Viking Newsletter | Lamar Key Club | Volume III Issue V | December 2021

VIKING

N E W S L E T T E R

REGION 7 DIVISION 39N LAMAR HIGH SCHOOL

DECEMBER 2021 | VOLUME III ISSUE V

HEY GUYS! Doing a newsletter is super stressful, especially in the midst of everything. The tactic I usually use

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

is templates provided to me by Canva. As a celebration of the end of 2021, I reused many designs and templates from the previous monthly newsletters. Can you spot which ones are which?

For the new year, I really hope that we'll have more support from members to write the HOTOs, it is extremely interesting to read about your experiences with Key Club. As the last semester of this school year begins, let's make the best of it and treasure it, although most of the time it is confusing, tiring, sleep-depriving, and stressful.

It is my most sincere hope that everyone will be able to enjoy our spring semester and come to more socials. I think that being online last year has only made interaction that much more precious; I know that it will become a force that connects us all together. I hope you'll enjoy the last newsletter of 2021.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

HOWDY! To your great relief or your great sadness, 2021 is finally coming to an end. If you’re like me, you look forward to the New Year and the feeling of a fresh start. Our Key Club is also ready for a fresh start as we prepare to tackle new service challenges and opportunities for our members. For the last year, we’ve focused on increasing membership and providing many service opportunities. From this, we hope both our new members and offices could understand what Key Club does and get into the routine of things. We strive to add to what we’ve done with even larger service projects and social events in the upcoming month. For all members and officers involved, I hope that Key Club has left a positive impact on your year and given you an opportunity to be a blessing to those around you.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Editor's & President's

1

Table of Contents

2

Get to Know your Secretary

3

December Calendar

4

Fall 2021 Review

5

January Calendar

7

'Tis the Season - article by Sara Lim

9

2021- article by Luke Anderson

11

20212- article by Emily Wilson

13

Optimizing Your Key Club Experience - article by Haley Wehr

15

Humans of Texas Oklahoma - Mai Nguyen

17

Get to Know your Treasurer

19

Club Officers

20

District Officers

21

KC International's Partners

22

2

GET

TO

KNOW

YOUR

MY FAVORITES Favorite Sport: Dance

Favorite Artist: Selena Gomez

Favorite Movie: Despicable Me

College Choice: NYU Shanghai Something important to me is family time.

Something important to me is loving myself. After all, you can only grow by loving yourself, so eat the things you want to eat, do what you want to do, and have fun!

EXTRACURRICULARS Key Club HALO

My name is Ada, and I’m the secretary of key club for this school year. I joined key club in my junior year, and key club has given me several new opportunities to helping out and meet new people. Being in key club has also helped me develop responsibility and other traits. Thanks 3 to key club, I have made many remarkable memories by helping out in the community.

National Honors Society

MY DUTIES monthly reports

meeting reports

task of the month

hour logs

CALENDAR

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

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1st 3rd

DECEMBER GENRAL

MEETING

WOMEN'S

4th

SHELTER

DONATIONS

DUE

SALVATION BELL

ARMY

RINGING

16th

11th LHS

&

SWIM

14th MEETS

LAST

DAY

OF

SCHOOL!!

WINTER

BREAK

4

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES FREE RICE CHARITY MILES APL BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS ZOONIVERSE DOSOMETHING.ORG ADOPT A NURSING HOME MEMBERSHIP REFERRAL HUMANS OF TEXAS OKLAHOMA LAMAR PANTRY FOOD DRIVE SALVATION ARMY BELL RINGING LIBRARY BOOKMARKS LHS SWIM MEETS WOMEN'S SHELTER DONATIONS

5

LSCFUFCY

OVER

25,040

GRAINS OF RICE DONATED

FREE RICE! CONGRATS TO THE SENIORS WHO HAVE THE HIGHEST AVERAGE OF HOURS! KEEP GOING, DON'T STOP NOW. SENIORITIS WON'T GET THE BEST OF YOU.

