This past month Ryan has been exhibiting enthusiasm throughout all the service events he has been attending. His dedication for Key Club has been clear and we would like to recognize him for all of his hard work! His high energy and love for volunteering makes him such an amazing member and we look forward to see his efforts continue the rest of this term! His commitment for Key Club and his attendance for all general meetings and events displayed his efforts to go above and beyond as a member! Thank you Ryan for being such an amazing role model for our other members and we can’t wait foryoutocontinueonwithyourKeyClubjourney!
Turkey Trot. Yay! I was assigned to work at the finish line and move runners instead of handing out refreshments with my friends, so I was given the opportunity to talk to other volunteers. My job was to make sure the crowd didn’t block the traffic by telling everyone to “MOVE!” The task was pretty simple, but the thing that baffled me was that some runners had the NERVE to spit on the ground next to me T o T … I counted a total of 11 people who spat haha. I had my eye on one of the spit puddles. One of the younger runners (about the age of 11) went to sit down on the curb where THE SPIT WAS. Fortunately, I was able to stop him from sitting down. After my shift ended, I went to reunite with my friends in the snack area. Finding my way back to the SAP Center was quite the adventure. I forgot the route, so I pulled up Google Maps. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop me from taking a wrong turn. Ha. At onepoint,Chao-ChiandIweresprinting towardsthebuilding.Overall,itwasachaoticbutfun experienceandIlookforwardtonextyear’sTurkeyTrot>:3
I arrived a few minutes early to this event with my brother hoping we would find the Kiwanis food truck in time for our shift. Well...guess what, we didn't end up finding the food truck on time, and ended up being around 30 minutes late. Even though we were late, we were able to see the entire park along with the Christmas trees, which I guess wasn't too bad. Stanley and I walked around the park several times looking for the truck and finally found it with Andrew. Oncewestartedourshift,weweretaughthowtomakethedifferent food truck foods and where all the materials were. The event lead, Mr. Connolly taught us what was needed in the hot chocolate, what to do in scenarios with the machines, and much more. At first, I have to admit, I was a little stressed out because he explained the instructions pretty quickly. Once he finished and people slowly started ordering, it wasn't as stressful because there were other people in the food truck helping out. The food truck was pretty cool because there were so many small stations where food could be made. When someone was ordering a bag of popcorn, Andrew didn't know how to open the bag to fill it with popcorn which I thought was pretty funny. This event was a good learning experience and reflected on what an actual job in a food truck would feel like. I liked signing up for this event because there were a lot of Christmas decorations everywhere and Christmas in the Park feltveryspirited!
Getting into the Christmas Spirit! Getting into the Christmas Spirit!
When I arrived early on event day, the air was frigid and damp. The park was silent and almost seemed to be in a state of stasis, if not for the Autumn leaves that slowly glided off of the tree branches and onto the moist blades of grass already covered, for the most part, by sheer masses of orange foliage. Though I assumed this was the case most of the time, seeing as it was situated in the middle of a quiet suburban neighborhood. The exception was the bright green Park Services van parked just by the sidewalk where a small group of service employees/representatives had already set up the cleanup equipment that would later used to rake dead leaves and pine needles. This equipment included rakes, shovels, gloves, and wheel barrows. I quickly assumed that I would soon be raking leaves and hauling them to pile between the orange cones placed on the road and near the sidewalk. Though this simple deduction wasn't made by the equipment, but rather due to a middle aged volunteer who had already been raking leaves when I arrived. In end, these are all just minor details. Frankly, I wasn't stoked about spending my morning on Thanksgiving weekend toiling away at insignificant leaf piles that would just make their way onto the ground again next Fall. Though this kind of event was the kind that I enjoyed, not particularly because of the labor; but because of the meaningful experience I could acquire and the wonderful people I could meet. As it turned out, the volunteers and I had a great morning. Cleaning leaf piles and pine needles was a great exercise and team building experience. Every role was vital and had to learn to communicate and assist one another to achieve the goal of cleaning up the park. For example, rakes had to gather leaves, and shovels had to transfer them into wheel barrows. In addition, I met new people, not limited to the students who volunteered from Key Club and Piedmont, but all kinds of individuals from other schools and organizations. Granted, there were only about 20 volunteers. It was still amazing to meet others who exert themselves for the good of the community, even on Thanksgiving time. In the end, we excavated a lot of the dead foliage and the park was almost as good as new. Experiences like this one are always good to haveandcometothosewhofinditwithinthemselvestomakeaneffort.
