District 7, Division 1S Volume 2 // Issue 7
Editor’s Corner Hey, Key Club! Thanksgiving break is over, but winter break and winter events are almost here! Make sure to keep volunteering through the end of the year, and don’t forget to check out the District Convention info for 2015 if you haven’t already!
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EDITOR
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PROJECTS
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PAST EVENTS
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UPCOMING
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CONTACT
NORTH CROWLEY KEY CLUB
PROJECTS TOGETHER, WE RAISED OVER $600 FOR TRICK-OR-TREAT FOR UNICEF.
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LEIS PR In order to support anti-bullying alongside of North Crowley’s anti-bullying week themes, I decided that Key Club should do something special. I was inspired by last year’s Dallas District Convention Keynote Speaker, Kevin Wanzer, who emphasized the meaning of ALOHA (Attitude, Love, Overcoming obstacles and HAve a sense of humor), so I decided that the club should make leis to support the antibullying cause. On Thursday, November 6th during our general meeting, I told the members that the club would be making leis for anti-bullying week to give to students we don’t yet know to show that we care. “Why leis? How does that tie into anti-bullying?” some members asked. I answered that the best way to combat bullying is with love. Bullying has deeply influenced my life, so my goal
and tell people that we do care, as well as encourage them to pass the leis on to others to show that they care, too. Another member asked, “Well, what if a
is to help to make sure that others don’t go
bully gets a lei?” I answered that often, bullies
through what I had to; to make sure that no one
bully others because they feel insecure. Children
ever feels worthless or unwanted; to show that
who become bullies often have, or have had,
each and every person on this planet is cared for, people in their lives that bullied them and pushed because everyone is beautiful. Everyone has the
them around, making them feel bad about them-
potential to do something great, as it only takes a selves. If we give a bully a lei and make them feel single person to make a difference in the world. It better about themselves, showing them love and would be an immense loss for the whole world if
care instead of treating them in negative ways,
someone cut that short due to the actions of the
they might not have a reason to bully others any-
people around them.
more. In this way, showing people that we care,
Bullying has affected nearly everyone’ s life in one way or another, so everyone can relate to feeling down because of the way someone has treated them. Most people can relate to feeling worthless and like they’re not cared about. In order to combat this, we decided to give out leis
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and spreading love in the form of paper leis combats all of the negativity of bullying and being bullied, in addition to spreading awareness about the cause. If everyone works to be there for one another and show each other love instead of hate, bullying can be eliminated.
ROJECT How to Make an Anti-Bullying Week Lei 1. Cut flowers, straws, and yarn then separate them into bags. 2. String the flowers and straw pieces onto the yarn.
3. Bond with fellow Key Clubbers.
4. Tie the yarn in a knot to finish the lei.
5. Show a stranger that they’re special by giving them the lei.
Article By: Lexi Cepak
Closet Clean-up
Article By: Daisy Doan
On November 14th, North Crowley Key Clubbers
plies, blood drive supplies, tools, trophies, kitchenware,
held a "Closet Clean-Up" social after school. This "Closet
office supplies, and much, much more. Members discov-
Clean-Up" was a way to bring members closer to each
ered cool new treasures found in the closets that they
other and the officers by working together and cooper-
never new of! As members moved the items, they social-
ating. It also was a fun way to get organized and pro-
ized and became closer as they gotten to associate with
ductive with the club. It was an opportunity for the club
those they haven't met before. Many also were bonding
members to do it "Their Way" as a contribution to the re-
through kindness as they helped each other carry items.
cent Key Club week's "Your Way" day. Key Clubbers got
Laughs were formed as members almost dropped the
to experience a new way of fun for doing something
items on the Dollie, but were saved just on time!
