Owl Orations April 2019 Volume 1 Issue 1

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 TEXAS OKLAHOMA REGION 9 DIVISION 2C

OWL ORATIONS

april THE OFFICIAL GARLAND HIGH SCHOOL KEY CLUB NEWSLETTER

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T H I S

I S S U E

year in review and note from the president

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upcoming events

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MEP promotion

articles

service project promotion

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M E S S A G E

F R O M

club officers

T H E

contact us

district staff

E D I T O R

Hey there, Key Clubbers!

Happy April! Tiffany, Alina and I just had a groovy time at the 70th Annual TexasOklahoma District Convention! However, we are back to work and ready to plan for the following year. Let's get this bread, you guys.

Since we are about ready to welcome a new chapter, make sure to set some new goals. One goal that I have for the upcoming chapter as an editor is to have 100% participation in monthly newsletters. It is important to remind yourself, club, and district about new changes that will be taking place in order to foster a productive year. How can we make this year better than the last? Another factor to consider is communication. With a new board ahead, we must effectively communicate our goals to each other and to all members to get them done. Sadly, this is my first and last newsletter as the GHS Key Club editor. Don't worry though! I'll still be around.

All in all, I am ecstatic to make memories TOgether and I hope you're looking forward to the next year. Editor, signing off.

Yours in Service,

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Vivian Thai vivianthai@outlook.com

W WE E II V VE ER R N N II R RA AE EY Y A A N O T E

F R O M

T H E

president

To all of my fellow Key Clubbers,

T I F F A N Y

D O A N

I hope you know me by now but my name is Tiffany Doan, and I’ll be serving as your Key Club President for the school year of 2019-2020. This is my first personal note to you all out of many more, and I want it to be a good one. First off, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to lead our chapter to a brighter future and beginning anew with a fresh start. I have many goals that I wish to accomplish including decreasing the fee to attend DCON, helping out with a chosen Major Emphasis Project, and chartering a Builder’s Club in a local middle school.

However, I can’t fulfill all of these goals without everyone’s help because, together, we will reach new heights and set a standard for upcoming generations. Also here’s another reminder: as the year ends, don’t overstress yourself with testings and always remember that you still have your Key Club family to support you ;)

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UPCOMING

EVENTS

May 2nd: Officer meeting May 9th: General meeting May 16th: Officer meeting May 17th: Hillside Academy Spring Fling 5 to 8 pm 2014 Dairy Rd, Garland, TX 75041 May 23rd: General meeting May 30th: Last day of school!

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K E Y

C L U B ' S b y

I M P A C T

T i f f a n y

Starting freshman year, I came into Key Club with no real goals besides hanging out with my friends. I appeared altruistic to those around me, but I was more like a sheep that followed others. To my mother’s joy, I eventually developed a backbone and made my own decisions rather than repping the common phrase of “monkey see, monkey do”. However, this wouldn’t have been possible had I not joined Key Club.

When I first moved to an academy in my early elementary school days, it was a very sudden change in my life that caused me to become socially awkward, a change that carried on until high school rolled along. "

I

A s

I

e n t e r e d

w a n t e d

w i t h

t o

t h i s

h i g h

d o

s c h o o l ,

“ s o m e t h i n g ”

n e w

e r a

i n

m y

O N

M E

D o a n

wanted to help others in my future career and this club has continuously solidify this idea. Seeing others smiling and having fun during volunteering events create such joy in myself that it makes me feel wrong for feeling this happy. These reactions are exactly what I want to produce in others as I pursue a career in the medical field. It’s important to me that people are not in pain.

I want them to feel relief and bliss just like those that I see at volunteering events.

Service has personally become a way for me to take time off during my busy days and focus on other essential things in life such as helping others in need. I feel so different when I volunteer, and it’s an experience that I want to share with others.

Hopefully, the members in Garland High School will develop similar thoughts, and we can make new life skills and learn new life lessons in this club together.

l i f e . "

I wanted to be part of the school environment, and so I decided to join Key Club. Immediately, when I attended the first meeting, I realized that this club would probably be an influential part of my life.

