Hey Key Club! The school year has finally ended and we’ve reached the summer! It was a successful year, and I look forward to what the next year has in store for us.
Don’t think much about the coming school year, because then you’ll spend the whole summer stressed out. Do some activities to take your mind off things!
A lot of us have work to do over the summer, whether that be SAT/ACT/AP prep or extracurricular activities. Those are important, but as always, it’s always a good idea to rest (burnout over the summer is really sad…). And if you find yourself with nothing to do, feel free to sign up for some of our events to work towards a graduation requirement!
A big thanks to our cabinet members for writing articles for this newsletter, and a thanks to those still volunteering despite it being the summer.
Thanks for dropping by and reading our newsletter!
HEY HEY HEY WHITNEY KEY CLUB!!!!
Congrats on FINALLY making it through the past school year. It was a pretty rough year (especially for me) and as you are reading this, it is already the month of July and we are almost halfway through summer :’). Time really flies by so fast. I hope that through all the summer activities, whether it is traveling, spending time with family, or having classes, that it is still a great time! Speaking of summer, especially since we all have a lot more time on our hands, you know what that means. GET INVOLVED WITH KEY CLUB! Truly take advantage of the free time that is given to us and come out to volunteer events whether in-person or online. For example, we have a volunteer event at Whitney happening most of July and August, making it more convenient for you to serve within your community. Furthermore, although we may not be having our annual Beach Boomba, the summer is still a great time to get involved in the division level of our club. If you did not know, Whitney Key club is a part of Division 30 south, one of the biggest divisions in the California-Nevada-Hawaii district. There are so many different opportunities this summer for all of you to enjoy through Key Club.
From my experience, I totally recommend going to service events in-person with friends. When the COVID restrictions were lifted during the summer of 2021, I went to numerous in-person events with my friends and they were extremely fun. Whether or not your friends are in Key Club, it is a great way (and excuse) to hangout with your friends as well as volunteering. I’m sure that a lot of you don’t have as much frequency with seeing your friends, so this would be a great way to see your friends often and rack up those service hours.
Recently, Whitney Key Club’s officers had a vision meeting as well for the upcoming year. We are super excited to share our goals with all of you very soon and I totally recommend signing up for our Google Group and following our social media to keep up with these things. If you ever have any questions or concerns about events, feel free to contact me or anyone in the executive cabinet. I look forward to seeing you all at Key Club events and talk to you soon!
Shining with service, Jasmine
Tai
Hasini Sunkara | Treasurer
Hey Key Club! As the school year is approaching I wanted to tell you guys some ways to be the most successful Key Clubber. The first is to get familiar with our graduation requirements, once you are set a goal that you can realistically reach by graduation. Based on that goal, decide how many hours you would need to do per month. Personally, I think that 10 hours per month is sufficient.
However, the most important thing is to pay your dues. Paying your dues allows you to earn hours through Key Club and also helps fund the club. After paying your dues and setting a goal for yourself there is only one more thing to do. Staying connected! By checking the club emails every month you can see all the new volunteer opportunities that are near you. There are also online events if necessary! By applying these three tips you can be the best key clubber!
Key Club offers high school students the opportunity to create a meaningful social impact by serving others in their schools and communities. Our organization is dedicated to providing members with chances to engage in service, foster character development, and cultivate leadership skills. Key Club upholds four core values: leadership, character building, caring, and inclusiveness.
Leadership within Key Club is rooted in humility and a commitment to serving others. A true leader listens, acknowledges, and empowers individuals. Being a leader in Key Club goes beyond giving orders; it involves taking initiative to serve the community, such as encouraging others to join in service or seeking cabinet positions.
Character is developed through acts of kindness, integrity, and teamwork that strengthen relationships and communities. Key Club offers more than just an opportunity to accumulate service hours; it is a chance for personal growth by becoming closer to one's community. Being part of Key Club means belonging to a group of talented and passionate students dedicated to improving the world through action.
Caring entails demonstrating compassion for others and inspiring action and service within one's community. Service is founded on the principle of volunteering without expecting anything in return. Key Club's work often has a far-reaching impact, benefiting individuals in distant places whom we may never meet.
Inclusiveness emphasizes the welcoming of individuals from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities to join in service and make a positive difference in our world. By embracing the perspectives and experiences of those different from us, we become more aware of the challenges our society faces.
On June 17, 2023, our Whitney Key Club cabinet, along with officers from all over the region, attended our annual Officer Training Conference, or OTC, which was called Super Mario-TC! It was held at McFadden Institute of Technology, where officers spent over four hours attending workshops and honing their leadership skills.
