2018 November/December Tex-O-Key

Volume 7 | Issue 4 | 2018 November & December | Texas Oklahoma

TEX-O-KEY TEX-O-KEY

"WHATEVER IT TAKES" Using our resources to improve the lives of those in need.

//MANSFIELD TIMBERVIEW

HAND WORK HARD WORK HEART WORK

Working T-Ogether to make the world a better place.

Table of Contents 2) Editor's Note 3) District Updates- DCON Promotion 4) Fall Staff Conference 6)Treasurer's Message 7) Governor's Message 9) Featured Articles 15) Partners and Sponsors 17) District Staff Contact Information 18) Social Media

Riddle What kind of egg can you drink?

Email me the answer with the email subject line:

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School Division Month Riddle of the Month Ex: Awesome D55 June Riddle of the Month

Connect Email: editor@tokeyclub.com or kyratburke@gmail.com Remind: @toeditor to 81010 Facebook: T-O District Key Club Editors

Editor's Note Hello, T-O! I hope everyone had a heartwarming time spending their Thanksgiving break with friends and family. The rest of the district board and I are happy to say that our Fall Staff conference was very successful, and we can't wait to bring our ideas to life at DCON next year! I hope you enjoy this vibrantly-colored edition, and as always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to contact me. Let's finish this year with a bang!

Yours in service, Kyra Burke Letter to the Editor: November/December Edition From: Lily Tennekoon, Jenks High School- I was wondering what the best way is to balance designs in a newsletter. How do I find the perfect middle between cluttered and bare?

The best way to balance designs is to make sure that you include information and graphics on two-thirds of the page and leave the rest blank. This way, the page doesn't appear too busy and there is ample space for readers' eyes to fall on. Additionally, it is helpful to note that if you have a page with many elaborate fonts and colorful pictures, keep the background simple so that the two layers do not conflict with each other.

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DISTRICT UPDATES

DCON 2019

GROOVE INTO SERVICE Come out and celebrate 70 years of Groovy Service with us DCON on April 25th-28th at the Sheraton Hotel in Dallas, TX!

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Fall Staff Conference Hello!

Our Fall Staff meeting in Dallas was a very fun and memorable experience! The board and I discussed DCON details, decided on convention activities, and spent time bonding over sushi and Tiff's Treats. Overall, our meeting was successful and went by smoothly.

We are so excited to share our ideas for "Groove into Service" with ya'll! Keep your eyes open for a DCON promotional video that will be posted on the district social media very soon!

Yours in Service, Nadia Rodriguez

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"

Giving kids clothes and food is one thing but it's much more important to teach them that other people besides themselves are important, and that the best thing they can do with their lives is to use them in the service of other people.

-Dolores Huerta

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"

DISTRICT UPDATES

Treasurer's Message Hello mighty T-O! I hope that you have been enjoying your semester and are excited for winter break! Before we all go relax and enjoy the holidays, it is imperative that you pay your club dues. You can visit keyclub.org/MUC to update members and pay dues.

As of now, our district has over 5,500 members!

With a goal of 21,000 and our membership average being 18,000, our district has a long way to go.

Please make paying dues a priority for your club! If you have any questions about the membership update center or dues, you can send me an email!

Helping things make cents, Addie Flores

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Governor's Message

MESSAGE FROM YOUR

DISTRICT GOVERNOR

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Hey, T-O! We’ve made it through the fall, and we’re almost finished with the first semester of this school year.

Although tests and college finals are coming up, I am grateful to be so far into the school year.

November was a busy month for Key Clubbers. Early bird dues deadline, Key Club Week, A Key to End Alzheimer’s Week, World Prematurity Day and Prematurity Awareness Month, and, I’m sure, much more! I encourage you to share pictures of your participation in all of these events online and tag the district @tokeyclub.

The end of 2018 is quickly approaching. I encourage all of you to make one last meaningful memory in this year. 2018 has been a wild ride with many ups and downs, but end the year on a positive note by continuing to serve your home, school, and community.

