The Helping Hand (April/May)

Volume 58 Issue 1 April/May 2014

The Helping Hand AA Michigan District of Circle K International Publication

In This Issue 

Board Introductions……...2

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DCON Wrap Up…………..6

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ICON Preview……………..7

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Fall Rally ……………………8

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Club Updates……………..9

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Goals……………………….11

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Contact Us………………...12

By: Kathleen Hurley: District Bulletin Editor

Meet the District E-Board!

Governor: Emily Bagwell Hello everyone! My name is Emily Bagwell and I am proud to be serving as your 2014-2015 Michigan District Governor. I attend Northwood University in Midland and am studying Entertainment & Sports Management. I love singing and going to concerts, and I am also a huge fan of reality TV shows like Big Brother and The Bachelor. I am involved in a few other organizations on campus such as Student-Alumni Network and DECA, but Circle K is most definitely my favorite and I am so grateful to have found this organization. I never knew a few years ago when I sat in on my first meeting at Northwood that I would ever run for president of the club, let alone district governor. However, the impact that this club has had on my life is tremendous and I want to be a bigger part in being able to share that with other students throughout the state. I cannot wait for the rest of this year to make memories, better the community, and spend time with each and every one of you!

Secretary: Chiara Kalogjera-Sackellares Hi. My name is Chiara. I am the new Circle K District Secretary and Kiwanis Family Relations Chair for University of Michigan Circle K. I am a junior at University of Michigan, studying History and Program in the Environment. I was once in Builder's Club and Key Club, and now I am in my second year of Circle K. I love the Kiwanis Family, all the amazing people I've met and awesome service projects I get to do. One of my favorite projects is Greening of Detroit. Over the next year I hope to develop a new directory accompanied with a google map that will be accessible to everyone in Michigan Kiwanis, Circle K, Key Club so that it will be easier for us to get to know and do service with one another. If you ever need to reach me, my email is chiaraks@umich.edu.

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Treasurer: Alysia Rollins My name is Alysia Rollins, I'm a sophomore at Northwood University and am the 2014-2015 District Treasurer. I've been in Circle K for the 2 years since I've been at Northwood and this past term I served as Vice President of my club. Circle K has been a life changing experience for me and has brought me closer together with so many people at my school and has provided me with some of my best friends. One of my favorite events we've put on is our Mudpit Volleyball event where all of the proceeds we make go to UNICEF. I love volunteering and this club has made me make volunteering a huge part of my life. I don't know what I would have been doing my college career without it!

Bulletin Editor: Kathleen Hurley Hi everyone! My name is Kathleen Hurley and I am

the 2014-2015 District Bulletin Editor. I am going to be a sophomore this fall at The University of Michigan. I am originally from Grosse Ile, Michigan. I love watching movies, doing crafts, and hanging out with friends, but one of my favorite things to do is serve with Circle K! I have really enjoyed my past year in Circle K and my past experiences in the Kiwanis Family, so I am very excited to be serving as this year’s bulletin editor! Please feel free to give me feedback on the bulletins or anything else I can do to serve you! My email is kchurley@umich.edu. I really look forward to this year and everything that we can accomplish together!

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Meet the District Chairs!

Technology Chair: Chis Seeman Hello, Circle K-omrades! My name is Chris, and I'm excited to be serving as your district tech chair next year! I'm a sophomore at the University of Michigan who is currently planning to major in Computer Science and minor in Digital Studies and/or Science, Technology, and Society. (I'm a bit of a geek, as you'll come to find out about me) Aside from Circle K, I enjoy doing creative writing (I write for the Gargoyle, the U of M humor magazine), watching and reviewing movies and video games, taking strolls around Ann Arbor, and listening to music. In general, I’m the kind of person who rolls with the punches and enjoys trying new things, even if they seem a little challenging. I try not to worry about all of the little things and just enjoy the craziness of life as it comes to me. There’s no denying that what all of us do is pretty amazing, and I can’t wait to help lead another year of service and fellowship. I have no doubt that what we do is going to be awesome.

Service Chair: Zachery Gizicki Hello, my name is Zachery Gizicki, a first year graduate student studying Conservation Ecology at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and I will be your Service Chair for the 2014-2015 school year! This will be my fifth year in Circle K. I was the Environment Service Chair at U of M for the past two years. I am hoping to bring my passion for the environment and sustainability to the district level. I plan on working with the Service Chairs at each school to provide resources to continue bringing you all meaningful service. Service is the main reason we all joined this organization and it is important to remind ourselves why we choose to do service. My favorite project is working with the Humane Society to help keep the animals happy as they wait for their forever homes. I look forward to working with you all this year and if you have any ideas for where you would like to see Service go on a district level, let me know!