LHSKC MEMBER, CORD, & STOLE REQUIREMENTS

Freshman (hours over all 4 years)

at least 60 Sponsored hours, 80 hours overall

Sophomores and Juniors joining KC

Seniors joining KC

Number of Hours 0

at least 30 Sponsored hours, 50 hours overall

**Note: Sponsored Hours are hours from opportunities talked about during the meeting, or ones that we promote.

at least 15 Sponsored hours, 30 hours overall 20

40

60

6

80

CALENDAR

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

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1ST JANUARY WINTER

OFFICER

BREAK

MEETING

7TH LHS

&

8TH

WRESTLING

TOURNAMENT

12th 17th

JANUARY GENRAL

7

MEETING

NO

SCHOOL!!

22nd APL

BOOKS

WHEELS

WITH

EVENT

FREE RICE 100

CHARITY MILES

QUESTIONS

CAP

AT

NEW

GROUP

CLUB

1

DOWNLOAD

HOUR

MILES

HRS NAME:

LHS

JOIN

KEY

AT

CODE: 4

GO

YCFUFCSL

10

HELP

AT

THIS

1001

2

EAST

7TH

SIGN

UP

AND

8TH

WITH

LHS

KEY

WITH

THE

MILES/HR 6

HRS

2

WORK

QR

A

BOOK

REC

RECOMMENDATIONS/HOUR

MAX

DIVISION JAN

GROUP:

PHONE

21-22

SUBMIT

ATHLETIC

COMPLEX

YOUR

ARLINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

TOURNAMENT AISD

ON

CHARITY

OPEN

MAX:

LAMAR WRESTLING

THE

RUN/WALK/BIKE

APP

HRS/SEMESTER

APP

OUR

CLUB

21-22

GROUP CAP

6

FOR

RECS TO

EACH

MAKE

MONTH

ARTS

AND

CRAFTS

CODE

10:30AM-12PM

keyclub.lamar @gmail.com

@lamarkeyclub

JANUARY

22ND

@vfndkey1

https://keyclublamar.wixsite.com/lhskey Log your Hours: https://tinyurl.com/vv4bvmv4

Charity Miles: https://charitymiles.org/

Free Rice APP: https://freerice.com/

Pay your Dues: https://tinyurl.com/76cukey7

Zooniverse: https://www.zoonivers e.org/

DoSomething.org https://www.dosomethi ng.org/us

OUR SPONSOR Ms. Connor pconnor@aisd.net 8

BY SARA LIM

TIS THE SEASON To be GIVING

Photo Caption: Sara and her church family giving back to a local nursing home.

FINDING YOUR GIFTS AND MAKING THE BEST OF THEM

Myles Munroe said, “Every human being was born with an inherent gift, and that gift is their gift to humanity; they are supposed to serve humanity in the area of their gifting.” Everyone is born with a gift that is unique to them, and it is our choice to use it to impact those around us. We can use our gifts to serve our community and make the world a better place.

One talent that I can use to impact those around me is my music. A couple years ago during winter break, a couple of my youth friends and I went to a nursing home to sing some Christmas carols and to put on a live orchestral performance for the resident to sing along too. We donated blanket bundles and put smiles on their faces through our gift of music.

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Everyone is born with a gift that is unique to them, and it is our choice to use it to impact those around us.

Some people in nursing homes feel extra lonely during Christmas time as people may not visit them or give them gifts. By taking a little bit of time out of my winter break and using my talents to play my violin, I was able to put smiles on many of their faces.

Another talent that I can use to impact those around me is through arts and crafts. I have scoliosis, and when I first found out about it I was a little lost. But I remember that a local church made me a prayer blanket. I could tell that it was made with love and compassion, as well as time. That blanket brought me a lot of joy, and hope! Now, whenever one of my friends goes through a loss or big struggle, I like to ask some people to gather around to pray over a blanket while we make it. I hoped that the blanket that we made would give them some amount of comfort during their

Myles Munroe said, “Every human being was born with an inherent gift, and that gift is their gift to humanity; they are supposed to serve humanity in the area of their gifting.”

time of loss.

Whether your talents are big or small, it is the time, love, effort and compassion that you pour into it that impacts those around you.

There is a saying that goes, “money can buy happiness, but small acts of kindness matter more.” This is so true, money takes no effort, but small acts of kindness and love can go further and impact those around you even more. Through some of my gifts of arts and crafts, as well as music, I am able to bring some comfort and a smile to some people’s faces that need it. This is how my gifts have impacted those around me.

