November 2015 Volume I, Issue IV
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O
EN VISI O N CSULB Circle K International
G O I N G T H E D I S TA N C E F O R S E R V I C E
Welcome 2
Table of Contents 4. Letter from the Editor 5. President’s Message 6. Spotlight 7. Birthdays 8. Meetings 10. Family System 12. Service 18. Leadership 22. Fellowship 28. Voices of CSULB 29. Calendar 30. Thanks 32. Contact
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EDITOR With the nearing of the semester, I am pleased to announce our fourth monthly newsletter! This issue covers both September and October. The growth of our club as well as the general enthusiasm, passion, and activity from our new members has truly been inspiring! We’ve surpassed our service goal and near quadrupled the ember attendance at meetings. With over 100 members, we are growing stronger day by day. As your Public Relations Chair, it is my duty to create a newsletter that will capture the essence of Circle K International. When you compare this newsletter to previous ones, you can definitely see the progress that our club has made. It is amazing to see how the concept behind our newsletter is being realized day by day. To reiterate, the concept behind our newsletter is ENVISION; envision a world built on service., leadership, and fellowship. We seek to bring out the inner visionary in every member and inspire those to become future leaders. The first step is envisioning; the second step is bringing those ideas to life. Hopefully our newsletter will inspire you to get involved and get engaged with our club. With Great Care,
Anthony White Public Relations 2015-2016
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PRESIDENT HELLO FAM! Can you believe we are already near the end of fall semester?! We are so grateful for every single one of you. This new semester of Circle K has been overwhelmingly amazing. We have accomplished so much together in the past few months. The tireless hours that we have spent bettering the community has not gone unnoticed. We have truly come together as a family bound by the tenets of service, leadership, and fellowship. Clearly, we have proven that CSULB Circle K is a force to be reckoned with and I hope you know that you are part of something so special! Good luck as we enter finals season and happy holidays! Love you, fam! With Great Care,
Natalie Mann President 2015-2016
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CHRIS WILLIAMS interview conducted by Nina Pham What is your year and major? I’m a first year and in aerospace engineering.
SPOTLIGHT
Why did you first join Circle K? To be honest, my friend told me to check out the club and it looks like fun. What do you like about Circle K? I enjoy doing all the volunteering service projects and being able to help people. What are your favorite service events? Key to College, because I am able to help high school students with any questions they may they may have on college. Tree-Planting with Kiwanis, because I am able to give back to the community. What is your pet peeve? When people are not considerate of others What is your favorite food? Pizza, any really but if I have to choose, then pepperoni. What music do you like to listen to? Normally I would tell people anything but country., but typically I listen to EDM (electronic dance music). What hobbies do you have? I don’t do much but like I go on my computer and go on YouTube. I also like to ride my skateboard around. What advice/words of wisdom would you give to other members? Be considerate of others and do something cuz’ you love it, not cuz’ you have to do it.
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Birthdays Terrance Honanie September 2
Hannah Trinh September 7
Tuan Pham September 8
Brandon Nguyen September 17
Eddie Castillo September 21
Kristi Parada September 22
Charlene Robles September 25
Susie Montenegro October 3
Diana Garcia October 3
Daniel Huynh October 3
Johnny Cao-Nguyen October 5
Maggie Chin October 14
Melissa Nayotl October 15
Natalie Guevara October 18
Janet Haro October 21
Eduardo Sanchez October 28
Jackie Cabrera October 29
Anthony White October 30
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Our Meetings The first meeting was full of jitters, surprises, and happiness. Despite the tight meeting room space, every seat was full with people willing to sit on the floors and sides of the room. We also had LTG Josef in attendance as well as guests from CSUDH and ECC. We did not want to overwhelm members with too much information, so we focused on introducing different aspects of CKI and what our Circle K has to offer. We gave away lots of prizes like gift cards to show our appreciation to the members and to keep everyone on their toes. Even though a lot of us were nervous, the meeting turned out to be successful overall because we have had consistent turnouts at every meeting ever since. It is so exciting to start off the semester with so many individuals genuinely interested in being a part of our family and making a difference. Hopefully, there are many more successful meetings like this to come!
Golden Nugget: Gillian Galang
Theme Days Pattern Day Autumn Day Crazy Socks Day Club Shirt Day Twin Day Halloween Day Cartoon Day Flannel Day Band Tshirt Day 8
#Lovenotes 1. Georgina’s hair is really pretty. It’s really long and full of volume! 2. Shoutout to Ivy Neff because she walks with me to every meeting which is very far!
HAPPY/SAD CHANGE
3. Vu is bae #vueynooey 4. Shoutout to Ethan for putting in work at the marathon and just for being the sweetest guy ever! 5. I love my children in Hades & RIP to Jamie’s toenail.