Yours in Service, Addi Duerksen

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HUMANS OF TEXAS OKLAHOMA Chloe Cagle, Durant High School One of the duties of being an officer in Key Club is receiving and answering the many questions that members and prospective members ask about the organization. A question commonly asked to me is, “Why did you join Key Club,” or, ”What does Key Club mean to you?” Plenty of reasons exist as to why I am a part of this incredible community, of course, but the main reasons are these: love, duty, and friendship.

These are trying times in the world, and love is needed more than ever. Love can be achieved in several different means, but in my opinion, the greatest is service to others. Truly loving others entails putting them and their needs before you and your own. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

Performing acts of service for others generates a soul of love, and Key Club provides a gateway to service.

Not only is serving others a sign of love, but it is also morally right. We have a duty to ensure the happiness //Chloe Cagle, Durant of not only ourselves but also the happiness of others. Ensuring happiness in other people’s lives is also a fantastic way to enhance our own.

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The greatest joy I have experienced has come from seeing someone’s face light up after receiving something they needed. Every act of service for another individual will eventually come back to the person performing it.

We all benefit one another, somehow. It is our duty as a people to keep this circle of giving continuous.

Lastly, Key Club has brought me the best friendships that I could possibly imagine. The moment I stepped into the first meeting, I felt warmth and inclusion radiating from all in the room. In the modern era, it seems increasingly difficult to find genuine individuals, and even more so, genuine friendships. I had struggled with having just one true friend, but after joining Key Club, I suddenly had several. Not only did I make friends in my school club, but I was able to make even more in my division, region, district, and even internationally. When you are in a club dedicated to the service of others, you can guarantee that you will find genuine people and henceforth genuine friends. //Durant

//Mansfield Summit

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WHAT CAN WE DO TO INCREASE OUR MONTHLY HOURS? Evangeline Theruvath, Mansfield Timberview High School In an organization such as Key Club, engaging in community service is the focus. However, sometimes club members may lose motivation to participate throughout the year and the amount of monthly hours of the club will then begin to decline rapidly. The best way to keep this from happening and ensure that our volunteering curve goes only upwards is to provide the members with the needed motivation. It can be as simple as setting a monthly goal or it can even go up to rewarding members with the highest hours each month. Whatever it is, it has to encourage members to volunteer more. To explore the different options more extensively, choosing a new member to honor each month along with a few other prizes not only gives them the appreciation they deserve, but it also allows other members to become inspired by this and try to become the next member of the month. Choosing a new member each month allows for a more fair chance of everyone who worked hard to be rewarded.

In addition to that, setting a certain hour goal, or something similar, can be highly beneficial to the club. This year, our club recommended that members participate in at least one event every month instead of setting a required amount of hours. By doing this, members will be more likely to volunteer since they can choose how to spend their time. While we want our members to participate in community service as much as they can, we do not want Key Club to be a sort of burden to them and so this was the best way for us to motivate our members without putting too much pressure on them.Â

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//Mansfield Timberview

Another way to attain a higher number of club hours is to reinforce to members how to best submit their hours to the vice presidents of the club, who keeps track of all the hours. Last year, many of our members volunteered but they were not aware on how to submit the hours or even that they had to submit them. Also, some of them submitted their hours for a month too long after the deadline, and so our monthly hours were highly unbalanced although we had about the same unofficial amount of hours each month. To prevent this situation from happening again, we chose one method for members to send in their hours, through Remind101, and to emphasize this every meeting.

In conclusion, a large percentage of the overall participation in community service of a club lies in the hands of the managing officers, who should motivate members all through the year and provide the most efficient way to send in volunteer hours.