There were so many students that were kind and accepting, and it was easy to interact with them. As I continued to attend each meeting as well as volunteering events, I was able to develop closer bonds with these people that were once strangers a few months ago.

My freshman year as well as my sophomore year in Key Club have went by quickly but not without teaching me some important things. I’ve always known that I h o t

c h o c o l a t e

r u n !

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M Y

G O A L S

A S

G A R L A N D b y

A l i n a

T H E

K E Y

V P

O F

C L U B

D a m

As the Vice President of Garland High School Key Club, I feel it is my privilege to be able to communicate with all Key Clubbers and report to the the President and the other officers. As a person who loves to communicate and help people, I intend on relaying all information and inquiries of my classmates to the President and the other officers, so if you ever need anything, I will be more than happy to talk!

Some things I am currently planning for our organization this year are discovering more volunteer opportunities, showing more school spirit, and recruiting more people. I will search for more volunteer opportunities and present them in our event sign up sheet so that all Key Clubbers will be able to volunteer anywhere whenever they have free time in their schedules. By offering more volunteer opportunities, Key Club members will have more chances to earn hours and help their surrounding community! I would also like to provide more club hours and make volunteer events more local, such as volunteering at a nursing home or helping out other Garland ISD schools.

In addition, as high schoolers, I believe that it is extremely important to always show school spirit and always support our school! High school is a once in a lifetime experience and we should all be living it!

Such school spirit duties that we’ve already taken in support for our school include decorating doors for

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homecoming this upcoming week and sell ing concessions at football games. I believe that with more school spirit and more Key Club pride, we will be successful in recruit ing more members! I aspire to expand our horizons by gathering more members and, as a result, expanding our ideas and abilities to volunteer at certain events. Key Club is an organization for everyone and it would be amazing if our organization is larger.

I also want to accomplish the integration of students from regulars, AP, and IB classes to diversify our club. As they say, the more the merrier, right? To alleviate dues and host more socials to improve our bond as Key Clubbers, I will also push to create more fundraising opportunities for our club, such as hosting a jeopardy game show and maybe even doing selling “Owl-grams” or “Kiss (like the candy) a Senior Good-bye gifts".

One of my top goals for our club next year is to be recognized as one of TexasOklahoma’s Top 25 Clubs. In order to do so, I will constantly be checking up on our secretary, who should be sending in minutes to the district, and editor, who should be sending in our newsletter to the district. In addition, I will guarantee that our website stays updated, looks professional, and is accessible, which will not only allow us to gain points for our club but also to stay in touch with Garland Key Clubbers.

riddle time!

Why is the letter A most like a flower?

Because the B is after it

Key Club is defined as a program to empower and serve the community as citizens. As a result, I believe that all Key Clubbers are leaders in our organization.

Each and every Key Clubber should be able to speak freely and thoroughly explain his ideas to his fellow classmates and the Key Club officers confidently, and I strongly underscore this action because everyone in the organization has an equally important voice. Next year, I really want to put the committees in full force and these committees will allow Key Clubbers to speak up about what they want to improve in our Key Club. In the best of my abilities, I will guarantee that these voices will be heard when it is being discussed with the officers. As the Vice President, I aspire to make our Key Club better by incorporating everybody’s ideas into the program and broadening our horizons!

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A

P R I C E L E S S b y

The teenagers of 2019 care about the world. They care about overseas conflict, they care about gun violence, they care about the stock market, and most of all, they care about their community. They so badly want to do something about all of this, but they feel helpless. For so long, I was one of these teenagers. However, the ambitious young people I have met through Key Club have shown me that youth and inexperience is no excuse for not contributing to society.

Their influence has shattered this feeling of helplessness.

I have often volunteered with Key club at events spearheaded by young people.