RAFFLE PRIZES
6. Shake them booty Aaron!! #Aaronisdahbest 7. Cindy, I love you and lots of cold and fuzzy hugs to you! Btw, love your eyes. Also, Muses, ILY and Ethan, why you so handsome? 8. Shoutout to Michelle for letting me borrow her Chem 140 book! You da gucci gucci mama moochie you dah bestie! Feel better soon! Thanks for making me feel welcome! 9. Shoutout to all the new members! Welcome! P.S. Please stay we love you guys! 10. Someone take Nich’s phone away (bad snapchat). I love my littles so much. Thank you, Kuki, Jocelyn, and Charlene for being the best lions ever! 11. Richelle is hot! JK but she’s chill.
Icebreakers Hug a bear + Back to Back After separating members into groups after 2-3 rounds of hug a bear, let them introduce themselves and then play Back to back. In their groups they must make a circle and lock arms with their backs facing one another. They will sit down on the ground, kick their legs out straight, and try to stand back up. Symbology Have people draw three things that represent them. After that get them into famililies and have them explain why those symbols represent themselves to there family. Guess Who? Players must write 4 facts about themselves on a sheet of paper. The sheet of papers will than be scrambled. Each group must guess which person is being described based on the 5 facts. You may ask questions. The Human Knot Get in a circle and cross hands with two different people across from you. The objective is to “untangle” the knot without unlocking hands. ww Whose Story is It? Everyone must write a true story or experience about themselves. The more bizzare the better! After that we will collect the sheet and passed them back. You must figure out whose story it belongs too. Nametag Switching Everyone will write there name onto a sticky note/ paper. New Identities will be distributed and now one must act according to their ‘new’ name (not their actually identity). Members need to figure out who they are impersonating.
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Family System Hades Mentor: Georginal Corral (Family Head) Mentees: Joseph Covarubias, Jonathon Lovelady, Aaron Delarosa Mentor: Janet Haro (Family Head) Mentees: Jamie Becher, Vu Nguy, Nastassja Bourbour, Monica Lock, Melissa Nayotl, Joanne Kim, Wyleen Olae, Rhea Sanghani Mentor: Anthony White Mentees: Refugio (Kuki) Martinez, Jocelyn Garavito, Charlene-Mei Robles
Zeus Mentor: Natalie Mann (Family Head) Mentees: Natalie Guevera, Ethan Wynne, Chris Williams, Eric Cortez, Diego Hernandez Mentor: Nich Dinh (Family Head) Mentees: Sohy Chung, Yuma Kim, Elijah Ramos, Alyson Brown, Crystal Nguyen, Regina Marie Chin, Gillian Galang, Susie Montenegro Mentor: Wanisa Jaikwang Mentees: Kim Nguyen, Brandon Nguyen, Tiffanie Tang, Thao Le Mentor: Hannah Trinh Mentees: Jez Apelar, Chelsea Vang Mentor: Paula Le Mentee: Alex Nguyen, Monica Liu Non-Mentor/Mentees: Nick Spadoni, Julia Moore
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Mentor: Axl Cisneros Mentees: Galdino Bravo. Angelica Hernandez Mentor: Angelica Hernandez Mentee: Abril Burnstein Mentor: Eduardo Sanchez Mentee: Vanessa Martinez, Daniel Huynh Mentor: Nolan Schwartz Mentee: Si-Nam Nguyen Non-Mentor/Mentees: Julina Cthith, Terrance Honanie, Jason Gutierrez, Cassandra Silvia
Muses Mentor: Richelle Son (Family Head) Mentees: Vivian Dinh, Aaron Lim, Colene Encarnado, Marionne Lapitan, Rodel De La Pe単a
Pegasus Mentor: Johnny Cao-Nguyen(Family Head) Mentees: Maria Luong, Melissa Nayotl, Lily Ly Mentor: Aaron Eklon (Family Head) Mentees: Gina Winans, Christine Flores Mentor: Sean Villaverde Mentee: Naomi Pham, Jaileene Galdamez, Lily Lau Mentor: Yertgyji Xiong Mentee: Elizabeth Huang, Jacquelyn Quan Mentor: Diana Garcia Mentees: Olivia Alves, Melisa Lock
Mentor: Michelle Chung (Family Head) Mentees: Jackeline Paloblanco, Jessica Corrales, Nina Pham, Farah Llanes Mentor: Mariana Ramirez Mentees: Kelly Chin, Emery Lopez Mentor: David Truong Mentees: Misha Nguyen, Joanna Tran, Vicky Phun Mentor: Adriana Sanchez (MD&E Chair) Mentee: Maggie Au, Raylyn Diep Mentor: Jackie Cabrera Mentee: Genesis Jara, Andy Kim Mentor: Kristi Parada Mentee: Jessica Kim, Cindy Bui Non-Mentor/Mentees: Eduardo Castillo, Hong You Yi, Jason Gutierrez, Neil Medina
Mentor: Bryan Yap Mentees: Roger Nguyen Mentor: Lauren Healey Mentee: Ivy Neff Mentor: Tiffany Lee Mentee: Vincent Liu Non-Mentor/Mentees: Tsimikuawa Xiong, Stephanie Huong, Nikki Gawaran, Angelique Dayap, Russian Joe Galima, Mariana Magana, Tuan Pham
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Service 12
Blanket Making by Natalie Mann
On Day 3 of Week of Awesomeness, new members gathered in the library basement to make blankets for the homeless. Adriana bought soft, plush fabric from LA. My sister and I spent the night before cutting the fabric into appropriate sizes. We used my dad as a form of measurement to ensure that the blankets would be big enough to wrap around a grown individual. Although only ten people actually signed up for the event, triple the amount of new members showed up. It was super exciting, but we unfortunately did not have enough supplies to cater to everyone. However, many people were content with taking turns and bonding with one another. While members were cutting strips and tying the blankets, others decorated cards to attach to the blankets. Overall, this tabletop project was a great way to kick off the semester with service!