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2021

Even though chaos has been around us for a

it simply wasn’t the same. Even though we

good amount of time now, 2021 still felt crazy.

accomplished a lot online, personally I think

From one thing to the next, the unexpected

that in-person events have a greater impact on

happened all throughout the world and

our community and bring members of our club

affected everyone personally. Sometimes it’s

closer together. There’s just something that’s

easy to get caught up in the craziness and not

added when you can cooperate with others in-

take a step back and reflect on the really good

person to achieve a like goal.

aspects around you.

Key Club in person is definitely a game-

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Getting back into the swing of things on our home campus at Lamar was amazing at the

changer. Even though the Lamar Key Club

start of this school year. Just being able to be

didn’t take a pause during the heavy part of

in the same room as my fellow members was

the pandemic and persevered online,

pretty cool.

For one, it’s nice to be able to see who’s

One instance that I found interesting in the Fall

actually in the club and put a name to a face.

happened during River Legacy’s Fall Festival.

Another awesome thing that comes out of

That day I started my station sometime in the

these gatherings is meeting new people that

afternoon until the event was over at night. We

have the same interests as me. Getting to know

then started to clean up and when we were

others in our club really helps you become more

breaking down tables I met a guy named Luke

open and involved in all that the Lamar Key

and we are actually in the same Key Club.

Club does throughout our community.

Without this event, we would’ve never met each

Though I already know some people in Key

other which would have been a bummer

Club there’s still a good amount of people that

because he’s got a pretty cool name if I do say

I’m unfamiliar with.

so myself. This is one instance that goes to

it can be easy to go through day to day life without taking a look at the wonderful things around us. In our current time there’s plenty of things to be grateful for especially in Key Club such as helping our community out and meeting new people through club events. The importance of taking a step back to acknowledge our gratitude towards things around us is significant.

show that Key Club gives you opportunities to meet new people which is something that I’m grateful for.

In closing, it can be easy to go through day to day life without taking a look at the wonderful things around us. In our current time there’s plenty of things to be grateful for especially in Key Club such as helping our community out and meeting new people through club events.

The importance of taking a step back to acknowledge our gratitude towards things around us is significant.

By Luke Anderson

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2 0 2 2

- By Emily Wilson

I love the New Year. One of the things I look forward to at the end of December is writing down lessons from the year: What I learned, who I was impacted by, and most importantly, what I'm going to change. Both Key Club and I have learned so much and been given so many opportunities within the past year. For Key Club, we'll be taking on some exciting initiatives such as the YOF grant, while also emphasizing community feelings.

As the President, I'll be working towards further unifying our officer team. In terms of my personal life, I'll be taking on the responsibilities of independence.

2022 will be a very exciting year for Key Club and me. We expect to see outstanding accomplishments for the club through our second ever YOF Grant and increased socials.

Personally, I plan on using this year to continue to unify our officer team and learn more about myself. My journey in 2021 would not be as incredible as it was without P A GKey E F OClub.

UR| JOURNEY 13

In December, our Key Club completed some self-evaluations to see what progress we're making. We decided in 2022 that we're going to take on initiatives such as the Key Club YOF grant. Within the next few months, we'll have our officer team generating ideas for what service project we want to commit to and send our grant application to Key Club. We're also going to emphasize feelings of community through socials. Last year we completed our goals of increasing membership and providing lots of service opportunities, so our members could get in the swing of things. Now that our members understand how Key Club works, we want to cultivate the feelings of Key Club being a community. This year we're going to focus more on creating social opportunities, whether that's playing Spikeball in the park or drinking coffee together at our local Starbucks.

As a result, our membership will feel more united than ever before.

The evaluation also resulted in some things I need to change as President. In the upcoming year, I'll be discussing increased group communication and reorganizing officer responsibilities. Our Key Club will have increased ease at communicating from member-to-officer to officer-to-officer this year. I also plan to analyze the responsibilities of officers and arrange things in a way that is most fair and manageable for each individual.

As for my personal life, 2022 will be a great year of change as I go to college. During this time, I look forward to discovering more about myself and taking space to reflect more on my values and what I desire for my future. I expect significant growth as I learn to live independently and take on further responsibilities.

2022 will be a very exciting year for Key Club and me. We expect to see outstanding accomplishments for the club through our second ever YOF Grant and increased socials.