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Kiwanis Family Relations Chair: Stacey Tyburski Stacey is a 5th year senior at Oakland University majoring in Elementary Education. This is her 11th year in the Kiwanis family, starting with joining Builder's Club in middle school, continuing on through Key Club in high school, and now Circle K in college. This will be her final year involved in Circle K; however, she plans to continue on by joining her local Kiwanis club after she graduates. Her favorite service projects include working at a local soup kitchen and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. Her favorite memory of Circle K was this past District Convention, which her home club hosted.

New Club Building Chair: Amanda Beauchamp Home Club: Ferris State University Class: Junior Major: Pre-Pharmacy Studies Favorite Service Project: The Big Event Favorite CKI Memory: Attending my first DCON this past March.

I made so many wonderful friends and it only further fueled my passion for Circle K International and service.

Contact: beaucha4@ferris.edu

Fall Rally Chair: Jesse DeGrendel Hey guys, my name is Jesse DeGrendel and I am the Fall Rally chair. I am very excited about all the fun stuff I will get to accomplish this summer to make this a great return for Fall Rally. I am finishing up my degree in economics. I am going to be taking my final class in the fall and I’m very pleased to be going out with a bang in terms of CKI! Email: jrdegren@oakland.edu Phone: 248 842 9825

Still interested in joining a district committee?

Contact Emily Bagwell or the chairperson!

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DCON 2014 Review!

By: Stacey Tyburski Hosting the 59th annual Michigan District of Circle K International Convention was one of the biggest accomplishments of my Kiwanis Family career. When I applied to host on behalf of Circle K at Oakland University, I never imagined how much time, effort, and dedication hosting the biggest district event of the year would entail. I also did not realize how rewarding and gratifying the end result would be.

Over 80 Circle K’ers from our Mighty Michigan District traveled to Troy, Michigan the last weekend of March. During Opening Session on Friday night, members were divided into eight districts, similar to the Hunger Games. Each district was assigned a mentor based around characters from the movies, which were really members from Oakland.

The districts then competed in various competitions, which continued throughout the weekend. The rivalries and games were fierce, and District 3 ended up winning with District 12 not far behind. Throughout the rest of the weekend, members attended workshops, completed various service projects, ate delicious meals, danced the night away at the President’s Ball, and were given awards for all their hard work throughout the year. They also elected a new district board to serve the members of the district during this upcoming year. It was tough saying goodbye at the end of the amazing weekend, but everyone left knowing they had formed new friendships, made a difference in the community, and created memories they will never forget.

The members of Circle K at Oakland University would like to thank everyone who attended District Convention this year. It meant a lot to us and we hope you all enjoyed yourselves. We also wanted to thank all the past club presidents who pushed their members to attend. Specifically, we wanted to thank the members of last year’s district board, district administrators Lori and Caitlyn, and our sponsoring Kiwanis club of Utica-Shelby for all of your support, guidance, and help throughout this past year as we hosted our first ever district event. We could not have done it without all of you and will never be able to thank you enough for everything you have done for us. Our club cannot wait to see what Circle K at the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor has in store for us at next year’s District Convention!

We hope to see you at DCON 2015 in Ann Arbor!

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For those of you that don’t know, Circle K is an International Organization! This gives us many opportunities, one of which is the international convention, or ICON. ICON is much like DCON except on a larger scale where you can meet other Circle K’ers from all over the country and the world. While at ICON, you have the opportunity to attend workshops, a service fair, elect the new international board, vote on amendments, watch your club or district receive international awards, and there is even a dance. In addition to the convention itself, there is also a large scale service project, or LSSP, because we all know that we love service. This gives you the opportunity to do service while meeting people from all over the world. ICON and LSSP are amazing experiences and I urge you all to attend this year or sometime in the future. I hope to see you there!

This year’s ICON is being held in Nashville, Tennessee at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel from

June 17 to June 22nd. For more information about registration and hotel arrangements you can visit circlek.org/Leadership/Conventions/InternationalConvention/ Nashville2014.aspx or contact Emily Bagwell, or Onto ICON Chair Michael Manning (manningmichael2@gmail.com or (586) 713-2344).

Just a reminder to clubs that you do not have to attend ICON to apply for or receive international awards! The deadline has passed for this year’s applicants, but keep in mind the international qualifications as you plan for the upcoming year!

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Fall Rally Update!

