Division 30 South | Region 3 |CNH
Volume: 4, Issue 4
The Official Western High School Key Club Newsletter | May 2015
The Key Club Times
! S 0 3 D s g n i t e Gre HI AGAIN PIOS! Wow, time sure flies by fast—it’s already July and it’s gotten to the point where I’ve been thinking more and more about school. Unfortunately. Anywhoo, I hope you all have made the most of your summer so far, whether you’ve been working on your summer projects or working on that summer bod. Either way, we still have about a month left of summer, so make the most of while you still can! I know that most of you reading this probably dread school and waking up at 6 in the morning on a daily basis, but hey, try to look on the bright side. You had two months to relax and spend time with family and friends (and hopefully to volunteer), and now you get to see your friends again and continue with your after school shenanigans. To the seniors: this is our last year, so we have to make what little time we have left count, and to leave a LEGACY of our very own for the future years to learn from. To everyone else: well, you still have time. But trust me when I say that it will go by FAST and before you know it, you’ll be sitting in the middle of the football field as your loved ones wait for you to receive your diploma. In terms of Key Club, we’ve already done so much. As a single club, we’ve served over 650 hours and raised over $400 for charities! It’s only been about 3 months since the term started too, so let’s KEY-P on progressing and show everyone what we can do. I don’t have an inspirational quote that is exactly relevant to my message this month, but I don’t need to put one, because I believe in each and every one of you already to BE that inspiration and to serve in the community like the KEY leaders you are. Shinin’ with Service, Van Bui, Western Key Club President 20152016
Hey Pios! Summer sure went by fast with my schedule. How about yours? I hope you’ve all made the most of your summer and really had a great time. I know there are plenty of summer projects being procrastinated on and while that’s all fine and dandy, so is getting to our volunteer events. I’ve learned a lot about myself this summer with football and everything else that has been going on, from the way I should be using my time, to the different ways to have fun even in a cramped schedule. Anyways, I hope you’re all ready for next year if you have any SATs, ACTs, or APs that I know you’re happily looking forward to. Have a great rest of the summer, I’ll see you bright and early when school starts! Yours Truly, Michael Coates, Bulletin Editor 2015-2016
Table of Contents e g a l l lk o a C W t e s e n n u u o i q J is n 1 . V a P B C w m O o r h e 2 . S T P f n o o i M y d h s n a C E a D D F 3 . e e e P un fuge agu J k 5 P.4 d Re e Le e l r c M n o a & a t W t s s y i e s i m s F P.5 A m s e u o 6 c . e n P M e a l r n a e f e u Ir n n . o n t S C A g P.7 8 3rd inin a P. r T r e fic f O 9 . P
June Collage
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OC Visions Walk The OC Visions Walk took place on June 7th, 2015. The walk began at 10:15 AM and lasted up until about 12:00 PM. It took place at the Angels Stadium. This event was a walk organized for those who were visually impaired. It was something new and good for a change. Volunteers from Division 30 South, and Division 30 North came to help out with this event. They were expected to be there at the event at around 7:30 AM. Even before that volunteers had already arrived to help set up for the OC Visions Walk. When I had arrived at the Angels Stadium at 7:00 AM everything was pretty much already set up, so all I had to do was basically set the chairs and tables out at the “rest station.” But I was really surprised and excited to see how many volunteers that was there! There were over 30 volunteers! After the volunteers were done setting up, they were assigned to a booth. Most of the volunteers worked at the snack and nutrition bar, the registration booth, or the venders’ booth. Before the event had started, one of the event coordinators had gathered all the volunteers. It was just the usual she thanked all of the volunteers for coming out and then gave them an idea of what was going on. Of course, she told the volunteers what was needed to be done at each station and all that good stuff. Finally, off they all wentback to their mother nest just kidding to their booths of course. At first I was fortunate enough to get to work at the cotton candy and popcorn station, but unfortunately the machines weren’t working. The volunteers, the coordinator, and I were so bummed that we tried everything we could to get it to work, but it just seemed like we destroyed everything we touch. Because the jumper also seemed to have been deflated, it wasn’t me though! The picture says nothing! Anyways, since the cotton candy and popcorn did not want to work the