most people would dread- cleaning. After school that Friday, Key Clubbers met in Mrs. Laing's room to gather before starting to clean up. The
Once all the items were moved to the original closet, the sorting and cleaning began. Four members cleaned out the inside of the closet by wiping it down
"Closet Clean-Up" started at 4:30 pm and lasted until 6:30 and sweeping. The rest of the members were out in the pm. As soon as everyone arrived, the officers led the
hallways with the mounds of items. It overwhelmed eve-
members to gather dollies to transport the items. Key
ryone at first, but once an organization system formed,
Clubbers started at the first closet, which was the closet
everyone moved swiftly and expertly. The members orga-
that was needed to be cleaned out and moved to the
nized everything into piles. Once everything was sorted,
original Key Club Closet. Members worked hard and dili-
the members hustled to place everything back into the
gently to move items out and onto the Dollie to transport closet neatly and organized. The final result made all the to the other closet. This took a lot of cooperation among
work worth while! Everything looked very neat and orga-
the members to efficiently and thoroughly organize and
nized. The members did a wonderful job and had lots of
move necessary items such as documents, art/craft sup-
fun working together on a Friday evening!
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Agape Meal
Article By: Analiese Claire
On Thursday, November 6, I served at the Agape Meal, a weekly banquet for the Near Southside community. We were whisked away for a quick debriefing and we prayed. Once the doors were opened about 200
his mom instead. At our table one women was telling us to give the other woman her dessert! After the dessert was eaten most of everyone left and they had an optional mini-worship service after-
people many of whom were homeless filled the room. The wards. They're were only 25 or so of the 100 left. Someone tables had tablecloths and bowls of bread and each ta-
read a brief biblical passage and sang some old hymns
ble had a table host who was smiling and talking with
to the few people who didn't leave after dessert. He en-
them. The main meal consisted of meatloaf, carrots, sal-
couraged the people there how had so little that God
ad, and corn. They all ate quite eagerly and we kept
saw them and cared for them. He asked people for the
bringing them more food. The meatloaf was by far the
prayer requests. A few had relatives having surgeries and
favorite of those in attendance. The time went by very
operations. Many wanted jobs, housing, and food. One
quickly. We were running back and forth the whole time
man with pretty considerable inquires asked for everyone
refilling tea glasses, getting more platters of food, and
to pray for the man that jumped him for his sleeping bag.
making people coffee.
Another man hobbled to the stage and asked everyone
Soon the main meal was over and it was time for dessert! The children were absolutely delightful and kept thanking myself and the other servers over and over. They
to pray for him to be well. He prayed for him right them. People also brought up answered prayers. There was one particular request that struck me:
got very excited when we came with dessert trays! There
"Pray for the people who can't see us."
were so many options - two types of cobbler, cake balls,
I knew who the "us" was. It was the people on the street
strawberry cake, ginger cake, and muffins. When we
corners collecting bottles and carrying all of there pos-
were running out of desserts one boy in particular was
sessions in a bag. Invisible to so many. I knew who the
quite excited to have a muffin but he told us to give it to
"people" was too. It was me.
D EER C REEK C ARNIVAL
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t Deer Creek Carnival, North Crowley Key Club members like Rachel, Qualon and Danielle, along with others, helped with
the school’s holiday celebration. Key Clubbers stacked festively decorated cans for the students to throw tennis balls at for a prize while other members let children choose suckers from a Christmas tree. If they picked the one with a dot on it, they could win a prize. Some members even ran a miniature golf course made from artificial turf and pool noodles (pictured on the back cover of this issue). Over all, it was a really fun event for both the Key Clubbers and the children. Key Clubbers got the opportunity to have fun and interact with elementary school students, while the elementary school students go to play fun games. It was a great way for high school and elementary school students alike to get into the holiday spirit.