By: Jesse DeGrendel

Fall Rally is still just starting the planning phase! Fall Rally is held in order to help get the new members from the district pumped to join CKI! As for the price we are really hoping to keep it around $40, but have all sorts of ideas for allowing students to be able to drop their price below this!

Fall Rally is going to be a fun weekend filled with service, fellowship, and leadership. Because there is not a lot out in terms of details just yet I want you all to keep posted on the Michigan District FB page! If you are really feeling excited, contact Fall Rally chair Jesse DeGrendel and you can apply to be on the committee!

October 3-5th Water’s Edge Camp Howell, Michigan Pictures from Fall Rally 2012

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Club Updates!

Northwood: SummerFest!

By: Matthew Shaw Hello everyone, I’m Matthew Shaw, of Northwood University Circle K, and I’m planning a service-social for this summer 2014! SummerFest is from July

18-20. We will be meeting at

my hometown in Mio, MI, and from there we will be heading on out to my hunting lodge, which is just 30 minutes north of Mio. Friday night will be full of games to raise money for Project Eliminate, dinner and an ice cream social. Saturday, we will have breakfast, the large service project, dinner, then campfire and s’mores. What is the large service project, you might ask? We will be going down the AuSable River, cleaning up the river as we go and returning all the pop bottles we find and donating that money to Project Eliminate.

On the last day, Sunday, we will have a breakfast followed by a small service project. The cost to attend this event is only $30, plus money for lunch on Saturday (Subway) and for your canoe/kayak/tube rental (your own preference for going down the river for five hours). If you would like to sign up or have any other questions, please contact me at shawm@northwood.edu. All Circle K members are welcome to attend and a deadline to

sign up is Wednesday, July 9th!

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University of Michigan Ann Arbor: DCON 2015 Update!

By: Steven McCarty Circle K at The University of Michigan is honored to host the 60th annual Michigan District Convention in 2015. This is the first district event hosted by The University of Michigan in four years and planning is already underway to make this convention the biggest and best the Michigan District has ever seen! We have formed our DCON committee and have had our first couple of meetings! Planning is underway and more details will be coming your way soon!

Come and join other Circle K'ers from across the district to participate in an amazing weekend filled with fellowship and service. Don't miss out on the service projects, ice-breakers, workshops, and dances! Invite your clubs and members to celebrate a fantastic year of service in the beautiful city of Ann Arbor! Mark you calendars, because you don't want to miss out on DCON 2015!

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District Goals!

As set by the District Board These are the goals at the District Board has set for our district this year, we are very optimistic about these goals and we have faith that we can reach them! Please keep them in mind as you plan for next year. We can accomplish great things this year!

Membership: 550 members (last year: 510) Service Hours: 18500 hours (last year:18711.28) Kiwanis Family Relation Events: 180 events (last year: 168) Interclubs: 70 interclubs (last year: 49) ELIMINATE Fundraising: $4000 (last year: $16035.43) Club Building: Charter 1 new club. Rebuild Hillsdale, Adrian, MSU, and U of M Flint, and emphasize growing all clubs. (last year: none built‌1 lost :() District Events: At least 2 representatives from each club attend every district event.

Fall Rally: 80 attendees (last year: 0) Lovepit & Snowpia: 80 attendees Updates on goals reported thus far: 1500 service hours, 10 interclubs, 21 K- fam events KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Don’t forget the numbers for these goals are based on MRF reports, so make sure you report everything your club does!

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Thanks for Reading!

Does your club have an upcoming event?

Do you have something you want to share with the district?

Send in an article for next time to kchurley@umich.edu

Contact Us! We are here to serve you!

Governor

Emily Bagwell

emilyabagwell@gmail.com

(248) 982-3376

Secretary

Chiara KalogjerasSackellares

chiaraks@umich.edu

(352) 231-3197

Treasurer

Alysia Rollins

rollinsa@northwood.edu

(586) 770-4479

Bulletin Editor

Kathleen Hurley

kchurley@umich.edu

Club Building Chair

Amanda Beauchamp

beaucha4@ferris.edu

(734) 604-3466 (586)932-75113

Kiwanis Family Chair Stacey Tyburski

setyburs@oakland.edu

(586) 506-0442

Service Chair

Zachery Gizicki

zgizicki@umich.edu

(734) 546-3631

Technology Chair

Chris Seeman

seemanch@umich.edu

(734) 904-8763

Fall Rally Chair

Jesse DeGrendel

jrdegren@oakland.edu

(248) 842-9825

Administrator

Lori Stillwell

lori2547@yahoo.com

1-586-295-7957

ckienitz@gmail.com

1-989-323-0136

Assistant Administrator Caitlyn Kienitz

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. —Anne Frank

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