It was just another regular general meeting. Or was it? The key clubbers questioned the colourful strips of paper being handed out and placed onto their tables. As the slides ominously flipped through, we had finally reached the tenth one. I arose from my seat and announced the absolutely epic event that was about to commence. "We will be making ornaments for our tree today!" I exclaimed. The key clubbers faces lit up like disco balls. As I passed out markers for the key clubbers to use, I heard them discussing what they'd draw on their strip. It brought a smile to my face knowing they were enjoying this activity, especially because I wasn't sure if it would be a flop or not. But to my surprise, I was mistaken. They put all of their creativity onto that special strip of paper, which would soon be commemorated on our tree. Laughter, happiness, and joy. This is what was heard in the library thatday.
Science for the Youth was an event organized, run, and created by my cousin and her friend. When she contacted me if I was interested in joining it, I knew I had to make it accessible to other Key Clubbers. After waiting a few weeks for our applications to be accepted by the district, we finally had our first class. The class was on Chemistry and chemical reactions. My job, as one of the TAs, was to monitor the students and get them to pay attention in case they became distracted. Surprisingly, this never happened- the Ruskin students were incredibly attentive and were carefully listening to the lecture the entire time. There were a few side conversations, as expected of elementary school students, but overall, I was incredibly impressed by the manners of these young kids. After the lesson, we had a hands-on experiment to teach chemical reactions: slime! We gave each of the students a cup of glue and poured in some watered-down borax- a chemical reaction that creates slime. Then, we walked around offering a few color options, including green, blue, red, and yellow. The kids were so excited to make the slime and so enthusiastic when choosing their color. When we announced that they would be making slime, they all cheered in excitement. I hope the Ruskin students enjoyed the class as much as I did- I can’t wait to see whathappensinthenextone!
Ms. Murray offered us Key Clubbers an opportunity to work at the Registrar of Voters center, in which we would direct and assist voters through the voting process. This included assisting them in voting digitally or physically, or to guide them through simply dropping off their ballot. My center was mostly staffed by adults who were very welcoming and knowledgeable about the voting process. Although the Saturday I worked was a bit slow, the feeling of seeing a voter walk in was unbeatable. The training and preparation that we had to go through prior to this event was very worth it, as our work was rewarded with funds raised for Key Club! Overall, this event was a very informative experience and I'm grateful to have had this opportunity to haveaglimpseatthisprocess!
with Andrew Trang,
Like always, there’s no month without a division council meeting. For November, the dcm was collab service event with interact area 5 at Washington High School! The beginning of the event was started by playing a “speed dating” game with interact area 5, where everyone had to go around in a circle and have a conversation with anyone in front of them. Soon after, the dcm portion started with announcements and club cup results(PHHS ON TOP WOOO!!). Next was the service event portion, where we wrote short notes to hospital workers and made book marks for children. During the service portion, our wonderful division leadership team was selling donuts and hand warmers for $2…(kind of a scam… the donuts were tiny). As the service portion went on, I struggled to cut out a heart to write my note to hospital workers. My handwriting also was… considerable… But after the notes to hospital workers, it was time to make bookmarks to support literacy! We were given blank bookmarks and we had to draw on them, so I drew a deformed bear and bee… I also gave my bear a moustache… In the middle of the event, I suddenly saw Annie jump up for some reason because there was apparently a grasshopper on her??! Overall I had a super enjoyable time with everyone, and evengottomeetsomeinteracters(woowow)!