Meals on Wheels by Sean Villaverde Not everyone has the benefit of being able to purchase their own meals. The sick, the elderly, the disabled; these are all examples of individuals who are physically incapable of doing so. One of Circle K's prerogatives as a service organization is to serve those who cannot serve themselves for whatever reason, and to provide for those less fortunate than one should ever be in an ideal world. For this reason, one of our few continuing service projects is Meals on Wheels, where we volunteer with the titular organization which delivers meals to those who need them most. This particular service project occurs every other Friday around 7:30 in the morning. While the earliness may seem daunting, it truly is worth it. Just the knowledge alone that you're helping the helpless get the meals they need is worth all of the early mornings in the world, but if you like you can even sign up to be a friendly visitor and see the smiling faces of the people who use Meals on Wheels, smiles you helped deliver.
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Tree Planting with Kiwanis by Natalie Mann Members of the Long Beach Kiwanis Family gathered at Daisy Avenue Greenbelt to plant trees in honor of Thomas Murphy. Nearly 30 members showed up to participate along with countless other volunteers from different organizations. Because there were so many volunteers, not all of us were able to be super hands on with planting the trees. However, many of us were content with taking turns with the shovels and giving everyone a chance to do something. Even if it was just shoveling some dirt or watering a tree, we all tried to contribute in some way. It was so nice to see members so eager to participate! The Kiwanis Club of Long Beach even had a booth with popcorn and snowcones that everyone got to enjoy. We also sang happy birthday to our lovely Kiwanis advisor, Manny! Near the end of the event, we were able to sit around in a big circle and play some icebreakers. Despite the surplus of volunteers at the event, it was nice to spend time with our new members and with the rest of our Kiwanis family.
Aby Natalie RiSING Delightful Feast Mann A Rising Feast was such an eye-opening, heartwarming experience. It was the first time coordinators put on the event, so there was a lot of downtime until the event actually started. We took this time to get to know one another and play name games and other random games like telephone. Once all the materials and food arrived, we prepared a buffet style line. Some of us sliced meat and some of us were able to serve certain dishes to the guests. For guests who did not want to wait in line for their food, we took their orders, made a plate for them, and served it to them in a restaurant style manner. This event gave me a sense of awareness regarding the homeless population in Orange County. It was such a wonderful event and it was so great to spend time with new members. After the service event, we even went to The Block to eat together! Ultimately, I am so glad I had the opportunity to serve alongside such charismatic new members at A Rising Feast.
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long, strict rundown of the rules that I mentioned above. The organizers made it clear that it was serious, potentially dangerous, and to make the most of our time there because once we were done, we would be out of there. One organizer also told us that if we did not agree, wouldn’t take it seriously or no longer wanted to go, then this was our last chance to say no. Usually first timers don’t drive to Skid Row, but when duty called, I reluctantly stood up for it. I was very anxious after the initial rundown and rules because it was extremely dark out, but my Circle K peeps helped me remain calm. We were to line up our cars in a row and once we were all there, follow each other to the block right before Skid Row and line up our cars along the curb. The next hour felt like a blur. We got out of our cars fast, walked together, stayed together, and stayed silent. We unloaded the tables and food from the car and once we got to our station, we set up. Half of the volunteers were in charge of distributing food and half created a perimeter around the table for safety reasons. We worked tirelessly for the next hour, handing out sandwiches and waters and calling out the names of those who were collecting their food. Those who came for seconds sometimes changed their names. We said hello to “Superman,” “Robin Williams,” and a couple of people who loved. the sandwiches so much they even said their name was “Peanut Butter.”