other volunteers and I had to go help out with the venders pass out flyers for the meanwhile. After awhile it was finally 10:00 AM and all the walkers and everyone else headed out to the front where the starting line was. Then, right when it turned 10:15 AM the walk started with a cut of a ribbon. In the meanwhile, half of the volunteers cheered the walkers on throughout the walk while the other half helped set up for the after party. While setting up for the after party the popcorn and cotton candy machine finally worked! The volunteers that were supposed to work there and I got so excited! The event coordinator told us that we could go work over at the station, and we literally ran over there! Working over at the station was really messy and sticky, but it was all worth it. The little kids really enjoyed it, and there smiles never failed to brighten up my day. They were so cute! Even the adults kept thanking us for what we do, and that’s exactly why I love volunteering and Key Club in general. Sadly, the event was about to come to an end… when it was around 12:00 AM the volunteers helped clean up and put all the stuff away. The event coordinators also made sure they emphasized that the volunteers were more than welcome to take whatever was leftover. Although, by the end of the day I was sticky and buttery and was filled with sweat, I wouldn’t have wanted to start my Saturday morning any other way. -Linda Le
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End of Term 2014 2014--2015 Banquet I encouraged a few friends to attend meetings even if they weren't members so they could get an idea of what it is key club does and whether or not they would like to join. As for myself, I applied to become a board member for the upcoming term, got the position, and ever since then I have become way more involved and have reached a better understanding of the goals and structure of key club. At the end of the term banquet, those members who were most involved absolutely came but what I found great was that we even welcomed those who aren't members the previous term but are going to be for the upcoming term. This truly demonstrates our aim to be inclusive and sets a good image. The banquet was held at bj’s restaurant, the back patio all to ourselves, with what seemed like unlimited pizza. As we ate we shared some laughs and great memories. -Brenda Rosas
To create more unity between everyone at banquet, Van, our president, decided we should play a game of pterodactyl. The game consists of saying the word pterodactyl without showing your teeth and laughing. If you want to switch the direction in which the game is going, you just make a bird noise. The game is pretty entertaining because you see many people trying not to laugh while saying it. I’m always one of the first people to get out because I can’t contain my laughter. Van and Michael, our bulletin editor, are pretty good at playing this game. Whoever won the games at banquet were lucky enough to receive key club merchandise that Van had brought to distribute to the winners. After we finished playing games, Chelsa gave out awards to the members and old board members. I was honestly surprised and grateful to have received one. Also, it was a great moment to really recognize the hard work the old board members put into our club during their time. Not only was it time to recognize their old board members hard work, but also the general members during the old term. I really enjoyed seeing how much effort everyone put into the last term and it made me want to work hard this term to make it memorable to not only myself but the general members. It really allowed me to see what being a key clubber is about and how I should never stop helping. -Jennifer Hernandez
P.3
June DCM During the meeting, John talked about the old business which was about the May DCM (The AMAYzing Book Doctors) and the OC Visions walk. He also talked about the new businesses. From one of the new updates one of our club member was recognized as member of the month for Division 30 South! That member was Mia Urtez. Even though she joined Key Club about a month before; she had shown so much excitement and enthusiasm for Key Club. Moving on from that, John, introduced to us the topic of the month: How Will You Stay Active? We had an open mind session about it and the members basically said that to be able stay active they would check up for updates through social media and go to volunteer events. This made me think about what Western Key Club was doing, and I guess we were already one step ahead! After the meeting was finally adjourned, we were split into different groups by whatever number was on the plate we received. In our groups we played an ice breaker where we all grab a person hand (each hand had to have someone different from your other hand) and had to untangle each other without breaking until we were in a circle. For the group I was in it did not take awhile for us to figure it out, because we were all coorparting and communicating! Then, once we were done it was potluck time! As we were waiting in line to get our food, I was really surprised how no one was in a rush to get food! We all just waited in line patiently while bonding with other Key Clubbers. I’ve finally reached the table, and there was a lot of variety of food than I thought there would be. There was pizza, pasta, sushi mmm mmm, lasagna, chips, cookies (the good kinds), cake, and all that good stuff. Just naming all of these makes my mouth watery. Good thing I already ate! Anyways, once I reached the end of the line I waited for my friends. Finally, we were able to sit down and enjoy our food. In the group that I was sitting with were people from Kennedy High School, Loara High School, Magnolia High School, and Oxford Academy. Although it sounds like the whole Division was bonding together, we weren’t. I was pretty bummed that after we all got our food everyone just seemed to disperse and did their own thing. I wish there could have been more ice breakers or activities and maybe even a service project! But to sum up my experience with my very first DCM this term, it was less than what I expected. At the same time I did enjoy being there. -Linda Le