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By: Lexi Cepak
MARY HARRIS
On Saturday, November 15th, 2014, I along with other North Crowley Key Clubbers volunteered at Mary Harris Intermediate School for an academic camp the school was having. The academic camp was to review what students had learned throughout the six weeks to prepare them for the STAAR test. When the Key Clubbers arrived they were greeted by Jarvis Walker, one of the schools assistant principals, and doughnuts provided by Mr. Walker. He explained that our job was to check in the students arriving and tell them what room number to go to. We also had to give tickets to the parents that brought their students to the camp to enter a raffle. Later in the parent session over bullying the raffle would take place for grocery store gift cards. After checking students in we helped teachers in the classrooms with what they needed. Later our job was to go around the classrooms and pass out free dress passes for the students that attended .This pass allowed students to wear regular clothes instead of uniform on Friday, November 21st, 2014. After we passed out the passes we were instructed to set up lunch for the students. We had to go to the school’s cafeteria and remove the sack lunches and juice from a refrigerator. After the camp was over students arrived in the cafeteria to receive their lunch we had them assemble in a line to assure that everyone received a lunch. After the students were done eating we cleaned the cafeteria. After cleaning the cafeteria Mr. Walker thanked us for our helped and we were dismissed. By: Karen Escobar
BARNES & NOBLE STORYTIME
On Saturday, November 15th, I attended Barnes & Noble Storytime. This storytime was Thanksgiving themed to get the children ready for the upcoming holidays. We helped the children make hand-shaped turkeys for their parents. They got to decorate the turkeys by coloring them and adding festive accents like googly eyes. The children all asked for help, and our Key Clubbers were more than happy to step in and assist the adorable children at Barnes & Noble.
After we were done making origami, North Crowley Key Club headed to the Storytime area where a worker helped us read Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, as well as other pigeon stories like The Pigeon Needs a Bath! After Elias and the worker read the books to the adorable children holding Pigeon stuffed animals, the Barnes & Noble worker taught the children how to draw the Pigeon from the books on a gigantic notepad. The children then headed to the craft area where they got to draw the pigeons themselves with the help of Key Clubbers. Barnes & Noble Storytime is one of the best events for Key Club members like myself that love working with children. I’m devastated that Barnes & Noble won’t have any more storytimes for us to run until the new year, but it gives me something to look forward to, and I can’t wait until I get to volunteer there once again come the glorious month of January.
One child, after having finished his turkey, asked me to help him make a blue flower to give to his mother. It was the sweetest thing. He couldn’t cut out the petals, so he had me cut them for him, and he arranged them in the shape of a flower to give to his mother that was very impressed with his beautiful artwork. He was an adorable kid and I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to help him make a gift for his mom. The following Saturday, I attended Barnes & Noble Storytime once again. Since the other Key Club members and I got there early, the manager asked if we would like to participate in their Saturday crafts. We gladly accepted, and were taken to a table where a lady taught us origami. We learned how to make origami hearts to give to the people we love and were given free supplies to make our own origami book art at home.
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Elias and a Barnes & Noble worker show children how to draw the pigeon.
Article By: Lexi Cepak
PANTHERS R ECYCLE By: Lexi Cepak
Panthers Recycle is a monthly event for North Crowley Key Club. We set aside time during the afternoon to collect recycling for our teachers. This month in particular, their recycling bins were overflowing with papers, it being so close to the end of the semester. In fact, some teachers had so much recycling that Karen, North Crowley Key Club’s Vice-Secretary and I had a hard time lifting it all into our rolling recycling cart. This cart can be very handy when you only want to make one or two trips to the blue recycling bins outside, but it can also be used as member
transportation when certain officers don’t feel like walking and wish to give teachers heart attacks when they unintentionally dump recycling into a bucket with something squirming around in it, trying to duck away from the recycling that’s about to fall on that member’s head. Overall, this event impacts our school greatly. It helps our school, the environment, and our Key Club. Panthers Recycle requires members to work together as a team instead of working solo or with a partner, which is different from a lot of Key Club events. It also helps the club figure out the best ways to strategize and divide and conquer (still in groups) in order to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Although Panthers Recycle isn’t glamourous, it’s one of my favorite events.
Elias puts recycling in the recycling bin outside of North Crowley High School.