Aby Abril Monday Night Mission Burstein Monday Night Mission is an event I’ve been interested in taking a part of pretty much since I first heard it existed. The Mission consists of going down to a Burger King in LA, preparing PB&J sandwiches, and distributing them to the homeless residents of Skid Row. The warnings beforehand made it sound even more interesting: don’t separate from the group; if anyone is fixated on you don’t hesitate to tell someone immediately; if you hear “drop everything and go” you just do that. Despite the seriousness of this event, the support of friends helped us get through it. I drove with fellow members Jocelyne and Gillian, and with the event chair Janet. It started raining on our way to LA right after our Monday Circle K meeting, but it cleared up after a while. I thought this was symbolic, but I assign meaning to arbitrary things sometimes. Making the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches was the easy part. As soon as we got to the Burger King, we got gloves on and began making them at an exceptionally rapid rate. Some college clubs joined us, as well as others who were interested in helping the cause. We worked methodically, quickly, and followed orders. The final part was loading the sandwiches, as well as waters and other home cooked meals into the cars to enter Skid Row. Before we departed, we had a
The supervisors really helped us feel calm and safe, especially when someone got too roudy. When someone appeared to be watching us, they approached them and they backed off. We were on high alert, because a shooting had occurred nearby just recently while the event was occurring, and they had to use the distress call. However, the event still went smoothly. We got to connect with people and give them the real meal they would see that day. When we heard “we’re done,” at the end of the event, we instantly packed up and left the same way we came: together, silently, and following all instructions given to us. I admire the organizers of this event for helping us feel like we could really make a difference in some of these people’s lives. At the end of the event, we came together in the parking lot again to reflect on them and also ourselves. I’m glad that Circle K gives us the opportunity to partake in this event and help us fulfill our duty to our fellow human beings.
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Long Beach Marathon
by Andy Kim and Anthony White
Long Beach Marathon took place next to Cal State Long Beach, which was very convenient for the members who were dorming. At the marathon, our job was to set up tables, set up hundreds of water cups, and pass out the water cups to the people in the marathon while making sure we didn’t run out of water cups. In the morning, the bikers were the first ones to run the whole marathon. It was exhilarating passing out water to bikers going at least 20 miles per hour. Then near noon, the runners came bye. Of course, they were a lot easier to pass out, In addition to water, we also passed out energy gel, which was also beneficial for the runners. As we cheered them on to continue going, they also cheered at us back saying “thank you!” It was great to see such spirit in people who would wake up super early to go run and get exercise. It’s inspiring to know many people in this world are willing to stay fit and healthy. One thing is for sure, Circle K members have the spirit and dedication to wake up at any time to contribute to their community.
Basic Needs Warehouse by RIchelle Son The Child Abuse Prevention Center is the nation’s leading non-profit, child abuse prevention organization. As a recurring event, we volunteer at their basic needs warehouse in Garden Grove. Working closely with at-risk children and caseworkers, the Child Abuse Prevention center aims to improve parent-child relationships when matching at-risk children into new foster homes. At the basic needs warehouse, Circle K members sort through boxes and bags of clothing, shoes, and toys. The sorted items are given to the children when they are placed in a new foster home. The warehouse stores hygiene material, strollers, mattresses, and an assortment of clothes for clients of all ages. With limited storage room in the warehouse, the Child Abuse Prevention Center constantly seeks help from volunteers to organize the warehouse as well as sort through the donations. Among children’s items, we are asked to separate items based on size and season to be sent away to other organizations in need. Boxes and shelves filled to the brim with clothing and child-care items line the walls of the warehouse as volunteers make their way towards open warehouse space to organize donation boxes. Throughout the day, delivery trucks arrive with new shipments of goods and depart with sorted items for other organizations. With the international service initiative focused on children, CSULB Circle K hopes to continue this service event in order to spread awareness about the work that the Child Abuse Prevention Center does.
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Rock n’ Roll Marathon by Wyleen Olae It was around 4:00 am on Sunday, October 25th when CKI members gathered for Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. Although it was a sleepy drive to LA, members that participated were active the moment they arrived. Our club members were in charge of pouring and serving water and Gatorade to runners at the 6 ½ mile water station. It was a hustle and bustle to get as many drinks prepared as possible before the runners arrived. From the dark early hours to the break of dawn, our members set up tables, cups, and drinks. As soon as the runners came in, members stood on the frontlines and extended their cup-filled hands to them. “The sheer scale of the event with thousands of runners,” Sean Villaverde said. “It was like they just kept coming with no end in sight.” This case was true, especially for the Gatorade table. This table was the first one in our station, so runners immediately swarmed in. “I basically got bathed in Gatorade,” Georgina Corral, our Water Station Captain, said. How many runners were there exactly? Masses. Masses of them rocking their rocks star costumes, superhero costumes, and even Halloween costumes. Masses we cheered on as they grabbed our cups. Masses of smiles and determination from runners and CKI members alike.“The moment that stood out to me the most was seeing all the bananas running along with a monkey,” member Vu Nguy recalled. Overall, Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon was a fast-paced and exciting experience. For CKI members, it was more than a service event. For about five hours, our volunteers supported people who have put their heart and dedication into this event. Even though we received several exclamations of thanks, the big take away was seeing everyone’s effort come into fruition. “It felt good to be able to help them—even if it was in a small way—cross the finish line,” Gillian Galang commented. “Some people train for this event a long time prior, and it was rewarding to see most of them finish and breathe that sigh of relief.”
