Owl Orations February 2021 Volume 2 Issue 7

garland high school key club

february

owl orations

volume 2 issue 7 region 8 division 2s

TABLE OF CONTEN TS 3- message from the president

4- monthly recap

6- upcoming events

8- meet your new officers

10- ledcon info

12- key club info

13- articles

16- major emphasis 19- contact info

20- district officers

21- club officers

a message from the president

03

Hey Key Clubbers!

While this month had a couple of unexpected turns, it was still relatively eventful in a good way. We completed a district challenge early this month- the donation of valentine's cards to foster childrenwhich was pretty exciting. It is also expected that we will be able to complete March’s challenge as well. Another exciting thing is that we had our elections this month. A big congratulations to our 2021-2022 board members: Walter Padilla as President, Elijah Quilantang as Secretary, Bethany Tran as Editor, Sydney Nguyen as Webmaster, and Thy Doan as Historian! All of the candidates are well qualified and I have zero doubts about their qualifications for the positions. This is great timing since LEDCON is coming up in April and with the amount of time given, we should be able to efficiently train the new board and switch off by then. Everything other than our YOF project is on track, so it looks like it will be pushed as a priority goal to accomplish before the year officially ends. Looking forward to the next month, per usual.

Yours in Service, as always,

Christine Nguyen

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Mission Statement Key Club is an international, student-led organization that provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character and develop leadership.

We Are Global Key Club is a growing organization with global reach. With 1000s of clubs in more than 38 countries, the impact of Key Club members can be felt all over the world.

We Learn Through Action High school student members of Key Club perform acts of service in their communities, such as cleaning up parks, collecting clothing and organizing food drives. They also learn leadership skills by running meetings, planning projects and holding elected leadership positions at the club, district and international levels.

Core Values - Leadership » Leadership is grounded in humility and service to others.

A true leader listens, recognizes, and empowers.

- Character building » Character is built by everyday acts of kindness, integrity and teamwork to grow stronger relationships and communities.

- Caring » Compassion for others is a cornerstone of the Key Club experience, inspiring action and service to one’s community.

- Inclusiveness » We welcome people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to join in serving and making a positive difference in our world

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CHOOSING KEY CLUB

By Kevin Lam, Treasurer The one thing I love about Garland High School is it’s abundance of clubs. The one club that catered to my interests, however, was Key Club due to its focus on community service and working with others. Many clubs have a specific focus which can cause certain groups to be left behind, but Key Club’s general approach and broad community service reaches out to everyone regardless of their situation. Prior to joining Key Club, I never really found myself volunteering too much - especially in school situations. Therefore, it was a new and exciting experience to work with peers and friends with whom I’ve rarely interacted with outside of the classroom setting. Along the way, I’ve also worked in various events that expanded my horizons and granted me the opportunity to experience new things that I never would have expected myself to do such as working in food pantries, helping in a community garden, or helping out local elementary schools. In addition to the experiences in volunteering, Key Club is also part of a grander organization that has a focus on volunteering as well. In turn, I can continue my journey in Key Club outside of high school and possibly into college and adulthood.

As a result, I can make new connections and meet new people who share my similar interests, especially that of community service. Key Club can also help build long term relationships and skills as well. From learning to work with strangers to performing unfamiliar tasks, they all give you experience in the real world. Learning to perform said acts of community service all contribute to making a better, more humanitarian oriented person. That is why I joined Key Club in the end.

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THIS MONTH- IN SHORT

By Christine Nguyen, President

This was a relatively chaotic month, with the snow, the blackouts, and other issues in relation to it, however, there was still time for meetings and overall relation of information to the members. Not going to lie, this was an uneventfully eventful month.

Most of our hour opportunities have been online- from Zooniverse to FreeRice.com. Zooniverse is science orientated- volunteers would work on projects and submit them into the platform, according to how many classifications they complete, they’d earn an hour for it. For the FreeRice, volunteers were to answer vocabulary questions to earn grains to rice, and with each amount of grains donated, they would earn an hour.

The utilization of these platforms allowed for our volunteers- especially those unable to attend events- to participate and serve a community greater than just our local area. One of the only in-person events that we had this month was a Valentine Card/Goodie Bag Making event that involved volunteers designing construction paper cards and the donation of candy. The bags were then sent off to children in a local foster care facility in Garland.

Since LEDCON is closing in, we had to get our elections going before this month ended. We had them at the last general meeting, where candidates all did their speeches (some of our candidates had a tournament that day, so we played their pre-recorded speech to the general members) and answered any questions we had for them. Due to the online situation and the fact that there were fewer candidates this year, the voting system had to be adjusted. For those who could not make it to the meeting, the videos of the candidate’s speeches were posted on google classroom for them to view and vote on. It is planned for our new officers to be announced some time in early March, that way the board gets a chance to discuss the voting form. For now, the club will maintain a focus on preparing for the end of this year, and the club for next year, while still providing opportunities for the volunteers to serve their community.