Personally, I plan on using this year to continue to unify our officer team and learn more about myself. My journey in 2021 would not be as incredible as it was without Key Club, and I'm confident I can say the same for the upcoming year.

PHOTO CAPTION: OUR REQUEST FOR THE YOF GRANT LAST YEAR WAS GRANTED!!

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OPTIMIZING YOUR KEY CLUB EXPERIENCE

By Haley Wehr

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow marks the first day of my last high school semester! It seems like just yesterday I was getting hopelessly lost in the hallways of Lamar High School. As a senior, I have had plenty of rough experiences throughout high school; however, through the disappointments and struggles, I have become a better person. And, while I sadly can’t teach you how to make an A+ in BC Calculus, 15

However, in the midst of all these events, we sometimes get a little tunnel vision and forget about those who aren’t as fortunate and privileged as we are.

I can inform you how to optimize your Key Club experience in order to prepare yourself for the future and look back on your time with a smile.

My first piece of advice is to serve fearlessly! Whether it entails sitting front row at a meeting, signing up for an event even though your friends can’t make it, applying for an officer position, or simply trying something new, being brave opens numerous doors. For example, I’ve had amazing conversations with people I never would have met otherwise if I hadn’t worked up the courage to approach them. In doing so, though I was terrified, I embraced the community aspect of Key Club.

My second piece of advice is a bit more practical: keep a cumulative spreadsheet of your hours! Nothing could have prepared me for the immense amount of detail that college and scholarship applications require, especially regarding service hours. In order to get ahead of the application game, all you have to do is start logging the date, amount of hours, and organization that you served for. For instance, my entries looked something like this: 11/29/18, Book Fair, 2.5 hours, Key Club. It’s that simple! Believe me, your senior self will thank you for starting a record of your hours now!

My third and final piece of advice is to live by this saying: “quality over quantity.”

This piece of wisdom can be applied to multiple scenarios such as narrowing down who your true friends are or allocating your time well. In the context of Key Club and extracurriculars, it is vital not to overcommit yourself. The movies will tell you that in order to have an “iconic” high school experience, you have to be involved in a million different things. Speaking from experience, I know that trying to do it all will leave you feeling exhausted and unaccomplished.

Instead of aiming to become a member or officer in a thousand organizations, find one or two that you truly care about and give it 110%. In the end, both your club and yourself will thank you for committing your time well.

The opportunities that Key Club has provided to be a part of an uplifting community and serve others as a team is largely to thank for the person I have become. I hope that when you are a last semester senior someday, you, too, will look back on your high school years and smile upon the person you have grown to become.

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HUMANS OF TEXASOKLAHOMA BY MAI NGUYEN Hey everyone! My name is Mai Nguyen, and I am currently a senior at Lamar High School. I was born and raised in Vietnam for 16 years before I came to the US in August, 2019. This is my first

READ ON AND FIND OUT ABOUT MAI, A SENIOR HERE AT LAMAR HIGH SCHOOL!

year in Lamar Key Club and I am a member.

Although I haven’t spent that much time in Key Club, my journey with Key Club is still memorable because of every officer and member I have met.

To talk about my life before I really devote myself to Key Club in particular and volunteering in general, there is only one sentence: I missed so many things. When I first came to the US, I did not have many friends and of course, volunteering was not in my mind back then. I went to school and then went back home every single school day.

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Then I was introduced to participate in an event called “Multicultural Night” at my school in Dallas. “Multicultural Night” was a precious chance to get along with other Vietnamese friends. We made a big poster about Vietnam and its culture; and we even prepared food for the guests. That was my first time doing something with the community and having interactions with other people. “This is kinda fun,” I thought.

After that, the pandemic hit and I couldn’t go to school, just like everyone. Still, I was willing to do something that connected people. I wasn’t very active in real-life

Key Club is different because it is led by

volunteering back then, so I

students and makes volunteering so much

decided to host some activities like

fun without any pressure or stress. Your

a virtual music night, a drawing

kindness, your open mind, and your heart are

contest, a studying night,... for

the “qualifications” that Key Club “requires”.

people in my Discord server where I

Sometimes I want to do something to benefit

was a moderator. Seeing people’s

this society but picking up a piece of trash

smiles and joy made my day and I

and throwing it away are not enough.