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Leadership 18
CSULB Key to College by Andy Kim and Anthony White
CSULB Key to College was an academic event for Key Clubbers hosted by our own home club! Key to College is an event where Key Clubbers from multiple divisions come to the college campus and attend workshops to learn more about College and Circle K in general. Also, if they had any questions about college or Circle K, Circle K members would be able to answer them. The whole event took place at College of Business Administration building. Some divisions I saw that arrived were Division 4 West, 13 South, 13 North, 30 South, and KIWIN’S. The fact that this entire event was planned by Johnny-Cao Nguyen (our Kiwanis Family Representative) alone was truly amazing. From watching my fellow Circle K members host workshops to seeing the high school students being very receptive to the workshop hosts, I can honestly say that this event was executed very successfully. There were many workshops to choose from, such as the “Embrace Your Awkward” workshop hosted by the lovely Anthony and Wanisa, the “KPOP Dance” workshop hosted by the lovely Julina, and the “Commuting vs. Dorming” workshop hosted by Michelle and Sean. In the middle of the event, we split off into three separate groups to lead tours for the prospective freshman who are still deciding on what school they should attend. After the tour, we had a Costco pizza lunch break. Key Club members gained priority as they needed the boost from all of that cardio that they had burned from the previous tour. All in all, this event conveyed the strong bond between Circle K and Key Club
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Metro Key to College by Jessica Corrales On Saturday September 26th, 2015 over sixty Key Clubbers and over forty Circle K Members attended the Key to College at USC. The Key to College began with icebreakers in groups, which was a great way to begin the day and become better acquainted with one another. After that, the opening statements began as an introduction to the day’s events and all attendees were put into groups From there, the groups began the activities which consisted of workshop sessions and a campus tour of USC. The Key clubbers had a variety of different workshops to choose from – ranging in a wide variety of topics from surviving high school, to college applications, to getting jobs and internships, and so much more! Our very own Natalie Mann hosted a workshop called ‘How to Get the bAe+’ which discussed strategies and techniques that students could use to manage their time wisely in school and get good grades. The Key clubbers had the opportunity to attend three of the workshops available to them. The tour of the USC campus was a fun part. USC has such a beautiful campus, and so many buildings to discover. Thanks to our awesome tour guides, Key Clubbers and Circle K members had the opportunity to explore a little bit of USC and also got to learn some interesting facts about the school and its history, while getting a feel for the amount of school spirit that is on campus. I thought that the best part of the campus tour was when we went into the library and it felt like we
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stepped into Platform 9 ¾ from Harry Potter’s world – it was absolutely gorgeous! USC is so amazingly beautiful, and I highly recommend taking a tour if you have the opportunity to do so. The best part of the whole experience of Key to College, though, was when we Circle K members had the opportunity to talk more personally with the Key Clubbers in small groups. During our group conversations at lunch, the Key Clubbers talked about their fears concerning college, their excitements concerning college, and asked the Circle K members any questions that they had about college life in general. It was great to have the opportunity to share my experiences with the high school students, answer questions they had, and hopefully ease any anxiety they may have about the transfer from high school life to college life. The day was concluded with a panel and the Metro August DCM. If the Key Clubbers still had any unanswered questions, they had an opportunity to ask those questions to the District Board Members at the panel afterwards. The panel answered questions about a wide range of topics about college from their personal experiences, which allowed Key Clubbers and Circle K members both the opportunity to become better acquainted with our board members. Other topics discussed during the panel were how our district board members chose their majors, where they had studied abroad and/or wished to study abroad, and ‘life-hacks’ for college life. We ended the session by learning some cheers from some of the schools in our division, such as USC’s and UCLA’s cheers. The August Metro Divisional Council meeting marks our first DCM of the year! During the August DCM, our Lieutenant Governor Josef Madrigal reviewed past events in the Metro District, and each club briefly shared updates of its past and recent events, as well as upcoming events to look forward to. Josef also gave us a heads up on new and on-going events on the International level of Circle K, such as the Sub-region B Hashtag Challenge – which you can participate in by uploading a picture with Circle K apparel or a logo with the hashtag #SubBeasts and #ChooseCKI, and you will be entered in for the chance to win a surprise Sub-region B plushie!
