Jenks Key Club December 2020 Newsletter

REGION 2 DIVISON 5

The Trojan Torch DECEMBER NEWSLETTER JENKS HIGH SCHOOL VOLUME 8 ISSUE 5

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1

Letter From the Editor

2

Message From the President

3

Jenks Special Olympics

4

Reflecting on 2020

5

What are you Grateful for?

6

Pictures from Volunteers

7

Key Club International Service Partners Key Club International Preferred Charities

8

Contact Information The Trojan Talk | Page 1

9-12 13-15

Letter from the Editor Hi everyone!

I hope everyone had a good winter break and that you come back ready to volunteer some more. Now with the addition of board members we will hopefully be able to get more volunteering opportunities out for you guys this year. I hope to be able to see everyone soon whether it is through volunteering, club meetings or socials I can't wait to meet even more of you guys. Don't forget that you can turn in 3 candid pictures of yourself volunteering for three service points or an article about Key Club for 3 service points. Lets try to make this year even better than last year and don't forget to turn in your hours!

The Trojan Talk | Page 2

Message From the President Hey Key Clubbers!

I hope you all had a wonderful winter break!

The holidays are a great time to spend time with friends and family and I hope you all enjoyed it. As we enter 2021, I want to thank you all for your continued patience and support in what was a tumultuous year. I want to take a second to recount all that we accomplished last semester- donations to a homeless shelter, special Olympics, and the food bank are all ways that you wonderful Key Clubbers helped improve your community. I am so excited about this new year and providing you with new volunteer opportunities!

The Trojan Talk | Page 3

Jenks Special Olympics

By Karly Keeton

As you'll remember, Jenks Project Unify and Jenks Special Olympics' Christmas Party was done over Zoom this year. Many peers and athletes, past and present, were able to gather and share their Christmas and Winter Break plans. Hearing from former athletes, as well as our current Jenks Special Olympics coaches and peers was wonderful, especially because we had been missing so many of our athletes who did not come to our swim practices. At one of our last practices, we were lucky enough to award our swimmers with ribbons from our Swim Meet, graciously hosted by the Jenks Swim Team. The entire swim team presented our athletes with ample support and encouragement, which our club is very thankful for, as support is often lacking.Unfortunately, our last few practices were cancelled, greatly upsetting many athletes and peers who cherish the wonderful time we spend together. In addition to this, we were unable to have any fall fundraising events, which has negatively impacted our club, as it diminishes the amount of things we are able to do. Most of our club functions are fundraising events or Special Olympics practices, which is how we get the word out about us and provide more help, support, and friendship to many athletes and students with special needs. 2021 begins with Tuesday night practices every week. Pre-High Schoolers practice from 5:30-6:30 and High Schoolers practice from 6:45-7:45. Jenks Project Unify and Jenks Special Olympics would greatly appreciate some help and friendship for our wonderful students. Key Club does award service hours to those who volunteer. If you do volunteer, record your hours under "Special Projects". If you have any questions, please contact the club president, Karley Keeton, at karley.keeton85@jenksms.com and join our club Remind @jpu2021. I hope to see some new faces at our upcoming practices this semester.

The Trojan Talk | Page 4

Reflecting on 2020

By Jonathan Begbie

2020 has finally come to an end, and what a year it has been. It helped us realize the importance of a lot of things. Community, friendship, family, interacting with people, and the joy of being alone to name a few. This year-long rollercoaster really set into place the importance of being a volunteer, and I am thankful for every opportunity I had to help those around me. I am also grateful for my ability to get a little out of my comfort zone by applying to be a Key Club board member for the Oklahoma Aquarium got the position! I hope to recruit many more aquarium volunteers and make this project much more appealing than it has in the past few years. I have also been volunteering at the aquarium much more. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with telling guests more about the animals and helping them around the aquarium, which is something I struggled with very much in the beginning of me being an Aqua-Teen. By coming to the aquarium more regularly, I became more familiar with the staff members and other volunteers as well, making new connections and figuring out more of how the volunteer system really works. Finally, I’m grateful for getting more involved with the Key Club community than I have in the past years. Instead of only doing minimum volunteering and going to meetings, I participated in group activities, learned more about the ins and outs of Key Club, and participated in more group events. The group activities we’ve had this year weren’t quite like the ones in 2019, but they were helpful nonetheless. While things like the job fair weren't quite as interactive or large as it has been, I am glad I was able to raise awareness for the Aquarium's need for volunteers and how amazing it is to help there. With that being said, I will do my best to ensure that 2021 is even more successful than this year, as more new members and opportunities to help will surely come to light.

The Trojan Talk | Page 5

What are you Thankful for?

By Salma Waheed

2020 has been a tumultuous year for everyone, and Key Club was no exception. I remember the day of the Key Club election being the day we went into lockdown- March 14. I had gone to school that Friday thinking we would have an extended Spring Break that eventually turned into summer. As President of such a large club during a pandemic, there were a lot of concerns on how we would adapt. Another factor that added to the concerns was that all the officers of the previous year had graduated, making a completely new, inexperienced group of officers in charge during a pandemic. As we navigated online zoom meetings and brainstormed online volunteering options, I found a sense of gratefulness amidst the chaos. I was grateful that we had not given up and were still trying to adapt. One thing I noticed with the lockdown was that it reduced a lot of people’s motivation. However, being the wonderful club we are, we pushed through all of that and into 2021. One of the things we pushed through was choosing a new board for the 2020-2021 year. We were not able to choose a board last year as usual, and the selection had to be delayed until this fall. With the help of some great officers, we were able to place our new board members this year who have already done a great job creating some opportunities for our general members. Make sure to pick them up from Mr. McCown’s room (5222) before or after school if you haven’t yet! One of the most frustrating parts of 2020 has been the constant quarantining of our members. I was quarantined twice, and it created a lot of inconvenience for managing the club. That’s why I’m thankful for my officers, board, and members for keeping it together and keeping in contact during these quarantines. Their continued work has been vital. As we move forward into 2021, I am excited to work some more!

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Pictures from Volunteers

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Key Club International Service Partners

The Trojan Talk | Page 8

Key Club International Preferred Charities

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Club Contact President

Salma Waheed president@jenkskeyclub.org

Vice President of Hours Evonn Annor vpofhours@jenkskeyclub.org

Vice President of Minutes Noah Pursell vicepresident@jenkskeyclub.org

Secretary of Hours Julia Naifeh servicehours@jenkskeyclub.org

Secretary of Minutes Lily Jiang minutes@jenkskeyclub.org

Club Sponsors: Jordon McCown The Trojan Talk | Page 13

Information

Webmaster Victor Zhu webmaster@jenkskeyclub.org

Webmaster Mariam Siddiqui webmaster@jenkskeyclub.org

Treasurer Easton Deyoe treasurer@jenkskeyclub.org

Editor Allison Wong editor@jenkskeyclub.org

LTG 3 Viranda Kwok ltg25w@tokeyclub.com

Jennifer Roberts Laura Keil The Trojan Talk | Page 14

District Contact Information Governor

Kareena Patel governor@tokeyclub.com

Secretary

Vivian Thai

secretary@tokeyclub.com

Treasurer

Raj Patel

treasurer@tokeyclub.com

Editor Convention Liaison

Katelyn Tran

editor@tokeyclub.com

Kaitlyn Roehr

cl@tokeyclub.com

Technology Alina Dam techproducer@tokeyclub.com Producer Region 3 Advisor Blake Rolller region3@tokeyclub.com The Trojan Talk | Page 15

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Jenks Key Club

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