P.4
World Refugee Day June 13th was the day for World Refugee Day. This event was a division event and I was pretty excited for it since I would be able to see different cultures come together. When I got to the location of the event, I was kind of lost on where to go since it was kind of a hidden from where I got dropped off. However, I was later on able to find the event and I was surprised because the location seemed pretty small, which later on I discovered it wasn’t. They were pretty organized with the signins and gave us pretty cool shirts. For the first hour and a half we didn’t really do much since our shift didn’t officially start around 4 pm. We helped around certain areas where they needed our help meanwhile we waited to start our official task. For example, we organized the area where the coffee would be served. Also, we gave out coffee to those who wanted some before the event officially began. After I was done helping at the coffee station I was looking for the place I would be helping at. However, my task got changed since the lady who ran the event assigned me to take pictures of the event. As the event progressed, they opened the gates that lead to the rest of the place. It was then I realized it wasn’t actually as tiny as I thought it would be. The place was really beautiful because of its architecture. I spent most of my time going around taking pictures of the volunteers working their shifts. Also, I had the opportunity to be able to see the different booths they had at the place. There was a particular booth that really caught my attention because it had different types of music instruments. In front of it was a man playing music for others to enjoy. It was a great experience being able to see many people of different cultures coming to this event to celebrate refugees. Also, I saw many of the older volunteers feeding the people who arrived to the event. I thought it was really kind for the organizers to do this. I enjoyed watching and photographing the people at the event enjoy their meals with their family. They sent all of those who were eating their meals to the area where the show would later on take place. I decided to follow them and look at that area; it was a nice, open area in which I was able to capture nice pictures. After a while, they were kind enough to feed us, the volunteers, food. They had food I had never tried before; it seemed to be food from the Middle East. Wherever it was from it honestly tasted amazing, I would have it again if I could. During this time all of us were able to take a break and enjoy what was going on in the place. -Jennifer Hernandez
P.5
Assistance League Fashion Show On Sunday, June 14th, I helped with the Assistance League Fashion Show. First off, this was probably my first time volunteering at a not-so-local event literally in months (the last time before this was the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast in early April). I decided to finally get up and out of the house to volunteer and help out the Kiwanians by doing some community service. After picking up one of my friends—Linda Le—I arrived at the Hilton Hotel. Since the event was taking place in the same hotel that District Convention took place in, I knew where to go to check in, thankfully. Linda and I met up with Giovanni Ramirez, a past board member, at the volunteer check-in booth, so I was reassured that other people would be helping out. I have to admit that the event was pretty disorganized at first. The volunteers all received name tags, but the event coordinator didn’t know where we were assigned to, and at one point, we were almost led to believe that there was nothing else for us to do since the models had all already been fitted (it turns out that the volunteers who helped out with that were from another organization, not Key Club). So after some wandering, we eventually found the area with the makeshift dressing rooms for the models. It turns out that the models were all cancer patients or survivors. I honestly thought they all looked amazing as ever. I wouldn’t even have known that they were any different from me just by looking at them! One Kiwanian gave us instructions on what to do, which was basically organize the models’ clothes since they all had two or three different outfits. There was a lot of time in between the changes, so we just kind of stood around awkwardly and tried to mingle with each other (or at least, that’s what I did). There were volunteers from other Key Clubs too, like Katella and Whitney, but I barely even knew them. Anyway, the most interesting part for me was when all of the models had changed into their last outfit of the fashion show— which was formal attire that could literally pass as prom clothing— and the volunteers all watched the fashion show from the TV screen in the back. Every one of the models were paired up with another model of the opposite gender and they all looked beyond amazing, I’m telling you! I even took a picture with one of the models even though I didn’t feel anywhere near worthy of being in the same picture of her (ah I wish I was kidding). -Van Bui