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falling for key club BY

YI

WONG,

VICE-PRESIDENT

Key Club is a wonderful opportunity to be able to communicate with others, work hard, while also helping out the community. In the beginning, I’ve heard about Key Club from my sister, as she used to be a member of the club. She had to go do interesting events like the color run, and help out in unique ways like staying late at night at the school. It was all very unique and interesting to me, and so one of the first clubs I knew about that was offered at Garland, was Key Club. And when “fish camp” came along, I decided to sign up for the club and see what it was like for myself. And it’s been really fun, I’ve been able to participate in events that I’ve never done before, and help out in ways that make me feel satisfied in the work I’ve done for the community.

I never really went out much whenever I was younger, and so I never participated in events or did stuff to help out the community before. I participated in some events like the Turkey Trot and the walk to end Alzheimer’s, were fun since I went through Downtown Dallas with other key clubbers and we helped out people with handing out things. And we were able to see the decorations and the different kinds of people participating in the events. Another event where I’ve had no prior experience or knowledge of, was helping out in concession stands. I was able to first hand have an experience on what it was like to work at concessions and being able to prepare the food and talk with customers. It was difficult at times whenever there were breaks and the lines would increase immensely from practically nothing a few minutes ago. But even so, I still really enjoyed the experience, and if given the chance to, I would volunteer for an event like that again.

While some events are more fun and nice to hang out with other people, there are others that give jobs that once you finish, give a sense of accomplishment. One example was an event at the Watson Technology Center for Math & Science, where we were required to paint some activities for the kids to play with and have fun. I was part of a group that painted some TicTacToe squares, and it was slightly difficult to get it perfect, but overall I still enjoyed the work and I thought it was really nice to do this for kids to play and have fun with doing. And also because of Key Club, I was able to do stuff like the Lake Ray Hubbard Cleanup, where I had to physically go out of my way to get as much trash anywhere and everywhere I can. And while being messy with the mud and trash, I still really enjoyed going out of my way to help clean the environment one bottle at a time.

There are plenty of other events that I have volunteered at and enjoyed with my years with Key Club, but I enjoyed all of them for various reasons. And I wouldn’t have been able to experience or do most of the things that I have if it wasn’t for Key Club. Not only being able to help out people and the community, I’m also able to experience something new and enjoy the experiences I have with other people. I first joined the club due to it seeming interesting, and I didn’t know what else I should do. But over time, I have “fall”ed in love with the club, being to do the volunteer events that are both a new experience, and helps out people. If that’s not a better reason to join Key Club, then I don’t know what is.

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MAJOR By joining March for Babies Step Up! you are helping moms and babies across the country, during a time when it’s needed most. Thanks to you we are adding new programs and resources to help families during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

More than 10 million kids enter a children’s hospital like Children's Health across North America every year. To provide the best care for kids, children’s hospitals rely on donations and community support, as Medicaid and insurance programs do not fully cover the cost of care.

Kiwanis International and UNICEF have joined forces to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus—a deadly disease that steals the lives of nearly 31,000 innocent babies and a significant number of women each year.

EMPHASIS

S

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The Thirst Project is a nonprofit organization that works with the support of young people to END the global water crisis by building freshwater wells in developing communities that need safe, clean drinking water.

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What we have done for ourselves will fade, but what we have done for others and the world remains immortal.

- Albert Pike

CONTACT US

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@garlandkeyclub

garlandhskeyclub@gmail.com

text @garlandkey to 81010

garlandhskeyclub.com

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'20-'21 district officers

DISTRICT GOVERNOR KAREENA

PATEL

governor@tokeyclub.com

DISTRICT EDITOR KAITLIN

TRAN

editor@tokeyclub.com

DISTRICT TREASURER RAJ

PATEL

treasurer@tokeyclub.com

TECH PRODUCER ALINA

DAM

techproducer@tokeyclub.com

DISTRICT SECRETARY VIVIAN

THAI

secretary@tokeyclub.com

CONVENTION LIAISON KAITLYN

ROEHR

cl@tokeyclub.com

REGION 8 ADVISOR DENNIS

HOGAN

region8@tokeyclub.com

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'20-'21 club officers

PRESIDENT CHRISTINE

NGUYEN

nguyechr010@students.garlandisd.net

VICE PRESIDENT YI

WONG

wongyi000@students.garlandisd.net

SECRETARY DYLAN

DAM

damdyl000@students.garlandisd.net

WEBMASTER JAKE

WENDLING

wendljak000@students.garlandisd.net

EDITOR AKSHAYA

CHANDRA

akshayachandra10@gmail.com

CLUB ADVISOR MORGAN

SHAEFFER

mshaeffer@garlandisd.net

SECRETARY TONY

LE

leton000@students.garlandisd.net

TREASURER KEVIN

DIVISION 2S LTG TISHA

GAUTAM

tishagautamkci@gmail.com

LAM

lamkev000@students.garlandisd.net

Caring: Our Way of Life