2012-2013 newsletter: issue 4 -- August/September 2012

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BRONX SCIENCE K E Y C L U B 75 West 205 Street, Bronx, NY 10468

Volume 1 Issue 4

Phone: 1-718-817-7700

Fax: 718-733-7951

THE KIWI BACK TO SCHOOL EDITION

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MY BOROUGH

By Natalie Qin, Dedicated Member

It ’s always enjoyable to come together with all your friends and spend an entire day outside playing games and just having fun. And what could be a better way to do so than by celebrating your borough as well? The “I Love My Borough” event, held by the Police Athletic League (PAL), took place on August 16, 2012 at IS 218.

PAL is an organization that allows the police to help children give back to their communities by providing opportunities that encourages a healthy lifestyle. In this event, many children gather to take the time to commemorate the amazing homes and activities Brooklyn and Queens have to offer. In addition to classic games such as foosball and ping pong, there was a rock climbing wall. This year, as a special event, PAL teamed up with USTA to provide the SMASH ZONE station where children could participate in a mini game of tennis.

There was even a huge inflatable tennis ball that people could sign their names on.

Table of Contents!

I Love My Borough Event…1

Along with the other Key Club members, I helped operate the outdoor games section. Children from elementary and middle schools and even staff members quickly crowded around to join in on simple, yet enjoyable games. The game I was in charge of was one where participants had ten tries to try and bounce ping pong balls into fifteen cups of water. Even though it was a game that was easy to learn, the children could not contain their joy of getting even one ball into the cup.

Looking back at their reactions, I was reminded of how innocent children can be and how easily they can smile at the simplest things.

Recent Events…..................2 Divisional Update………..…3 Member Spotlight: AugustSeptember 2012…………. 3 Event Spotlight (1): Chinatown Beautification Day………………………..4-5 Event Spotlight: (2): Color Run…………..….....6-7 Credits!……………..…..…..8

UPCOMING EVENTS! 9/20/12 – Club Fair 9/22/12 – Light the Night Event 9/30/12 – JDRF Walk (continued on page 2)

Recent Events ď Š I

MY BOROUGH

By Natalie Qin, dedicated member

I thought that being in charge of still had a lot of fun watching and interacting with these the gaming section was hard enough, but lunch time was even cheery kids. And as Christine crazier. We ran around for almost Lim said, "It was inspiring to two hours bringing food and drinks interact and see the many to the never ending number of kids smiles of the children as they after they had their fun outside. As had fun with the activities quickly as one table was filled with that we were in charge of�. refreshments, another would be completely depleted as food was continuously consumed by the ravenous youth. Sounds of laughter and chatter rang through the cafeteria as they ate freshly grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. Even though by the end, our feet and legs felt like they were on fire, we

Damon Runyon 5k

By Terrell Merritt, dedicated member On August 12, the fourth annual Damon Runyon 5K was held at Yankee Stadium. Over a thousand runners and walkers showed up ready to raise money for cancer research and to show their support. At 7:00 am, the volunteers started to show up at the stadium to eat breakfast and prepare for their seven hours of work. About ten Bronx Science Key Clubbers attended this event, mostly working on the Directional Team. As the first wave of runners and walkers started the race at around 9:30, the volunteers guided the runners around the stadium.

Jimmy Lin and I were assigned a position at the top of the ramp that the runners would travel down after completing two laps around the interior of the stadium and starting their final one. Our job was to cheer them on as they completed the race and warn them of the sharp U-Turn at the bottom of the ramp. Despite wishing for a chair halfway through the event, Jimmy and I were filled with energy simply telling people to heed a turn into a strange warehouse-like tunnel. From a random lady running in a tutu to a runner dressed as none other than Elvis Presley, I must say I've seen some interesting people supporting cancer research at this event.

I don't know which I enjoyed more: Watching Roxanne Chu and a security guard from the stadium motion for the runners to "fly like an airplane" around the U-Turn and seeing many of the runners actually obey or bouncing and pointing towards the ramp with Jimmy yelling, "this way!" to an extent where many of the runners would sarcastically ask us, "So which way do we go, guys?" with the largest smiles I've ever seen. Knowing that we helped put smiles on the faces of people running for such a valuable cause and seeing them all enjoy our crazy antics made my day. As Roxanne said towards the end of the race, "It feels really good when you're cheering for the runners and they all actually respond, and you know you've made them smile".

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BRONX SCIENCE KEY CLUB newsletter

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DIVISIONAL UPDATE! August 29th: August Divisional Lt Governor Herman Li met with members of division 11. There they discussed the upcoming start of the school year, and how to attract new members.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT! "He never had senioritis, the signs of a true key clubber. He has committed sooooo much to the club with leadership, creativity, and leadership."

-- Amanda Tam, President

September 2nd: K-Family Picnic Key clubbers went out to bond and meet with the other branches of the K-Family: Circle K and Kiwanis. Members participated in teambuilding activities such as wheelbarrow races, water balloon toss, egg-races, and Ninja.

