Owl Orations May 2019 Volume 1 Issue 2

may

OWL ORATIONS Texas-Oklahoma Region 9, Division 2C Volume 1, Issue No. 2

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF GARLAND HIGH SCHOOL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Monthly Review, Note from the President

Service Partner Promotions

Upcoming Events

Contact Us

Articles

Club and District Officers Information

Note from the Editor

Hey, Key Clubbers!

As we head into summer vacation, I want to congratulate all of you on a successful school year. The officers were so kind to nominate me to be a part of the board, and I'm incredibly honored to be your new 2019-2020 Key Club editor! Vivian Thai, our former club editor, was recently elected as our Texas-Oklahoma district editor, and although we are sad about her departure, we couldn't be more thrilled to see what it's store for her.

School might be coming to a close, but that doesn't mean your ambition for service has to end as well. Over the summer, volunteer at your local food shelter or even donate toys to kids at hospitals. A small act of kindness can make a great difference. Set new goals for the coming year on how you can improve as a Key Clubber. Do you want to go to more volunteer events next school year? Maybe run for an officer position? Attend DCON? Yours in Service,

Katelyn Tran

katelyntran818@gmail.com

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WEIVER YLHTNOM Note from the President To all of my fellow Key Clubbers, 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 2019-2020 school year. 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 and always remember that you still have your Key Club family to support you ;)

Tiffany Doan tiffanydoan12@gmail.com

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UPCOMING EVENTS Last Day of School (5/30) Enjoy your summer off, and we can't wait to see you again next school year!

Bridge the gap between Key Club, Kiwanis, and Builders Club! The meeting will be at Fish N' Tails Oyster Bar at 12 pm.

Divisional Council Meeting (6/25)

Kiwanis Clothing Closet (6/11)

Join our LTG Katherine Bui at Mudleaf Coffee to learn more about officer roles, LTG projects, and join community service projects with other schools in our region!

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Garland Kiwanis Meeting (6/4, 6/18)

Come volunteer at the Five Loaves Food Pantry in Sachse at 6 pm. We'll see you there!

LAST MEETING Hello, Key Clubbers! It's been a wonderful school year this year, but unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

To wrap up the school year, I planned a frozen yogurt social before our last Key Club meeting. We presented a variety of frozen yogurt flavors, such as strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate, and offered many topping to our members. They definitely went ham with the whipped cream and gummy bears.

At the last meeting, seniors recited the Key Club pledge their very last time with us.

We presented seniors who have attained at least 50 hours with their cords, and gave them along with freshman, sophomore, and junior members, a Key Club certificate, ID card, and a cute little Key Club pin. We are so sad to see them leave their owl's nest at Garland High School, but we are so proud of all of their achievements and service to our community, We were also able to consolidate our theme for the 2019-2020 school year: Space!

Our theme will be implemented in our homecoming door decorations, our scrapbook, and t-shirts that we will present for competition at DCON in April 2020, and maybe even our website and PowerPoints.

In regards to our t-shirt, members and officers voted for a design and we all settled on a metro blue t-shirt with purple accentÂ

and illustrations related to space. On the back, it states that "Our love for service is out of this world!" It's super cute and I am so glad that everyone is happy with the design.

I can't wait to register the shirt for competition at DCON next year and hopefully win a prize for best shirt!

We also announced updated for the following school year. We will be further enforcing submitting volunteer hours by requiring memebers to submit a picture of them engaged in service along with their volunteer hours form. To accommodate for Key Clubbers who are also in National Honor Society, we have shifted our general meetings to the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month (unless otherwise indicates) and our board meetings to the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month.

I've had so much fun learning more about y'all this year. For all current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, I hope that we strengthen our passion for service and our teamsmanship next year. For seniors, I wish you the best of luck on our endeavors and can't wait to hear about all of your successes and accomplishments in your prosperous future.

Alina Dam, Treasurer

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my plans for next

SCHOOL YEAR

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It's finally summer and there's many things that the officers and I want to change for the following school year. Looking back at this year it's been pretty great with all the new things I've experienced and the new friends I've made. I'm so excited for next school year because I'm going to be a senior and I'll be able to lead many new members next school year.

For the following school year the officers and I thought it would be a great idea to implant a point system. A point system is great for certain activities that we can't necessarily gain hours for. I think this will make many more people participate because theya re getting rewarded for thei work and contribution. Points will be rewarded to those who work concessions at football games or help out during CANstructuion and other similar activities like that. We don't really know what the

reward for points will be but I feel like they should be able to be translated to hours if they want. Hopefully this new system works and many more people participate in club activities.

Another aspect that I want to prioritize more is socials. We kind of lacked in the socials aspect this year because there wasn't much planning for them. I think it would be fun to go to a picnic when there is nice weather outside or simply just go out to eat to chat with all of the members. The interaction among all members is something we lack but I can definitely see it improving the following school year.