made a lot of friends there. Despite

At Lamar Key Club, I found my peers who

the pandemic, we could have fun

have the same goals as mine, and together

and enjoy the quarantine.

we reach out to other people in this

I was finally able to go to school in

community and help them. I might not be

August, when I started my last year

able to do things by myself, but together with

of high school in Lamar. I knew

Key Club we will. Our club might not have

about Key Club through the

that much impact on the whole community

school’s daily announcement and I

at the moment; but a help is still a help. We

decided to join their meeting. That

believe we can lend a hand to people and

was one of the best decisions I’ve

make our society better over time.

ever made and I won’t ever regret

Personally, Key Club gave me the opportunity

joining Key Club. I feel like this is

to meet people and socialize more often. Key

my home and everyone is just like

Club is an important factor that built me who

my siblings if it makes any sense.

I am today.

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GET

TO

KNOW

YOUR

TREASURER MY FAVORITES COLOR: Navy Blue SPORT: Tennis RESTAURANT: Blue Fish TV SHOW: The Good Place COLLEGE: School of Mines in Colorado DESIRED MAJOR: Engineering Something important to me is taking care of the environment Taking care of the environment. Ex: not using plastic straws, turning lights off when they aren’t being used, etc

EXTRACURRICULARS Varsity Tennis

National Honor Society

ZAC HATTENDORF

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Hi! I’m Zac your KC Treasurer and I’ve been a part of the LHS Key Club since my freshman year. This has been my first year being an officer and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to help others in need. I’m excited for the future growth of this club and the good it will do in our communities.

MY DUTIES Create & manage fundraisers assist in creating slideshows for monthly meetings

PRESIDENT

Emily Wilson kc.lamar.president @gmail.com

VICEPRESIDENT

Samir Zaman kc.lamar.vicepresident @gmail.com

SECRETARY

Ada Lian kc.lamar.secretary @gmail.com

TREASURER

Zac Hattendorf kc.lamar.treasurer @gmail.com

Sara Lim kc.lamar.editor @gmail.com

SENIOR REPRESENTATIVE

WEBMASTER Haley Wehr

Moi Tungnung kc.lamar.seniorrep @gmail.com

kc.lamar.webmaster @gmail.com

HISTORIAN

Layla Shalabi kc.lamar.historian @gmail.com

JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE Luke Anderson kc.lamar.juniorrep @gmail.com

SOPHOMORE REPRESENTATIVE

Mariela Morales Orihuela kc.lamar.sophrep @gmail.com

club officers

EDITOR

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DISTRICT GOVERNOR

district officers

Lillian Thai governor@tokeyclub.com

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DISTRICT SECRETARY

Ginna Galindo Gomez secretary@tokeyclub.com

DISTRICT TREASURER

Makayla Hsieh treasurer@tokeyclub.com

DISTRICT EDITOR

Anushka Ranjan editor@tokeyclub.com

CONVENTION LIASON

Kaitlyn Roehr

cl@tokeyclub.com

TECHNOLOGY PRODUCER Noah Obuya techproducer @tokeyclub.com

CONVENTION LIAISON Salma Eldeeb salma.eldeeb @tokeyclub.com

REGION 7 ADVISOR

Melissa Greene

region7@tokeyclub.com

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.

By providing a community with safe drinking water, disease rates can drop by up to 88% virtually overnight! Child mortality rates can drop up to 90%overnight! Clean water also plays an incredibly critical role in effectively treating and managing HIV/AIDS in rural communities.

For 80 years, March of Dimes has helped millions of babies survive and thrive. Now they’re building on that legacy to level the playing field for all moms and babies, no matter their age, socio-economic background or demographics. They advocate for policies that prioritize their health. They support radical improvements to the care they receive. And they pioneer research to find solutions to the biggest health threats to moms and babies.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF began 69 years ago as a way to help kids still affected by World War II. Since then, millions of children across the United States have gone door to door on Halloween with UNICEF collection boxes, calling out, “Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF!” Children's Miracle Network Hospitals raises Through The Eliminate Project, Kiwanis

funds and awareness for 170 member

International and UNICEF have joined

hospitals that provide 32 million

forces to eliminate maternal and neonatal

treatments each year to kids across the

tetanus—a deadly disease that steals the

U.S. and Canada.

lives of nearly 31,000 innocent babies and a significant number of women each year.

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