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Fellowship 22
Taco ‘Bout CKI Tuesday by Jessica Corrales Taco ‘Bout CKI Tuesday game night was an amazing opportunity not only to allow the potential members to learn more about Circle K International, but to give potential members the opportunity to get to know the board members and other new members. While everyone ate tacos, the board members took the opportunity to get more acquainted with potential new members and vice versa. The event really fostered a sense of a family among us, and allowed every member the opportunity to become closer to other members while playing games. There were many games prepared for all the attendees to play, such as Twister, Apples to Apples, Life, Uno, and Monopoly. Being grouped to play games gave members the opportunity to become more familiar with each other and to create friendships with each other. A sense of competitiveness also increased with the incentive of prizes at hand. During our taco and game night, we also were challenged to learn the names of ten other members. After we introduced ourselves to ten new people, Chai gave us a memory test by telling us a story to see how well we could remember everyone’s name whom we met. A new member named Shadie did an awesome job and passed the memory test easily, answering every question correctly! This game taught us, as Chai had said, that if you’re not memorable in some way people will have a hard time remembering you – which was a way to encourage those of us who may be a little on the timid side to be more outgoing and not be afraid to be unique. Taco ‘Bout CKI Tuesday was a great event to start off the CKI Week of Awesomeness! The board members did an amazing job organizing this event. Thank you to the board members who made this event possible, and gave all the members the chance to create new friendships within Circle K. This year is off to an amazing start, and I already feel like a part of the Circle K family here at CSULB. I am eager to see what Circle K has in store for the future!
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BONDfire Night by Natalie Mann On the second to last day of Week of Welcome, we had our annual Week of Awesomeness bonfire at Huntington Beach. Although setting up beforehand was rocky, the day was ultimately super fun for so many of us. We explored the beach and split up into teams (with our own name and cheer) for various games that Kristi coordinated. Afterwards we cooked hot dogs and had s'mores while enjoying the warmth of the fire. Lastly, we had a blindfolded trust activity to help instill our Circle K love and trust. The board members created a “human maze” for our new members to navigate through; if they needed help, all they had to do was ask. The rest of the night was spent singing songs, walking along the beach, and having great conversations! It was a really relaxing day and a great way to end the summer while celebrating the start of a school year with Circle K. Truly, it would not have been possible without the willingness of the board members and all of the planning Chai and Kristi did to put it all together!
Downtown Disney Scavenger Hunt
by Jessica Corrales
On Saturday, September 19th, CKI ended the Week of Awesomeness with a scavenger hunt in Downtown Disney. Our President Natalie and Vice President Hannah prepared an amazing and fun scavenger hunt, and put us into groups. After we had a group name and a group leader was picked, it was a race to the finish! The scavenger hunt required the groups to take a picture with an item we needed to find or a landmark we needed to locate in Downtown Disney. It’s probably safe to say a lot of selfies and group pictures were taken that day. The scavenger hunt took us all throughout Downtown Disney, from the ESPN Center all the way to the entrance of Disney’s California Adventure Park. The scavenger hunt showed us the importance collaboration is, and the importance of having fun while working together in a team makes the whole process even better. Another thing I’ve learned from this event is that it’s important to share each other’s strengths when collaborating. For example, the group that I was a part of had two people that knew the area of Downtown Disney very well, and when they helped us all combine our efforts together we became unstoppable and ultimately won the scavenger hunt. The winning team was treated to some delicious Beignets! It was an exciting and tasty end to a wonderful Week of Awesomeness! Thank you, Natalie and Hannah for the amazing scavenger hunt – and thank you to Chai and Nich for being such troopers at Sephora!
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Family Reveal Night
by Jessica Corrales
-Induction On October 2nd, CSULB Circle K, had their annual Member & Family Reveal Ceremony at the CSULB Soroptimist
House, which was decorated beautifully and glowing with lights. Semi-formal attire was requested of attendees, and all of the Circle K members looked absolutely stunning. The night started off with members casually conversing with each other and enjoying each other’s company. Each member was given an envelope, which they were instructed not to open until later, which made some curious and others more excited to peek into their envelope. The ceremony began shortly afterwards with Wanisa and Adriana recounting the tale of Hercules in portions, while emphasizing points of his journey pertaining to finding a place he could call home and identifying people he could call his friends and family. In-between the segments of Hercules’ story, there were many activities to partake in. The first activity was ‘Act and React’, where the tables each competed to have the best, most dramatic acting skills by performing a particular scenario that was whispered to them by another member at their table. The winning table had the opportunity to be served dinner before all of the other tables. After the ‘Act and React’ game, each table had the opportunity to eat some delicious dinner provided by the amazing board members. The board members were so gracious as to provide us with a variety of dinner options such as fried chicken, orange chicken, pizza, chow mein, white and fried rice, beef and broccoli, dumplings, soda, and Boba tea for the ceremony.
