Skc newsletter (jan 2014)

Key Club Volume 1|Issue 2| January 17, 2013

Skyline High School Division 2 Region 9 Cali-Neva-Ha

Table of Contents Introduction from Editor

page 1

Reflecting on Key Club

2

Books for the Kids

3

December Holiday Parade

4

Introduction

By Anna Xu (Bulletin Editor)

Hello all! Welcome to the second newsletter for Skyline Key Club’s 2013-2014 year. This is also my second newsletter, and I am excited to share with everyone what’s been going on with Key Club these past few months!

In this issue, you will find some information regarding Key Club’s biggest events: our book drive for low-income schools in Oakland and volunteering at the Holiday parade! However, one Key Club member shares her experience in Key Club since freshman year — and hopefully, you may find some great insight on what Key Club can do for you.

As usual, it’s been great working with everyone. Hope everyone continues Key Clubbin’ on. Enjoy! And be on the look out for the next issue during February/March time ;)

For more information, go to skylinekeyclub.webs.com

Reflecting on Key Club

By May Pham

When I was a freshman, I wanted to join some kind of club to start off my high school life. I asked some upperclassman back then what club do they suggest me to join.

"Come and join Key Club!" they said. Key Club? What was that? A club where people make keys? My first experience of walking into a Key Club meeting was that it was really crowded.

The classroom was dark, and it was a tragic for me to walk through as I was surrounded by older students. While I was trying to find an open spot for me to stand, everyone started to jump around and cheer the Key Club cheer. I was literally trapped, and I decided to step outside. I did not return to the meetings at all in my freshmen year because it was too crowded for me.

Sophomore year was different. I decided to return to the meetings because I wanted to learn more about Key Club. I was right about my previous belief about Key Club though -- people DO make keys in Key Club, a key that unlocks a path in each member to feel welcome and that they are able to express themselves!

In the beginning, I was really timid to participate in any Key Club cheers because I would feel silly. But after seeing many members smiling, laughing, and having fun when they do the cheer, that motivated me to give it a try. And now, I don't feel silly whenever someone ask me how I feel.

Key Club definitely made an impact in my life; I stepped into high school as a shy person and now I'm finishing high school full of spirit.

Books for Kids By: David Zeng , Single Service Event Chair The Book Drive Event will collect old books from Skyline students and teachers, and these books will be given to either middle school or elementary students from low-income communities that are attending under-performing schools in Oakland. Having started in December, the Book Drive took a while to officially start due to the many preparations that were necessary in order for it to take place. I, along with the help of my fellow Key Club officers, had to plan out the details of the event, work with a limited budget, and consider incentives for student participants/book donors. These incentives, we believed, were necessary to motivate students to participate and to reward the most active participants. Having known the value of what books can do for communities with inadequate resources, I thought that the more people that participated, the better the Book Drive will help low-income students. I wanted to engage myself and my peers in a meaningful project that would make this positive impact on my community. As I progressed through my academic journey, I realized how essential it was for students to not only be strong readers, but to also have a drive to expand their intellectual horizons through reading. I see countless peers fall off the learning curve because they struggle with reading, let alone reading to learn new material. As a result, I wanted to provide young students with an opportunity to own a book so that they can develop a joy or passion for reading to build strong foundations for academic success in the future. Many of these students grow up in a household similar to mine where reading is not necessarily promoted and books are not readily available, but I was fortunate to have charity programs at my school provide students with books to read, so I now seek to provide that same opportunity to these children to give back to my community. There is no set goal in the number of books that come in as I believe that every book makes an impact; the more that come in, the more children we can help.

The process in setting up this event, however, was tedious but worth all the work. To advertise, I designed attention grabbing posters to post around campus. Because of the restraining budget, we could only print a handful of posters and had to post them up in strategic locations that would most effectively catch the attention of students who walked by. I also created informational flyers for every English teacher to hand out to their respective classes and informed the teachers of the event, so that they could help advertise the event to their students. In the final phrase of preparation, I gathered a committee of Key-Club volunteers to help assemble collection boxes. Not only did we have to assemble boxes and make them sturdy, but we also had to decorate the boxes to make them attention-grabbing while being slightly informational about the event. I had my committee help me in distributing boxes to every single English class on campus.

At Key Club meetings, I have been advertising the event and pushing members to get involved. I have also asked my peers to help spread the word to make the event even more impactful.

As of now, we are still in the book-collecting phrase. My committee and I have been working diligently to check classes for donated books and to move the books to a set location for temporary storage. The event has so far been successful as many students are bringing in bags and boxes loaded with books.

Oakland Holiday Parade Contributions from Andrew Ho, Vivian La (Fundraising Chair) During the first week of December, Skyline Key Club students went to Downtown Oakland’s holiday parade for a jolly time! With vibrant music playing from high school and other bands to various floats of fun, Key Club students say they had a great time being a part of this actual parade as they were float holders in holiday costumes.

“I thought the parade was cool,” says Andrew Ho. “It was a very interesting experience to be IN a parade!”

Vivian La said the same.

“It was a good experience in meeting new people and seeing the figures up close,” La said. “It was really cold but fun. We were able to talk and connect with people from other schools. They also provided the semi costumes and snacks.”

Picture of a Float, from Mercury News

Closing A big thank you for everyone who contributed and for YOU who read this newsletter!

d in e t s e r e t In ? s n ? Concer s t n e m m o C ? l.com i a m g Questions @ r o t i d e e at skc m t c a t n o C ? g contributin