First, we headed to the registration tables to check in and get stickers with our names and words related to Super Mario, which would later be used for icebreakers. Afterward, we split off into our respective divisions and held our monthly Division Council Meeting, or DCM. As always, we started off with roll call and then each club gave a brief report about their club’s progress and accomplishments in the past month. Our lieutenant governor (LTG), Austin, gave division updates, and the Division Leadership Team (DLT) also talked about upcoming service events, fundraisers, and socials.
Following our DCMs, we headed into the theater for the opening session. The LTGs in our region performed a fun and interesting skit where the characters of Super Mario have to go through OTC to rescue each other from Bowler. We then broke off into our first workshop session of the day. I attended the Secretary workshop and learned a lot about the Secretary’s duties, the MRF, and organizational skills! Other workshops included ones for President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Historians/Bulletin Editors. Lunch followed our first workshop, and everyone got some free pizza to eat. Following lunch, we headed to our second and last workshop session. I attended the Building Your Team workshop and learned much about leadership skills, communication, and teamwork.
After the presentation, we played some games of icebreakers and charades/telephone and won some super cute frog stickers from Division 4 Central! Finally, we made our way back to the theater for closing session. We answered some Key Club trivia to get stickers and had a guest speaker from the Orange County Children’s Book Festival talk about the event, which is the nation’s largest children’s book festival. Afterward, we concluded Supermario-TC. Although OTC is only for officers, Region Training Conference, or RTC, is coming up in October and is open to anyone in the region. I highly encourage you all to attend for a great learning experience!
Ann Huang | Secretary Vanessa Ejike | Director of ActivitiesI’m sure we all know how important community service is, especially in a community like Cerritos, but do we know how far our impact truly reaches? Volunteering is a strange concept to many. An individual gives up their time for no personal gain or benefit. It seems foreign and peculiar, but the amount of pride and experience one gains after volunteering simply cannot be bought or given.
Volunteering at in-person events provided by Key Club has always given me a sense of accomplishment – and I notice that I always leave the space with something new that I have learned. This includes learning to make light-up cards at the Discovery Cube and improving my Spanish communication at the Whittier ACS Food Pantry.
The fact that I can give a smile to someone by simply lending a helping hand is enough to brighten the rest of my day. This is why I challenge you all to become dedicated Key Club members! By choosing Key Club, you’re not only changing your own life for the better, but you are helping other individuals along the way.
Key Club is made up of so many people from different aspects and walks of life. It’s safe to say that YOU will undoubtedly contribute to the change this club brings every day to people, communities, and ultimately the whole world. Now is the time to use Key Club to create change.
Kaitlyn Tran | Director of Activities
WASSUP SUNNIES I’m Kaitlyn Tran. As some of you may know, I am this term’s Director of Activities! If you’ve been keeping up with our emails, you have probably seen that Vanessa (our other Director of Activities) and I have been sending them out as well as finding events for you guys! So let’s get into detail about what we do! Let’s dive right in (#influencermoment)
Before sending out emails, we have to (obviously) find events for Key Clubbers to participate in. How do we do this, you may ask? Well, there are quite a few ways. One of the ways I like is to go on a service-finding website to find events near me. I have to check the requirements because many require volunteers to be 18+ or able to drive or something of the sort, which is not possible for us because we are minors (except for some of you seniors). Once I find an event that our school can help at, I go ahead and email the organization and ask them if we could volunteer there! If I find something interesting but it doesn’t have a specific date, I email them and ask if they have any opportunities in the next few weeks. Another way is organizations or schools email US! Sometimes we get emails from elementary schools telling us what events they have and if we are able to aid them. Organizations also reach out and ask for assistance. If we like the activity, we say yes! So those are a few ways of how we find events.
Once we have the event, we ask for information for volunteers from the coordinators to have everything in order. They could give us what volunteers do, a volunteer limit, waivers, directions to the location, and more. This is very important because the event needs to go smoothly and volunteers also won’t be so lost. Once we have all of that, we put all of this into a Google Doc and organize the events we gathered. This is the email template. We then find a quote (I’m usually the one to do this which is why I often choose Taylor Swift quotes), as all of the emails come with one at the top if you have been paying attention. We also edit the Google Form for sign-ups to fit the new events for the month! We change the colors as well so people can easily tell the difference between different months!! So once we have all of that, we send out the emails to everybody in Whitney Key Club!
So if you’re reading this right now, GO CHECK OUT EMAILS SENT OUT BY whitneykc.activities1@gmail.com!! Go sign up for events and get those hours!
