events to help out with later into the year.
On July 19, Mayfair Key Clubbers went to Compton to help paint some schools in the area. Long Beach Poly, Millikan, Lakewood, and John Glenn High School also represented Key Club throughout the day. Everyone met up at Ralph Bunche Middle School in the morning, and then split up to work on the school they were assigned. Mayfair, Long Beach Poly, and Division 13 North were assigned Martin Luther King Elementary School. Key Clubbers had a great time painting the school dark blue and were rewarded with a pizza lunch after all their hard work. Everyone relaxed, enjoyed their pizza, danced, and played ice breakers to get to know one another and keep the excitement levels high. Mayfair Key Club President Ciairra Riley sums the event up by saying, “It was a great event because the members got to make a city a bit more beautiful while also getting the opportunity to experience the change they were making and the gratitude of the community for their hard work. Hopefully they were able to make more friends and have fun as well!
International Convention, also known as “ICON”, is the BIGGEST Key Club event all year. Every year, Key Club International hosts ICON in order to celebrate all that KCI has accomplished along with electing the new International board and trustees.
Our NEW International board members are… Maria Palazzolo — Key Club International President Kevin Zhang — Key Club International Vice President Our NEW International Trustees — Jenalee Beazley Gary Cheng Renisha Daley Tashrima Hossain Laken Kelly Nicole Lema Rip Livingston Robbie Mathis Shane Meyers Liz Moore Barry Seng
Attending my first icon was definitely an eye opening experience. I was able to gain so much knowledge, like volunteering ideas, ways to improve my club and ways to improve myself through all the workshops and sessions. I'm not going to lie, I fell asleep during some of them but trust me, it was such a great experience. Aside from the official business there was 2 very TU dances. CNH yelling "We want ratchet" was one of the most memorable moments for me. I'll never forget the hall mate hangouts we had and the division walking to downtown Disney so many times. Overall, it was just heartwarming to see so many key clubbers coming from all over with such a strong drive to change the world. Icon also showed me just how big key club really is. Honestly, my favorite part of icon was meeting so many other key clubbers. It's amazing to me that it's almost been a month since icon, but the Icon attendee group on Facebook,all the group chats, and Skype calls are still going strong. I pray that I could
ICON was an indescribable experience. It was the most amazing weekend of my life. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience through workshops, inspirational speakers, general sessions, and new friends I met. At ICON, I not only got to spend time with the CNH Ohana, but I also got to meet a lot of new friends from other districts. Every Key-Clubber that I met was so nice and inspirational. I enjoyed every single moment. I will always remember the parties in the hallways, the boba runs(because boba is life), watching the fireworks on the fourth of July, sharing Cup of Noodles with other Key Clubbers, the songs we danced to, the people we met, the millions of selfies we took, and the smiles we shared. I want to say thank you to everyone that made ICON 2014 happen. I will forever treasure and appreciate this great experience.
If I could sum up ICON in one word, it would probably be indescribable. I can’t honestly put into words my experience in Anaheim. Words cannot describe the amazing people that I met from all over the country as well as Canada, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. Words cannot describe the workshops that I attended to further my knowledge as a Key Clubber and knowledge that I could bring back to my club. Words cannot describe how crazy the dances got. Words cannot describe how lucky I am to have found my place in high school. As a CNH Key Clubber, I had a bit of pride seeing other Key Clubbers from different districts blown away from the amount of service, people, and spirit that we had. I didn’t realize how big a thing Key Club; I didn’t know it was an international organization. It was encouraging to know that thousands of students like myself have the same drive and passion for service. From the times of general sessions and caucus to the times of roaming around Downtown Disney and hanging out in the student lounge, ICON would have to be the highlight of my summer. It’s crazy that over a month later, I still keep in touch with the amazing people that I got the chance to meet. I didn’t think it was possible to fall more in love with Key Club.
Contact Information!
THANK YOU FOR READING!
www.cnhkeyclub.org