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a t s e i F s
u e a ren
St. I
The St. Irenaeus Church puts on an annual fiesta event, and Key Club is always happy to help! We helped with the fiesta on June 26, 27, and 28. I hadn’t originally signed up for this event, and was actually called upon to serve as a replacement the day before. And I’m so glad that I went. It was loads of fun from the moment I got there until I left! At the fiesta, there was plenty of food, rides, game booths, live entertainment, bingo, raffles, and more! It was a really active event, and thankfully there were plenty of volunteers to help out with the festivities. I was stationed at a game where you had four chances to shoot a ball into an octopus’s mouth (though it was only a cardboard cutout, it was just as cute as a real octopus). There were three different kinds of prizes, ranging from stuffed animals to candy to necklaces.
St. Irenaeus is an annual Fiesta, and I’m especially happy that it is back again and that I’m able to volunteer at this Fiesta as my second time. Last time, I also carried the duties of having to take photos of the service event, but this year, differences popped up considering that I’m no longer carrying that specific responsibility. Back then, I made four new friends who eventually became my closer friends, but unfortunately, college made them farther away. This Fiesta alone has brought me to through nostalgic feelings. The fiesta for this year occurred from Friday, June 26 to Sunday, June 28th. The specific shift I signed up for was 5-8PM, on a Saturday. What was different was that I worked an entire booth alone. This booth, however, was enjoyable due to its uniqueness in its theme. This booth was the spin art booth, and children, or people of all ages (from my experience adults did try it out for themselves as well), were amazed by the creations they were able to make. No spin art was the same, and it was always interesting to see the final outcome once I turn off the spin machine. It’s pretty funny, though, seeing some expressions of those who didn’t expect it to come out the way they thought it would. My interactions with the public is pleasant, and it’s something I’d never image myself doing if it weren’t for community service. th
I was eventually relocated to the booth right next to our original one. There, I worked a game called Duck Pond. In this game, a pool was filled with magnetic ducks, and kids were given a magnet on a fishing pole, trying to pick up a duck. Depending on what color dot the duck had under it, the players could receive one of many prizes. This game was lots of fun like my first one, and the woman working there had tons of energy like I did! I actually used to attend the fiesta yearly when I was younger, though I haven’t been there for several years. It was interesting going back, and it was fantastic to be on the volunteering side of it this time around! It feels like I had a holistic view of the event having seen both sides of it now. This was an exciting event, and I’m so glad that I got to do it! I didn’t get to do much volunteering in June since I was travelling for half the month, so this was a great opportunity to serve. The fiesta was amazing, and I loved being there. -Randall Belyea
Regrettably, I wish I was able to work more shifts and get more hours like I did last time. Though reasons get in the way, I hope more opportunities come my way so that I’d be able to achieve personal goals. The fiesta itself consisted of other games than just the art-themed one I was assigned at. Little children enjoyed scooping up treasure in the sand, a group of teenagers I saw enjoyed -Kiara Legaspi P.7
3rd Annual Mommy and Me 5k Saturday June 27th I volunteered in the 3rd annual mommy and me 5k in Angel’s stadium. The volunteer had to be there at 5:45am and end at 12:30pm. I got there as I was supposed to at 5:45am, it was very early but I managed to wake up. I signed up and they told me my name wasn’t on there but they still gave me a station to work in. The volunteers were divided in different groups. But most of them cheered on the runners and some handed out the t-shirts and cupcakes. They told the runners that had to cheer to wait for a while because they run started at 8:00am. We waited until a man came to place us in the right place to cheer. He assigned every couple of cheer volunteers in different place to tell where the runners had to go and also to cheer them we cheered for a while. The run ended earlier then I thought around 9:15am. I was taking pictures while cheering and directing the runners. After it ended I went to the front of the stadium where there was music, food and games. I got a cup cake that said thank you for running. For the games the most thing that stood out to me was the bouncy castle and they had a lot of different kinds of music playing while people walking around and enjoying run. Over all the event was okay. I thought they needed more inspiration and organization. They asked the volunteers to come early but made us wait for hours and they also didn’t have my name on their list. They first send us off to the gate of the stadium and made us wait a long time there but then when we asked again they told us different things. I hope the 4th annual is more organized and I also still hope it keeps going because it’s for a good cause.