These people have shown me that I can make

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T i s h a

a change in my community. I don’t have to wait for other people to create volunteer events for me to volunteer in to make a change. I can create these events myself. They didn’t let their age act as a barrier for success, so why should I let it be one for me? Additionally, the Garland High school Key Club officers have been amazing role models for me. Every single one of them is intelligent, ambitious, kind, and incredibly impressive. They are the kind of young people that will be important to society in the future and have something to contribute. This is the kind of person I strive to be. Surrounding myself with Key Club friends has enabled me to learn from their good habits.

These friends push me to be better and do better, for myself, and for others.

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I N F L U E N C E G a u t a m

They constantly shift the boundaries of what a teenager is capable of and, in the process, encourage me to do the same thing for other people. By surrounding myself with the best, I am pushed to become one of them. I can never be grateful enough for this.

Thanks to the incredible friends I have made through Key Club, I have redefined my own limits and allowed myself to grow. I have learned that youth is no limit to what I am capable of. The influence of your peers during your formative teen years is critical to your character as an adult. Key club has helped ensure that this influence will be a positive one. Complacency is no longer something that I can comfortably experience.

" I know that I want to leave my mark on the world, and that’s no easy feat. Why not start early? "

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P L A N S b y

F O R J a k e

Hello Key Clubbers! Thanks for electing me as webmaster for the 2019-2020 school year! I’ve learned a lot from being webmaster last year and I hope to make this year even better. Last year there were many changes to how our club was run. Things became more organized in order to fix the mistakes that were made the previous year.

This made hours a little more scarce and limited our budget, but this year we’re going to fix these things.

This year I plan to add many things to the website in addition to the many features that already exist. Right now, there is a calendar, our Key Club twitter feed, our monthly newsletters (thanks to our editor), and the powerpoints from general meetings.

Make sure you check the website for these things often because new events are posted all of the time. In addition to the powerpoints, committee agendas and minutes (a transcript) from board meetings will be posted to keep all members updated on what happens behind the scenes. These will be a standard from now on for all meetings on the website.

Many members have requested for an easier way to view their hours. Currently, volunteer hours are recorded on a large spreadsheet that shows all grade levels and all events for the entire year that included every member’s name and ID number. This makes it difficult to look through and find all of the events that you have earned hours for

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T H I S

Y E A R

W e n d l i n g

and may lead to some confusion and a lack of privacy. In the near future, hours will be posted on the website where you can login and have a more specialized view of every event you have attended. Hours will be needed to be submitted on the website along with the usual prompts that follow. Lastly, member attendance will be posted on the website too, so make sure you attend all of the meetings!

If you are ever curious to see what exactly changed last year, the new bylaws will be published on the website once they are completed. We are waiting to see if we need to make any final changes to them before we submit them to the office. One problem we had last year was a lack of pictures from the events our members went to. This year we hope you all take more pictures with your fellow members while you are having fun and helping your community.

The more we have, the better our website, newsletters, and scrapbook can look.

Thank you for listening to my plans for this year. I know this year will be an improvement upon last year. Don’t forget to check the website (garlandhskeyclub.com) and don't forget to take more pictures!

R E F L E C T I O N I N b y

K E Y

O F

I have volunteered previously in my life. As a class officer, I've had to contribute to many school events such as homecoming, prom, and several fundraisings. However, as a Key Club member, I’ve gotten the opportunity of volunteering amongst my closest friends. I still remember my first major volunteering experience in Key Club. It was the Turkey Trot marathon that I realized how much fun volunteering truly is. Although it was very cold and windy that morning, I still had fun helping because I was surrounded by people I love.

Throughout the year I’ve met and gained so many friends through this club that I’ve otherwise would have never met. It’s

Y E A R

C L U B

N a l l e l y

This year has been my first year in Key Club and I’m so thankful to myself for joining.

I’ve previously had friends in Key Club but I was never interested enough to join. I would hear my friends saying that they are volunteering on a certain day and that they need hours so often. The thought of having to acquire 25 hours each semester scared me, I thought it was impossible to fit that into my schedule as a full IB student and member of multiple other clubs. However, at the beginning of my junior year I was encouraged to join. As a new member, I was kind of apprehensive because there was a lot of new people I’ve never seen before.