While everyone was enjoying a lovely and delicious dinner, our President Natalie Mann gave us a speech and told us about how much CSULB CKI has grown this year and announced that we are now 100 members strong! As Natalie ended her speech, she asked us to turn on our electric candles, which symbolized the light that was inside of us. Next, we had another activity in which members were grouped by school year, and asked to write four items on their envelopes. On the envelope we were asked to write our favorite drink, favorite country, favorite hobby, and favorite music. Afterwards, each group had to present a short story using all of the items listed on each member’s envelope. After long anticipation, we were instructed to open our envelopes. In the envelope, we found papers which contained a specific animal in a specific color. We had to locate the other members who had the same animals as us, such as ‘Goat’ or ‘Baby cat’ – no, not kitten. Once everyone had located the members with the same animals as them, Wanisa and Adriana announced that we had found our families! Not only did we discover which family we were in, but we also were paired with our mentor or mentees by the specific animal we had in our envelope. Thank you to Wanisa Jaikwang and Adriana Sanchez who spent a huge amount of time and effort into organizing the member induction and family reveal ceremony. Everyone enjoyed playing games together, enjoying the competitiveness, and discovering our CKI family and mentor or mentees. Thank you to all of the board members who contributed to this event and helped make it a magical night for the CSULB Circle K family. The ceremony had over forty attendees this year, and it was definitely made a special, unforgettable day that we all were introduced to our mentors, or mentees, and families.
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Dark Harbour at Queen Mary by Paula Le Dark Harbor was a social we had on October 22nd, a cold Thursday night! It's an event the Queen Mary puts on annually to celebrate the spooky atmosphere October implies. Despite the cold, the crowd that the event pulls in there's a lot of body heat. There were around six mazes, all with increasingly long lines. The first maze was one we entered with lowered guards, making it leave us with the scariest impression. The second maze was on the ship itself, and contained steep stairs which forced us to be careful while fearing for what may pop out from the shadows. Another maze involved a circus theme with tactile illusions such as a rotating bridge, a room covered in mirrors, and a ball pit. The final maze contained flashing lights and even sprinkling water that got us soaked. Even though some of the members were scared, it was still a super fun way to bond with everyone and know each other on a different level that other events don't give us the opportunity to do. My group went to get McDonald's afterwards, and it was delicious. I really do hope it's an annual social our club does every year, because it's unique to our location!
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CKI South by Sean Villaverde “Long Beach is in the house!” we cheered, and we really, really were. This year at Crazy Kompetition for Infants (CKI) South, CSULB Circle K brought over thirty members in four different teams, double as many as we had last year, to compete for kids in this colossal, district-wide fundraiser for the Pediatric Trauma Program. On Saturday, October 17th, the word of the day was “shirts” because every one of our teams had their own unique flavor: from the Cutie PatooBees with their bumblebee colors and Beach Pls with their tie dye-and-headband combo, to the oversized, highlightergreen minion T-shirts of Team Underdog and the French toast-adorned shirts of French Toast Mafia; Long Beach definitely went to war colorful this year. In our teams we played a variety of games like animal relay, jump rope, and intense rock paper scissors, and while none of our teams made it to the semifinals, there was definitely victory written on our hearts, minds, and souls that day, especially after hearing a fantastic speech from a representative of the Kiwanis Foundation about all the good we were doing by raising money for PTP. After CKI South many of our members went off to bond even more at family socials as well as the Metro Divisional Social at El Torito, all to top off a wonderful day full of Circle K.
Study Social by Aaron Delarosa
After every meeting, Circle K members would head straight to the Library in order to study for classes. For a first-timer, I never thought a study session with friends would actually make me concentrated to learn. However, I was surprisingly pleased to find out how productive I was during my time there. Aside from getting actual studies done, going to the social had two memorable aspects to it. First, some of the people gave me motivation/positivity throughout the event. We're all in college with difficult paths to accomplish; and getting a little emotional boost really helped me focus on my works. I also find it distracting to study in the comforts of my dorm; so studying somewhere in a suitable environment seems fit. Second, I felt as if there was a familial bond within the study social. Even though I was new to the club, the people there made me feel welcomed as if I've been apart of Circle K for a while. Throughout the time spent studying and socializing (goofing off to a certain extent), the Study Social is really a way for members to focus and enjoy their time.
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Voices of CSULB What service events do you like the most?
Feedback 1. More marathon and soup kitchen events 2. On campus and table top service events 3. Collaborating with another school or club for service events 4. Christmas and Thanksgiving services, such as a holiday food drive. homeless shelter, nursing homes, and hospitals 5. Beach Volleyball/Spikeball Hangout Social 6. More events that are not capped 7. Helping senior citizens (such as reading to them or entertaining them) 8. Volunteering at organizations that deal with LGBTQ* rights 9. Helping or donating items to a children’s hospital or to Hurricane Patricia 10. Writing thank you cards for veterans/care packages
Urban Community Outreach Meals On Wheels Tree Planting Compton Initiative Donation Sorting Beach Clean-ups Animal Shelter
11. I really enjoyed making dog toys out of old t-shirts during the CKI Key To College event, so maybe similar to that? 12. Longer services would be nice. Sometimes the 2-3 hours is a little short to me and a service marathon for the members would be super cool because I wanna rack in hours and die from service. 13. Janet and Georgina are the best people in the service committee. They have been working so hard and you won’t find anyone else that can do a better job than those two. 14. Y’all are doing great and the services CKI has been A++++ and we’re given plenty of notifications beforehand! I like how when we’re going to an event we’ll start a chat with us in it so there’s more of a sense of committment. 15. The events so far are really impacting the community positively and making a change!