P.8
OFFICER TRAINING CONFERENCE I look forward to this event every year because it is one of the few events we have with our WHOLE REGION! Seeing all my goldfish, otter, dragon, rhino, frog, and lion friends was the best part of the conference. As our LTG’s put it “We are all a rainbow of Service!” Our theme this year for Key Club is “Guardians of Service!” and our LTG’s are right that as volunteers we are also superheroes! It was a beeeeautiful Saturday morning when my fellow board member picked up a few of our board members and drove all the way to Costa Mesa High School. There we met up with our lovely president and 3 other board members. I remember the first year I came to ROTC I felt extremely overwhelmed by the amount of Key Clubbers there. I never knew there were Lions or even Otters? That to me was overwhelmingly awesome (if a person can even feel that weird emotion I made up.). As an awkward sophomore last year, I felt overwhelmed to see the amount of officers in our region. That every single one of these individuals took a step further to lead a club that helps thousands of people. I was and still am amazed. This year when I returned to ROTC, instead of feeling overwhelmed, I let the Key Club spirit take over! -Lesley Aguirre While in the Opening session I’d enjoyed Region 3 LTG’s skit on the super heroes of service. The first session that I attended was Beeing a Leader which was instructed by d04e Eric Cho and d41s Hannah Kim, this was an interesting session as they devised to not view what a leader in their eyes is but also in ours such as they prepared an activity for were we weren’t allowed to talk as in a group to draw a leader. In the groups we had to be creatively plan out what we wanted so we decided to draw Barack Obama since holding the title of our nation’s leader, so we got started, first thing was to draw his characteristic we drew strength meaning on how he is determined in his focused while all the groups displayed their drawings I’ve noticed how we all had similar attributes but different ways in displaying them as we as leaders have different perspectives in having things but they get the job done. -Abraham Vicente
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BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Randall Belyea 1. Favorite Color? Yellow. 2. What’s the best part about being in Key Club? Being able to serve alongside a family. 3. What is your favorite fruit? Apple. 4. Who is your role model? I have several, but my sisters stand out. 5. Are you enjoying your current position and term? Yes. 6. What clubs/activities are you involved in? Key Club, Gay-Straight Alliance, California Scholarship Federation, Cross Country, Track and Field, Dance, Tumbling, Internship. 7. Who is your favorite music artist? I don’t have one artist the particularly stands out. 8. Do you prefer tap water, refrigerated water, hose water, or bottled water? (Everyone’s different) Bottled Water. 9. How hard is your job? It’s not overly difficult, it’s more time consuming than it is hard. 10.What is your way of escaping school and relaxing? Listening to music and communicating with friends 11.Any advice for up and coming board members? Always remember to work hard, be kind, and be a role model. 12.What is your favorite book series? Harry Potter. 13.Who is your favorite superhero? Raven. 14.Do you have a catchphrase? Not raelly, I’m very shy and awkward, so I don’t talk all that much. 15.Who/What inspired you to join Key Club? My sister.
Randall was chosen to be a part of the Board Member Spotlight due to his great respect for others, ecstatic kindness, and warming smile that just fills the room. Randall is one of the most dependable Board members there is, and you can always count on him to get the job done.
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