TURKEY TROT
Article By: Elias Lara
Thanksgiving day I awoke at 3am in order to get to the annual Turkey Trot on time. I being a nov-
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ice to the event went in which no idea of what to expect from this event. Upon arriving, the volun- m
teers signed in and received the volunteering shirts. These shirts are one of the favorite shirts I've re- th ceived in key club. It Is a long sleeved purple shirt, with the turkey trot symbol on the front. After
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which we were put to work unloading several trucks full of foods, and water for the runners later
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that day. There was so much food for the runners, piles of yogurt, protein shakes, and water bottles w were all stacked under a single pavilion Unloading the trucks and preparing the food and water
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bottle stations took all the volunteers (I would estimate there were around 100) about 3 hours to
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complete. Now, this was no small task, as there were hundreds of water bottle containers and us
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volunteers had to unload all of them into three different piles. After this the volunteers were split
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into different groups, I along with several of my friends were placed on the water station, where
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we were to have water ready for the runners on their journey around the town. (Sounds more dramatic that just a simple 5k) Our station was completely filled with cups of water before the runners
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come along, consuming not only all the tables that we had prepared of water cups, but many
many after this. When the runners started trickling in slowly at first. After five to seven minutes after
he first few runners, there were hundreds upon hundreds of runners. There was constantly a need
or cups of water to be filled. The water station was not an easy assignment, as it was very cold
hat morning, and the water got on us, making us cold AND wet. After the last runner went past us,
we began to clean our station, picking up the used water cups, and the empty water containers.
his took us around another 45 minutes to clean our station Although this event was a harder event
han the others, it was well worth it. It was a fun time spending those eight hours with my friends in
ey club. This event I feel was one of the most rewarding ones because the best way to show
hanks for all that you have is to give to others. Especially those in need, and this is exactly what
ey club is all about.
PARADE OF LIGHTS
Article By: Bernice Ogbondah
Last week Saturday was my second experience at the city of Fort Worth annual parade of lights . The parade was just as amazing this year as it was last year . I attended the parade of lights with a group of my fellow Key Club members. We had a great time . When we arrived we walked to the registration build called "the shack" we were expecting a little hut of some sort but it was a actual build named "the shack ". Once I had finished standing in line I was asked my t shirt size and then presented with a orange parade of lights shirt. They gave me a free water then asked if I could wait and stay for a volunteer meeting . Whist waiting I conversed with friends. After about 30-45 minutes the event managers showed up and talked to all of the volunteers who's ages ranged from about 60 to 13 ! He then told us all what "float " or part of the parade that we would walk along side - that was my job as a parade Marshall to walk along the side of a float for the duration of the parade - me and Christina a fellow North Crowley Key Club member choose to be marshals for the north riverside high school band who would be performing in the parade ! Once he told us we headed out to find our "float 44". Christina and I looked for float number 44 for about 35 minutes while looking for the float we took pictures in a DeLorean which is the car that was used in the back to the future movies ! After taking pictures I was tired of walking around aimlessly so we decided to ask an event manager for help . The manager told me that Christina and I would have to walk to get to the station were are "float" would be . So we started to walk, once we were about two blocks down I realize that we had
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no idea where we were going . We stopped asked a police officer, she told us that we would have to walk about six blocks to get to our final destination. Because we didn't know the directions that well we walked back to the parade manager. We were going to ask for a map but while we were waiting for him to get finished with this conversation a few friends from another key club in our area where on a go cart and we ask them if we could get a ride. Them being Key Clubbers obviously said "of course!" The man who was driving stopped and we tried to get on the go cart but we soon realized that all of us could not fit on the go cart so So he left and took them to their destination. He then came back and picked up Christina and I. Once we were on the cart he started to follow a group of men who were dressed as Elvis Pressley Santa Claus. After following the Elvis Santa, he took us to our destination. When we arrived at our station we greeted the band and waited for the parade to start. A parade official told us that it will be a few minutes before the band will start to March . We followed the band the whole time and while walking with the band some of the little kids in the audience would hold their hands out for high-fives it was a very humbling and amazing experience. Although at the end of the parade of lights my feet hurt from walking so much I know that next year I will definitely sign up again and I will not be able to sign up with key club because this is my senior year I will definitely volunteer so that I could hang out with my key club friends.