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NOV UPCOMING EVENTS S
M
T
W
T
F Meals on Wheels
Study Social
1 2
Study Social
8
9
LA Brain Tumor Walk
3
4
5
Pet Literacy
10 11
12
Monday Night Mission Study Social
15
16
17
18
19
Study Social
22 Urban Community Outreach
23
Basic Needs Warehouse Friday, November 13, 9:00AM - 12:00PM Location: 7281 Garden Grove Blvd., Unit D, Garden Grove, CA 92841
Family Wars Friday, November 13 12:00 PM-3:00 PM Location: Whaley Park LA Brain Tumor Walk Sunday, November 15, 8:30 AM-10:30 AM Location: TBA
6
7
Basic Needs Warehouse Family Wars CSULB FTC
iDig Long Beach UCSD’s Masquerade Ball
Meals on Wheels Help Me Help You
Metro DCM
13
14
20
21
Monday Night Mission
24
25
26
27
28
Study Social
29
CSULB FTC Friday, November 13 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Location: HSCI 103
S
30 Metro DCM Saturday, November 21st 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Location: USC
Study Social Monday, November 2, 9, 16, 23 7:00PM - ? Location: CSULB Library Basement
Help Me Help You Friday, November 20 12:30 PM - 3:30 PM Location: Stevenson Elementary School 515 Lime Ave, Long Beach
Monday Night Mission Monday, November 16 Friday, November 27, w Location: 700 W. Cesar Chavez Ave., L.A, CA 90012
UCSD’s Masquerade Ball Saturday, November 14 6:00 PM - ? Location: San Diego National History Museum
IKEA Photo Scavenger Hunt Thursday, November 19 6:00 PM-? Location: 20700 Avalon Blvd., Carson, CA
Pet Literacy Tuesday, November 10 12:00 PM-2:00 PM Location: 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach, CA
Meals on Wheels November 6 and 7 7:30 AM - 10:30 AM Location: 317 Termino Ave
Run Like It’s Recess Walk Sunday, November 8 7:00 AM - 12:00 PM Location: El Dorado Park
Dig Long Beach Saturday, November 14 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Location: Garfield Elementary School 2240 Baltic Ave., Long Beach, CA
Urban Community Outreach Sunday, November 29 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM Location: 241 Cedar Ave., Long Beach, CA
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SO FAR...
2508.3 SERVICE HOURS
$490.38
FUNDS RAISED FOR PEDIATRIC TRAUMA PREVENTION
$251.00
FUNDS RAISED FOR KIWANIS FAMILY HOUSE
$70.00
FUNDS RAISED FOR THE ELIMINATE PROJECT
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“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!”
Written Credit Natalie Mann Richelle Son Jessica Corrales Andy Kim Nina Pham Wyleen Olaes Paula Le Sean Villaverde Abril Burstein Photo Credit Andy Kim Joseph Covarubias Jackie Cabrera
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 1. Submit articles to csulbckipublicrelations@gmail.com. 2. Articles should be around 1-2 paragraphs long. Please be as detailed as possible. For major events such as DCON, they should be around 3-4 paragraphs long. 3. Include any any relevant photos if necessary. Photos should be high quality and have good composition.
Thank You 31
contact President Natalie Mann csulbckipresident @gmail.com (714) 875-4794
Vice President Hannah Trinh csulbckivpa @gmail.com (714) 515-2382
VPS Janet Haro csulbservicevp @gmail.com (909) 332-8839
Secretary Richelle Son csulbckisecretary @gmail.com (657) 206-9438
MD&E Wanisa Jaikwang csulbckimde @gmail.com (951) 691-3026
MD&E Adriana Sanchez csulbckimde @gmail.com (323) 835-4614
Service Georgina Corral csulbckiservice @gmail.com (650) 518-1546
Historian/Scrapbook Jackie Cabrera csulbckiscrapbook @gmail.com (424) 264-7508
Social/Spirit Kristi Parada csulbckisocialspirit chair@gmail.com (650) 248-3439
Treasurer Nicholas Dinh csulbckitreasurer @gmail.com (714) 251-3382
Technology Sean Villaverde csulbckitech @gmail.com (562) 310-7137
Cinematographer Public Relations Public Relations Joseph Covarubias Michelle Chung Anthony White csulbckicinematographer csulbckipublic csulbckipublic @gmailcom relations@gmail.com relations@gmail.com (562) 900-2481 (909)-270-0398 (650) 922-0168
Find Us on Social Media
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https://instagram.com/csulbcki
csulbcirclek@gmail.com http://www.csulbcki.org/