THE KIWI January Issue! Recent Events............................2-4 Service Spotlight........................5 Division/District Updates...........6 Member Spotlight.......................7 Credits..........................................8
Mulchfest Rache Huangl, Key Club Member On January 10, 2015, ten members from the Bronx Science Key Club attended the MillionTreesNYC MulchFest. The event was held at Fort Greene, specifically Washington Park and Willoughby Ave. Upon arrival, we were given gloves, bucket, bags, shovels, and other materials needed for the event. Christmas trees (evergreen) were shredded, recycled, and used as mulch. As a group effort, we apply mulch around the neighborhood trees to protect them from the cold and to give them the nutrients they needed to survive the rest of the cold winter. Going up and down the block, we applied a mulch ring around each and every tree, making sure the mulch itself didn’t actually touch the base of the tree, or the mulch might rot its roots. This event had been very inspirational to many of us. It showed us that small actions such as applying mulch to the trees of a community can create a lasting and constructive end result. Not only had this event acted as a motivator for many of us, it had also allowed us to become closer with one another; before the actual event had started, four of the students gathered at the meeting point, introduced themselves and got to know each other more. During the event itself, the President and Vice President of the Bronx Science Key Club, Jasmine Quidala and Timmy Zhu, had talked about their past experiences with Key Club and various events, such as Leadership Training Conference (LTC). One of the few stories the they had shared with us was about a fundraiser event called Water Wars. This event was donated to help the people in Siberia and the Philippines recover after the floods; they shared stories on how each of the board members were pelted with water balloons. We learned how exciting and fun these events can be and they give us the opportunity to grow and get to know people, and most importantly: have fun while giving to the community. Through this event, we gained a lot of insight about Key Club and about each other. So even though it was really cold and we worked out in the open, with some of us ending up not feeling our feet, it was definitely a great experience and worth the cold and time!
Michael Chan, Key Club Member On January 10, key clubbers from Bronx Science Key Club worked with Million Trees NYC at the 2015 Mulch Fest event near Fort Greene Park. During this event, we used recycled Christmas trees that were grinded in order to create mulch. We spread circles around the trunk of the tree using the mulch that was created and we were required to do this for all the trees in the area. While the coordinator gave us instructions, she taught us why the mulch was necessary for the trees and we learned that mulch is used to preserve the life of a tree and it’s also used improve the fertility and health of the soil. While this event was fun and a great learning experience, it was also a struggle. A majority of us didn’t live in Brooklyn which made traveling to the event a struggle. the temperature felt as if it was below 20 degrees because of the cold strong winds. Despite these obstacles, we managed to pour mulch around all the trees in the area within 3 hours and take a really nice group photo. It was the most satisfying feeling to finally finish our jobs because it’s always a good feeling to know that we can actually make a difference when we sacrifice a few hours of your day to help preserve nature in a neighborhood. Personally, my favorite part of the event was when the coordinator offered hot apple cider because allowed us to warm up in the cold weather and it motivated us to do our job the best we could. 2
Central Park Hot Chocolate 5 & 10 Miler Winson Chen, Key Club Member It was a cold Sunday morning at Central Park. Over 20 students from the Bronx Science Key Club came from all over the city to help out the Central Park Hot Chocolate 5 & 10 Miler. During this event, we were stationed all around the course at various water stations to give runners a nice cold treat to help them continue their journey to the finish line. As the first couple of runners crossed the finish line, their name were announced and the crowd erupted into cheers. At the end of the race, runners were given hot chocolate and bagels. Prizes were then awarded to the winners. After the 5 mile racers had passed, the 10 mile racers then began to trickled in. At the conclusion of the race, we all reconvened and took a group photo. Although the weather was incredibly cold, the event was quite fun. During the event, Rachel, Tracy, and I (Winson) were placed at a water station at the end of the finish line. We had to wait until the race itself actually started but as soon as it did, we started pouring water into the cups and handed them out to the runners. After a while more, runners had already started to arrive at the finish line. My favorite part of the event was towards the end of the event. We had a fun time playing around as we picked up the garbage around the park. This event had showed us a great deal of things. It showed us how we can work and yet have fun, and make friends through these wonderful events. This event strengthened our friendship with others and also had free hot chocolate.