Overall I'm very excited for the following school year because its going to be my last year at Garland High School. These past three years have been rough but I've managed to make the best of it. Seeing all the seniors graduate this past weekend really awakened me and I can't believe I'm going to be one of them in a year from now.

I'm excited to create new memories that I can hold onto even after high school ends.

Next year is going to e full of many lasts and I'm excited that I'm a part of Key Club because it allows me to meet new people and always open my eyes to new experiences. I can't wait for what the future holds for me and the future of out club.

Nallely Maciel, Historian

WHAT IS KEY C LUB?

What many people ask when concerned with Key Club is what is it? Key Club is an international organization first created in Sacramento, California in 1925 with the goals to give opportunities to students after school to haelp their community. Throughout your time participating in Key Club events, you begin yo learn a lot of different qualities. One id leadership development. How you begin to develop your leadership skills is by constantly working with others.

Being able to organize a large group of members without getting overwhelmed takes a lot of skill. You have to be able to simultaneously watch multiple members at a time and make sure no one gets confused.

Not only that but if you hold a high officer position you have to be able to work with others to organize volunteering opportunities.

Being able to communicate to others to finalize a run or homecoming decorations requires you to be organized as well. The main qualities that you learn from joining Key Club is leadership and being organized.

Without being part of Key Club, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I have learned many key aspects of being a leader, as well as being organized. Despite only being a historian, I've realized that my title doesn't mean much, but rather what I do creates more of an impact. This is my third year being an active member of Key Club, so I've learned

the ropes around the club. This gives me a way to help incoming freshman having trouble. I'm able to do the same my seniors have done for me: guide them! Hopefully as I continue to be an active member of Key Club until graduation (which is only a year away!)

I'll be able to help more and more incoming members, so they'll continue to be as passionate as I am with Key Club. When everyone is given the same amount of opportunities to volunteer this will create a more fun environment, in which many different people will be at every event.

This great organization has taught me how to be extremely organized, despite during the year when things get a lil' crazy!

I've also learned new responsibilities in which I have to uphold or else it affects everyone around me because of my mistake!

This has created many learning experiences, so I'll make sure not to to the same thing twice.

Albert Yang, Treasurer

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WEBSITE UPDATE Hello, Key Clubbers! It's been a great first month of this Key Club 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 things.

This year I added many things to the website in addition to the many features that already existed. 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 agendas and minutes (a transcript) from board meetings will be posted to keep all the members updated on what happens behind the scenes. these will be a standard form now on for all meetings on the website.

Many members have requested for an easier way to view 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 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 log in and have a more specialized view of every event that 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 have been published on the website. A new meeting archive page has been officially added. Check the page if you ever forget what happened during a meeting. Also, the new officer bios have been posted, so be sure to check them out.

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 out our club's updated website and don't forget to take more pictures!

Jake Wendling, Webmaster

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CHECK US OUT AT

garlandhskeyclub.com

Why Key Club?

In high schools all over the nation, incoming freshman are inundated with a wide variety of clubs, electives, and organizations that are all vying for their membership. But in this case, the multitude of options can make it harder to choose and distinguish between the various clubs. So what makes Key Club different than all of the other organizations that require service hours? Why Key Club?

At its core, Key Club is a service organization that is open to any student that is willing to serve. It is not only for people with a high GPA, a certain career goal, or passion for a specific issue. Students with different talents. life goals, passions, political opinions, personalities, and backgrounds all serve side by side in Key Club. Instead of uniting a group of students around a shared characteristic, they are united around a shared goal of service. As a result, members of Key Club have the invaluable opportunity to interact and connect with people different than themselves over the shared goal of improving their community. This is something that not many other organizations can claim.

Key Club has ample opportunities for students to hold meaningful positions of leadership. Facilitating student leadership is not unique to Key Club, but Key Club's leadership positions stand out from the crowd. In addition to the typical duties of a high school club officer, like designing tshirts, conducting meetings, and collecting dues, a Key Club officer has the opportunity to have a direct impact on their community, For example, the officers are the ones seeking out meaningful service opportunities in their community for their members. Key Club chapters even create their own service initiatives, which are spearheaded by the officers.

Lastly few other high school organizations can claim the same type of global reach as

Key Club. There are Key Club chapters all over the United States, Jamaica, and Canada. This network of service becomes even larger when the other members of the Kiwanis family are considered. A network this extensive lends itself to countless opportunities for collaboration. Additionally, this global reach means that Key Club has an extensive hierarchy of officers from all over the world. Not only can Key Club members be leaders of their own high school, but they also have the opportunity to run for a higher officer position and preside over multiple Key Club chapters.

Due to Key Club's uniting goal of service, meaningful leadership opportunities, and global reach, it stands among the crowd of service organizations. It is an essential part of the high school experience for its members.