Akshar Belaguly | Director of Fundraising
Stress is a word most of us are familiar with. We always dread the uncomfortable feeling of having to get things done at the last minute, yet most of us find ourselves in that position, whether it be from school, clubs, or other extracurriculars. However, there are many ways to prevent this, and most of them are actually quite simple and fairly easy to incorporate into your daily lifestyle.
1) Use a good Calendar app
A simple trick like using your phone’s calendar app (or whatever calendar app you prefer) can go a long way in helping your time management. Set certain times for the day for certain tasks, like working on a new article or having to complete your math tutoring homework so that you always try to finish it every day. It is always better to work on something for 15 minutes every day rather than cramming it all at the last minute before the due date.
2) Try meditating
Meditating feels like an overrated way to help reduce stress and anxiety. However, all of the attention meditation gets is deserved, as it helps clear your mind and helps you prioritize your tasks. Just a single five-to-fifteen-minute time period in the day can help you gain more focus to your work and helps you manage your time better
3) Maintain physical exercise and good nutrition
You don’t even have to be athletic to follow this tip successfully. A simple 30-minute period of walking in your street or low-intensity exercise like yoga can definitely do the trick. This helps stress management since it helps clear your mind of toxins that may potentially cloud good judgment and clear thinking. It’s important to be consistent and realistic though; it’s better to do 15 minutes of light walking for 2 weeks than vigorously exercising for 30 minutes in one day and doing nothing on subsequent days.
At the end of the day, these tips are practically useless unless you can consistently practice them to improve your well-being. Happy trails!
Hey Whitney Key Club!! I hope your summer is going great! Here are a few tips to start your Key Club journey!
1. Stay updated!
BEE sure to read all of the emails sent out. All important information and reminders are sent out mainly through email, so be sure to check your email often. Always be on the lookout for our monthly service events, articles, and updates. If you’re not one that likes to check their email or doesn’t frequently do, there is another option for you. Make sure to follow us on our social medias like Facebook or Instagram, @Whitney Key Club and @whitneyhigh_keyclub. We constantly post about events and meetings. Within both our email and social media, there is a linktree. In the linktree, you can find everything about Key Club from our school club events to Key Club international events.
2. Ask questions!
Ask lots and lots of questions. Whether it be questions about service events or anything related to Key Club, we are here to help! You can ask anyone on cabinet for clarifications and we are happy to help. Please never hesitate to reach out to us!
3. Stay involved!
Make sure you are participating in as many events and activities as you can. Events are a great way to interact with other members and make new friends. Also try to get your service early, whether it be online or in person. Doing events and service hours may seem hard, but at the end of the day the feeling of serving your community is unmatched!
4. Have Fun!
And, importantly make sure you have fun! The most important part of Key Club is to have fun. BEE sure to make the most of your Key Club journey!
Hello again, everyone! In case you weren’t aware, I jumped at the chance of joining Key Club as a freshman (this past school year), and if you are an incoming freshman for the 2023-2024 term or any of the ones following it, you should too! Joining the club in your first year of high school, your first opportunity to do so, is crucial BEE-cause it gives you as much time as possible to make the most of your 4-year Key Club life. Within this, you will BEE able to BEE-gin several processes early.
One of these said processes is getting your required service hours in, an essential part of BEE-ing a club member. Not only does this mean you can volunteer more and have those hours accounted for, but it also gives you a better chance of reaching the 200 hours by graduation to earn a stole!
Another benefit you get from joining Key Club as soon as possible is that you can BEE-gin to build up your credibility as a member. To elaborate, more experience and involvement as a Key Clubber provides the possibility of influencing your KC cabinet members to choose to appoint you as part of cabinet—if proven to BEE reliable and responsible, of course.
Tying into the previous element, joining Key Club in the early months of 9th grade will give you the chance to try to get into cabby for the next term right away through your applications. From there, you could work to climb your way up to higher positions over the years, especially for executive cabinet for Whitney’s Key Club and/or DLT (Division Leadership Team) for D30S (Division 30 South), the Key Club division we’re a part of!
That about wraps up my list of reasons why every rising freshman should indubitably sign up to be a part of this BEE-autiful, BEE-nevolent club! Thanks, sunnies, for reading, and keep shining every day!
Lourdes Vigilia | Historian
If you’re looking for a great volunteer opportunity, look no further than Whittier ACS Food Pantry! This event requires volunteers to help distribute food and other products to the community. It’s also amazing that this event happens every second and fourth Saturday of the month! It’s a great way to start volunteering!
Personally, I think this event had such a welcoming community. The overall atmosphere was so hospitable. Everyone I worked with was extremely friendly and polite. I would definitely recommend this event for any new or first time volunteers. It’s definitely one of the events where you get to interact with new people and learn skills along the way. Additionally, you and your friends can work together which makes the event even more fun!