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BRONX SCIENCE KEY CLUB newsletter
Service Spotlight
Brides Against Breast Cancer
Jasmine Quindala, Club President Breast Cancer is one of those diseases that people just know. Thus, there are many ways in which people try to raise money for it. This event was very distinct because throughout my time in Key Club, I have never had this kind of experience. Although, we have participated in events regarding Breast Cancer, it was never something as different as this. What made it so unique was the fact that we were not just helping those with Breast Cancer but we were also helping brides. When we got to the event, we received cute black aprons with the Brides Against Breast Cancer logo on it. Then, we entered a showroom with racks upon racks of wedding dresses arranged by size. Practically everyone in the showroom was female except for our very own Key Clubbers. We assisted the managers and the other older volunteers in finding the right size dresses or the right kind of style. We even helped a few people personally to find the dress. Every time a woman fell in love with her dress and bought it, we rang the bell and we all celebrated. All the proceeds for the dresses would then go to Breast Cancer. Afterwards we all helped with the breakdown of the showroom and secured all the dresses inside the truck. In the end, we all got to keep the balloons that had decorated the event and gave them around to random people on the street :)
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Divisional/District Updates Yingchao He, Scrapbook Co-Head
The January divisional was unlike any other. During the meeting, division 11 voted for its next lieutenant governor. Emily Li of hunter college high school key club was the only candidate running. The speech she had was well spoken. She showed her love for key club and the lengths she would go to in improving our division. Even with competition Emily would still have won the hearts of every member of division 11 key club.
January Member of the Month
Distinguished Key Clubber (DKC) Applications are due on February 15th so please make sure to complete it and submit it by that date! Online link: http://dkcapp.nydkc.org/
Mona Miao 16'
Mona is honestly one of my favorite people that I have met in Bronx Science. I first met her in bio and then I soon found out she was apart of key club and we just grew so much closer. She’s one of the most honest people I’ve met in key club and one of the ones with the bigger heart. She may be one of the quietest people you meet at first but she’s honestly such a big ball of energy and she will never fail to make you smile. She’s one of the most dedicated people I’ve met in this club and continues to be even though she has such a harsh school load on her. -Erna Radoncic
`Mona is honestly one of the most passionate people I know. Not all the members know her but she,a long with her co-head are the reasons for the numerous events the club is able to do. She is extremely diligent and meticulous with not only her Committee work but also with any new Key Club project she creates for herself. Although she doesn't always have the time to go to events and participate physically, she mollifies this by finding the events that the members go to. She doesn't just do that though. She does all she can to participate whether it be creating the hoodie design, entering the LTC digital t-shirt competition, or even making a video advocating the Eliminate Project. I'm extremely proud of how far Mona has come in Key Club and now she's going even higher as the Webmaster/Editor Elect!”
"Mona is one of the most dedicated members and as head of the projects committee she never failed to find a really cool event for the members. as a person she's really hard working and focused and that transfers over to her as a key clubber and shines through with her passion and motivation to always try to include everyone in the events" - Cassandra Wong
-Jasmine Quindala
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BRONX SCIENCE KEY CLUB newsletter
Upcoming Events for the Month of February Go to visit our website to sign up and keep updated with more upcoming events at:
 Mulchfest 1/10  Central Park Hot Chocolate Run 1/11 http://bxscikeyclub.weebly.com / Hello Key Clubbers. I am Wesley Li and I am your editor/webmaster for the service year of 2014-2015. I hope you guys did well on your midterms! I know we lacked a lot of events this month but that's because its cold out! Anyway I hope to see you guys at the meetings or around school! Also mid-winter break is coming up so you guys can enjoy that and good luck to everyone who is applying for the Distinguish Key Clubber! Thank You! Yours in Service Wesley Li' 16 Club's Webmaster/Editor
Board 2014-2015 Jasmine Quindala President Timmy Zhu Vice President Raina Wong Secretary Sophia Yu Treasurer
Credits
Wesley Li Editor/Webmaster
Wesley Li Editor Erna Radoncic Public Relations Committee Chair Angie Chen Public Relations Committee Chair Valued Contributors: Timmy Zhu, Winson Chen, Rachel Huang, Jasmine Quindala, Michael Chan, Kenji Yeoh, Alice Shih 6