Tisha Gautam, Secretary

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MY KEY CLUB STORY HUMANS OF TEXAS-OKALHOMA

When I stepped foot into my first Key Club meeting during my freshman year, I didn't know it at the time but my life goal and experience would drastically change. Each year that I have been in this club, there has been different meanings added to my life; freshman year I would learn the importance of friendship, and sophomore year I would learn the importance of leadership. As I continuously immerse myself in the world of Key Club, I quickly realized that I have made the right decision joining that fateful day.

To begin understanding the experience that Key Club has given me, it's best to start talking about my first year in this family. Last year was the beginning of my journey in understanding the meaning of friendship. Since middle school, I have

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always been rather shy when interacting with other people, but Key Club has changed that. In this club, everyone is kind and dedicated to their work.

However, they are also fun to speak to and easy to become friends with. I kept coming back to meetings because of the people that are in it, and I became close with multiple of them. They inspire me to do good in my life, but they also improve me as a person. I became more motivated with coming to volunteer events and fin these events more enjoyable because I am able to help the community alongside people that I have found a connection with. Friendship is not only limited to those within our school, however, because Key Club also gave me the opportunity to see those in other schools as well as the people that we were helping. I was able to expand my narrow-mindedness and understand

that the world included many people outside of my own school. I spoke with students who don't have the same high school experience as me, but I realized that we were all very similar because of our unity through service. Additionally, I was able to talk with older generations, such as the Kiwanians, who are much wiser than I am. They've taught me many things, and I hope to attend more Kiwanis meetings to continue helping my city. By being a part a Key Club, I have learned an indispensable lesson about creating deep relationships with those around me, and this lesson will always remain with me.

Moving on to my sophomore year, Key Club caused me to start developing a habit of going outside my comfort zone. I had gained a sense of security in key Club from my freshman year, and this helped me run for the role of secretary, which I ended up getting with the support of my newly-founded friends!

During this past year as secretary, I was able to absorb so much material. I attended my first board meeting ever because this was also my first leadership position, and I was able to see other leaders in action. Being on the board has been such an eye-opening experience because it allows me to see the inner workings of a club. However, the most inspiring event that I attended this year was DCON. Some of my fellow Key Clubbers were vying for a district position, and perhaps it was me being a bandwagoner, but I became interested in running as will and applied as a candidate. When I arrived at DCON though, I realized, "Wow, these people are dedicated to service and this could be seen by their acts of good deeds. some of them have created non-profits, organized fundraisers for charity, and even went beyond the field of service.

Despite being a little intimidated, I carried through with caucusing, and I

can't explain it but caucusing reminded me of the lyrics "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" by Kelly Clarkson.

I'm glad that I did it, but it was definitely tough! When I came back from DCON, I felt stronger and more confident, and I hope that translates when I fully embrace the role of president next year.

Key Club has been an important aspect in my life because of the opportunities and morals it has given me. I now understand the depth of friendship and leadership through this club, and it will always remain in my heart because of the message it stands for ("Caring - our way of life"). The journey is only the beginning, and I know that I'll continue learning life lessons and I can't wait!

Tiffany Doan, President

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12 MAJOR EMPHASIS PROJECT PROMOTIONS

SERVICE PROJECT PROMOTION

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CONTACT US @ Garland High School Key Club

@garlandkeyclub garlandhskeyclub@gmail.com Google Classroom Code: 6p2bcm

Text @garlandkey to 81010

issuu.com/garlandhskeyclub

garlandhskeyclub.com

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2019 2020 District Officers

DISTRICT GOVERNOR Ashna Patel governor@tokeyclub.com

SECRETARY Kareena Patel secretary@tokeyclub.com

TREASURER Katherine Chao treasurer@tokeyclub.com

EDITOR Vivian Thai editor@tokeyclub.com

LTG DIVISION 2C Katherine Bui ltg2C@tokeyclub.com

CONVENTION LIAISON Dillion Grisham cl@tokeyclub.com

TECH PRODUCER Lacey Thomas techassistant@tokeyclub.com

REGION 9 ADVISOR Connor Rubrecht region9@tokeyclub.com

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR Kenyon Black administrator@tokeyclub.com

ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR Ryan Edmoundson AAFinance@tokeyclub.com

ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR Kelly Poland AAEvents@tokeyclub.com

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2019 2020

Club Officers

PRESIDENT Tiffany Doan tiffanydoan12@gmail.com

VICE PRESIDENT Alina Dam alinalandam@gmail.com

SECRETARY Tisha Gautam tishagautam@gmail.com

TREASURER Albert Yang yangralbert@gmail.com

EDITOR Katelyn Tran katelyntran818@gmail.com

HISTORIAN Nallely Maciel Nallelymaciel75@gmail.com

Give your hands to

WEBMASTER Jake Wendling wendljac000@students.garlandisd.net

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CLUB ADVISOR Morgan Shaeffer mshaeffer@garlandisd.net

SERVE, and your hearts to LOVE. ~ Mother Teresa

CARING our way of life.