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THE MOMENT I FELL IN LOVE Kennedy Wahrmund, San Angelo High School The moment I fell in love with Key Club was the moment I realized the impact it had on not just my own life, but on other’s lives too. Being in Key Club has taught me the value of being selfless and having a heart of service. Thanks to this I have fallen in love with not only Key Club itself, but also volunteering and helping others. I fell in love with Key Club over and over again but one time that stands out in particular was last year at a volunteer event for //San Angelo House of Faith. We were helping, along with our local military base, setup for an event they were hosting later, and it just filled me with so much joy to be able to contribute to my town and the people within it in such a positive manner. I realized in that moment that putting others above myself was much more fulfilling than only caring about myself and what I want in that specific moment. I have fallen in love with Key Club through other instances as well however, that is just one example that stands out clearly to me. Multiple different people and events have influenced my life and outlook on life for the better. Key club has caused me to be much more optimistic and hopeful and for that I will always be thankful.

One of the major events our Key Club has planned that is coming up quickly is Christmas At Central. It is a huge event that our school hosts every year where everyone is invited to come out and enjoy hot chocolate, hay rides, Christmas music, and much more. Because it is such a large event for Central our principle enlists the help of Key Club. We get to help set up the Christmas trees that line our halls, and we also work the night of by making sure everything runs smoothly. We tend to split up the club into different sections so that everyone has somewhere specific to help out at.

Last year I was able to help the little kids with arts and crafts and it was so much fun getting to see all the creative designs they would come up with and how excited they were about it. I am so excited to be able to help with this amazing event again and seeing all the people and children enjoying the festivities.

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KEY TRAITS Philip Matthew, Cypress Ranch High School

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//Cypress Ranch

By joining Key Club I gained and progressed many valuable traits that will help me in school and the future workplace. These are traits such as responsibility, organization, time management, teamwork, and communication.

I have learned that I can’t efficiently complete my jobs as a Key Club Officer without responsibility. Everyone is needed in our club to complete their separate jobs otherwise our club would collapse. I have many tasks to complete at a certain time as an Event Chairman VP, and I have learned to set reminders on my phone to remember in between all my other schoolwork.

Organization is an attribute that is needed in order to be responsible. These two traits go hand in hand. You can’t be responsible without being organized and you can’t be organized without being responsible. I prioritize all my tasks on a list and have all the tools need written down and easily accessible. I have made a separate folder on my Google Drive for Key Club and a separate folder for schoolwork so I don’t have to waste time sorting through files.

Time management is a very important trait that is probably the trait that I need to work on the most. My parents always encourage me to make the most of my time because I end up wasting a lot of my time. As more homework is given to me I need to free up more time in my day for school and Key Club in order to be responsible.

A crucial part of keeping a club together is teamwork. We each need each other to do our jobs and keep the club running like a well-oiled machine. We need to cooperate and listen to each other to complete tasks. We have to compromise to reach all our goals. As a group we can achieve more than if we were divided.

Communication is one of the key components to keep a group together. Teamwork will not work without precise communication. If we can all communicate our goals and what we each need to do in order to attain these goals we will be very successful. On many occasions in many teams there has been miscommunication or no communication at all which in the end caused failure.

These are the main attributes that have been developed in my life by being apart of Key Club.

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SUPPORTED CHARITIES

Co-Sponsors:

SERVICE PARTNER

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CONTACT US

DISTRICT STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION GOVERNOR: Addi Duerksen governor@tokeyclub.com SECRETARY: Bunsri Patel secretary@tokeyclub.com TREASURER: Addie Flores treasurer@tokeyclub.com EDITOR: Kyra Burke editor@tokeyclub.com TECHNOLOGY PRODUCER: Aina Sebastian techassistant@tokeyclub.com CONVENTION LIAISON: Nadia Rodriguez CL@tokeyclub.com

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ASK US ANYTHING

CONNECT WITH US

SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE: tokeyclub.com

FACEBOOK: Texas-Oklahoma Key Club District

INSTAGRAM: @todistrictkeyclub

TWITTER: @TOKEYCLUB

SNAPCHAT: tokeyclub

STAY UPDATED

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-Thank you for reading-