BUILD-A-BEAR SOCI the bear with stuffing. When the bear is completely stuffed, the bear is “hug tested” to see if it has enough stuffing (pictured to the right) and finally, the bear is sewn up. After the bear is “born”, it is taken to the washing area where Key Clubbers brush their bears and make them look nice before naming their bears and printing off their official birth certificates. When all of the bears were named, paid On Monday, November 24, North Crowley Key
for, and packed into bags and boxes, North
Clubbers teamed up with Burleson Key Clubbers
Crowley Key Club officers gathered around and
to make bears at Build-A-Bear Workshop to do-
made the decision to spend an extra $100 of
nate to the Ronald McDonald House. Members
our Key Club money on buying more bears for
personally paid for bears and went through the
the cause. For some members, the fun wasn’t
whole Build-A-Bear experience for the cause.
over yet. They had to make the additional
First, they picked out the bear they wanted bears paid for by the club money. to stuff (pictured above). Then, they got in line for stuffing machine. While they were waiting, a
After everyone finished, Key Clubbers all helped our president load the bears into her
Build-A-Bear Workshop worker approached them car. It must have been a strange sight to see so and gave their bears a heart. They went through many Key Clubbers walking in a group with their the whole ceremony, which included rubbing
arms full of Build-A-Bear bags when we all head-
the heart on their forehead to give it smarts, rub- ed to the parking lot. When we got there, we bing it on their cheeks to make their bears beau- were barely able to fit them all in her car. Only tiful, rubbing it on their hearts to make them feel
about half of the bears fit in the trunk, and the
loved, and rubbing it on their ears to make the
rest completely filled the back seat of her car.
bear a good listener. After that, they are to make a wish on the
This event was an amazing experience. This being the second year I attended the
heart and seal it with a kiss before placing it gen- event, it was even better than the first. I can’t tly inside the bear’s body. wait for next year’s Build-A-Bear Social. Next, the Build-A-Bear worker puts the bear on an opening in the stuffing machine that fills
Article By: Lexi Cepak
IAL
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UPCOMING EVENTS JINGLE BELL RUN:
From 8 am - 12pm and 1:30 pm - 5:30 pm at 501 W 7th Street
PLACE FOR GRACE:
From 1:30 am - 4 pm at 1900 Santa Fe Drive in Weatherford
COWBOY SANTAS:
From 9 am - 12 pm at 541 N Main Street
ONGOING EVENTS Hey guys! I hope all of you had a fulfilling holiday and remembered to give thanks to everyone and everything that has put meaning into your life. (Oh yeah and I hope you all ate lots and lots of Turkey!) Just a reminder that our ongoing event B&N Storytime will be taking a break, I know many of you were pretty saddened by this but don’t worry Storytime will pick back up in January and I will keep everyone posted! Due to last week being Thanksgiving, our other ongoing event, Agape Meal, took a short break. Now the church is back on track and preparing more food and drinks for the homeless, every Thursday as always, so don’t forget to attend key clubbers. Have a great rest of the year and don’t forget to study for the semester finals coming up! :)
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CONTACT President, Demi Carrion: nckcpresident@gmail.com
Vice-President, Daisy Doan: daisy202@rocketmail.com
Editor, Lexi Cepak: nckc.editor@gmail.com
Historian, Jordan Peyton: nchs.keyclubhistorian@gmail.com
Secretary, Olivia Courtney: nckc.secretary@gmail.com
Vice-Secretary, Karen Duarte: nckc.vicesecretary@gmail.com
Treasurer, Elias Laura: nckc.treasurer@gmail.com
Parliamentarian, Bernice Ogbondah: nckc.parliamentarian@gmail.com