My favorite part of this event was definitely how enthusiastic everyone was. The vibe was immaculate and it always felt like everyone was welcome. The community treated everyone with the kindness and respect they deserve. They were also kind enough to let us volunteers take the remaining products we wanted home. After our shift was over, we also had the opportunity to use their piano.
Overally, this event was one of the most enjoyable ones. I would absolutely recommend this event every chance I get! I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work alongside these amazing people. I hope that I see more people attending during the next time the event happens.
Have you been struggling with keeping up with your service goals or in general are struggling to even make those goals?
The first step in setting your volunteer goal should be first checking your schedule. When checking your schedule you can see how busy your schedule is and how much time you have available for volunteering. After checking your calendar, you should check the days that we have volunteer events for Key Club through the monthly in-person activity emails. Through this you can plan accordingly and see which days you can do service.
I would say per month, if you are just starting, you should try to do at least one in-person event per month or at least 3-5 hours in person. If you are more experienced or having been previously involved in Key Club you could try to do anywhere from 2-4 in-person events and somewhere from 5-10 hours in-person.
However, if your schedule is packed and the events are on days where you are busy, I would recommend still volunteering through our online events. These events are sent through the monthly online events email. For online events, I would suggest that all members set a goal for at least 5 hours online since most of them are easy and when spread out during the month only take a little bit of time throughout your day.
With these goals in mind, a member can get anywhere from 10-20+ hours a month, and doing this consistently can lead you to achieve and gain our graduation requirements which award you with either a cord, medallion, or stole. Our hope is that all our members are able to make it to the highest level and gain our stole! With these goals hopefully all of you guys will be able to make it there, but most importantly keep pushing yourself to volunteer without burning yourself out! Happy Key Clubbing!
Senior Recognition Night was a recent event where sophomore and junior Whitney Key Clubbers volunteered together to help the Whitney staff celebrate the recent 2023 graduates. The event took place on Wednesday, May 31st at Whitney High School’s gym. For two hours from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, the Key Clubbers acted as ushers to both the upcoming graduates as well as their families. The ceremony itself celebrated the seniors through a series of speeches and announcements of different scholarships. Being a more professional event, many seniors showed up in their formal wear, as well as the volunteers in their white tops and black pants. The event was quite busy at first, with volunteers ushering people to sit, whether they be a graduate, family member, or a VIP attendee. However, once everyone was seated and the ceremony began, the need for ushers decreased by a lot. So in response, we sat in the back listening to the ceremony. During the intermission, the ushers were tasked to stand next to the snack table to help refill and pass out snacks (as well as steal some after when there were extras ) which later led to casual discussion and going home.
As an experience, this event allowed volunteers to use their social skills to act as an usher to the attendees, as well as giving them a sneak peak into the service industry (and two service hours.) Although it involved quite a bit of sitting and smiling, the event was a smooth success!
Beverly Osaji | Director of Fundraising
Whether you’re an incoming freshman joining Key Club for the first time, or you are already in highschool and only recently wanted to join the club, Key Club is the absolute best to join. But if you’re worried about joining, here are some tips to consider. Firstly, at the beginning of the year, do not forget to pay your dues! These will help record your hours for Key Club as valid, and in turn, help our club to thrive, because we now are counted for more hours. Key Club may have a lot of information to process, so make sure to go to meetings frequently, as we have all of our information talked about and explained outright, in case there are any problems. Join our google group as well, as we also send all of our information through email, so you will be notified for sign ups for events, new activities, socials, etc.
Try to be involved as well! Key Club is such a life-changing club, and being involved not only teaches you more skills, whether it be leadership, public speaking, caring for your community, etc, but it also introduces more opportunities to bond with the other member’s. Being in Key Club is like joining another family, and through service events and different volunteer opportunities, you will be able to meet more people, and form bonds with those around you. You may even be surprised, you will meet other people from different schools, and become friends with those in different divisions through socializing with them in service events and regional activities. So stay involved with Key Club because these experiences will not only teach you the different qualities needed for Key Club, but it will also provide you with fun experiences to look back on!
And lastly, most importantly, always feel free to ask a cabinet member, a key club member, or a friend for help if needed! We understand the difficulty of joining a key club, and whether it is a question asking how to be a chair, or how to sign up for events, we would be ecstatic to answer any questions you may be presented with, as we want to help you with as much as we can. So don’t be afraid to ask questions, make sure to come out to our general meetings for information, pay your dues, and try to be involved in Key Club as much as you can!