M Y

M a c i e l

taught me how to be a better friend and person overall. I’ve learned how much an impact I can make in my community and that no matter how insignificant my actions may seem on a large scale, I have the potential to do anything I want. In this club you can truly feel unstoppable because there’s so many opportunities and things that you can do to help make the world a better place for everyone.

Coming in this year as a new member, I would have never thought that I would be an officer for the following school year. I didn’t know how much I would enjoy being a Key Club member AND gaining the Historian position. I’m so glad and thankful that now I can contribute and be more dedicated to this precious club because it has truly changed my outlook on my community and myself.

I’m so excited for next year as a Key club Historian and my second year of being able to be part of such a great club.

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M Y

F I R S T b y

A l b e r t

L O V E Y a n g

In the past they always told me about their fondest memories of the Key Club, so this got me interested.After paying my dues to join, I still wasn’t particularly interested in the club. This was partly due to me not going to many events that year. What really changed my idea of Key Club was once “Freshman Rep” elections began. Hopeful to get this position I prepared a speech, and to my surprise I actually won! This gave me an opportunity to work with the years officers.

Not only did I get to work with upperclass men, but I also got to meet a lot of other people in the club too. This really opened my eyes to the diversity of the club, I talked to people that I would’ve never talked to beforehand. This made me look forward to staying after school on Tuesday for a meeting. To my surprise I actually cherished a club, that I was kinda forced into joining; The first time I went to a Key Club especially because the requirement of meeting I wasn’t exactly interested in the the time needed in the club. Without the club, not to mention I didn’t have friends in people I met or the friends I made that year, this club either. My main reason for coming I would’ve never thought that Key Club to the meeting was because of my sister.

Two years prior when I was a seventh grader was be my favorite club at Garland High School! Key Club has given me so many my sister was president of Key Club, in opportunities, now I look forward into addition to that my eldest sister was fulfilling my role as this year’s treasurer! president before that.

Well my first year of high school was anything but exciting. I was just starting to get into the routine of things, wake up, go to school, come home, eat, and sleep. What I was looking forward to the most was to finally come home and take a nap. I never stayed after school until I had to stay for tutorials or anything of the sort. My first thought at 2:30 was “FINALLY SCHOOL IS OVER!” I wasn’t involved with after school activities, because frankly I never cared for them.

"I only did what I considered necessary, which was school work.

That was until I joined Key Club, my first club. "

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reach us! @ Garland High School Key Club

@garlandkeyclub

Text @garlandkey to 81010

Google Classroom Code: 6P2BCM

issuu.com/garlandhskeyclub

garlandhskeyclub@gmail.com

garlandhskeyclub.com

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M A J O R

E M P H A S I S

P R O M O T I O N

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S E R V I C E

P R O J E C T :

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2 0 1 9 - 2 0 2 0

club officers

P R E S I D E N T

T i f f a n y

D o a n

T R E A S U R E R

A l b e r t

Y a n g

W E B M A S T E R

J a k e

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W e n d l i n g

V I C E

P R E S I D E N T

A l i n a

D a m

E D I T O R

K a t e l y n

C L U B

M o r g a n

T r a n

A D V I S O R

S h a e f f e r

S E C R E T A R Y

T i s h a

G a u t a m

H I S T O R I A N

N a l l e l y

M a c i e l

2 0 1 9 - 2 0 2 0

district staff

D I S T R I C T

G O V E R N O R

A s h n a

P a t e l

E D I T O R

V i v i a n

T h a i

S E C R E T A R Y

K a r e e n a

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T R E A S U R E R

P a t e l

D I V I S I O N

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B u i

K a t h e r i n e

R E G I O N

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D e n n i s

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D I S T R I C T

A S S I S T A N T

A S S I S T A N T

A D M I N I S T R A T O R

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A D M I N I S T R A T O R

K e n y o n

B l a c k

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K e l l y

P o l a n d

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" T h e

f i n d

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y o u r s e l f

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s e r v i c e

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o t h e r s . "

M a h a t m a

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G a n d i