UPCOMING DIVISIONAL EVENTS September Divisional: Date TBA, Location TBA Amazing Race: 11/24, Location TBA

For the Months of August and September:

THOMAS CHAN! In a club as large as our own, it is important to recognize those who go above and beyond the call and role of a member who is always the familiar face in the crowd during various Key Club events.

Having an admirable, fun, lively personality, Thomas is an extraordinary key clubber who lives his life to his fullest while contributing to his community! – Melissa Lei, Scrapbook Chair Thomas is a superbly dedicated keyclubber and also a really fun person to be with! His humor and amiable personality can turn a frown upside down! – Lisa Liu, Projects Chair

When I joined Key Club, I heard Thomas went to (almost) every event when he was an underclassman, and thought that was pretty awesome. Now I'm following his ambitions now. – Kevin Chen, Dedicated Member

Thomas is a sociable person who can be funny and memorable. But at certain times, he knows when to take things seriously  -- Irena Chen, Fundraising Chair

Freshman year, I was the most active Key Club member. I had the most points. By sophomore year, Thomas Chan had beat me. He went to almost every single event, and he still does. I was never able to redeem myself as the top Key Clubber, but I'm glad I lost to Thomas because he shows the true spirits of dedication and compassion for caring. -- Amanda Tam, President

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Chinatown Beau DAY 1: CHINATOWN BEAUTIFICATION DAY YOUTH CONFERENCE!

By Kenny Eng, Dedicated member

The Chinatown Youth Initiatives’ Youth Conference took place on Sunday, August 19th – the day after the Chinatown Beautification Day. The event was located at CUNY Asian/AsianAmerican Research Institute and was a full-day conference that gathered participants to discuss various, “broader facets of leadership and community involvement” through workshops like: environmental awareness, voting and civil rights, and racial/ethnic identity.

There were three workshop sessions throughout the day with small group meetings in between for icebreakers and to discuss what we thought of the workshop each of us just attended. The most informative workshop I had signed up for was the Chinese Cancer Initiative, which was led by Fanny Mei, a student at NYU who aimed to provide a space to talk and learn about cancer in the Chinese community. We learned about the different types of cancer and risks that were prevalent particularly to the Asian community.

Afterwards, we played a Jeopardy-style game to assess our understanding. The category of the game that was probably the most interesting was celebrities who had cancer. This not only connected a serious matter to pop culture, but also emphasized the point that there are people of all races and backgrounds that can get cancer.

Then we were informed about different local organizations that people can go to for help and information that were located in Flushing and Chinatown. The organizations mentioned also included those that held events to raise awareness and fundraise for research. These events included those of which our own Key Club was very familiar with: for example, the American Cancer Society’s annual Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk. In fact, the walk will be taking place next month (October 21st to be exact)!

The goal of the conference was to inspire and encourage all participants – high school students in particular – to learn skills to get involved, take action and be a leader in their community.

Although it’s safe to say that the goal has been achieved over that weekend, I personally think Key Club has been doing it all along.

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BRONX SCIENCE KEY CLUB newsletter

tification Day! DAY 2: CHINATOWN CLEAN-UP

By Christine Lim and Jasmine Quandala, Dedicated members

Chinatown Beautification day is an annual event to raise awareness on cleanliness within our communities, specifically Chinatown. Hundreds of teens participate in this event every year with cleaning Chinatown as the main goal. The theme this year was “Our Hands, Our Home”. It was held on a sunny Saturday afternoon on August 18th, 2012.

About 300 volunteers wore light blue shirts and were ready to beautify the sidewalks. Each group was assigned a few streets to clean. With gloves on, we picked up our brooms and dust-pans, and went straight to work sweeping the floors and picking up all garbage we found. A variety of things were found as the cleaning started that surprised many of us as these were items that are not regularly seen on the streets.

By the end of this event, we really came to appreciate our community. After the event, we walked through the streets, and felt so proud at being able to be part of the process that made it look so much cleaner. Chinatown was beautiful at last! Whenever we saw someone throwing litter on the ground, we would get a little mad because cleaning the streets is very arduous work. Because of this, the message of the event clearly stuck, particularly to us volunteers who spent so much time cleaning it. Alexander Guo, past Bronx Science Key Club member and Chinatown Youth Initiatives led our group.

His thoughts of the event from a leader’s point of view include, “Chinatown Beautification Day has always been one of my favorite events. It is truly inspirational to see hundreds of NYC youth clean the streets of Chinatown on a summer weekend. The enormous energy and motivation that NYC youths bring is astonishing and collaborating with them is always a great pleasure. This is my fourth year participating in CBD where I led groups in two of those years. I never hesitate to return the next year because CBD is such an amazing day to raise awareness through youth action. I smile when passersby offer to help or when Chinatown residents watch us in awe, surprised at the dedication teenagers have for their community. We definitely lived up to the focus of the event by each contributing to improving not just Chinatown, but our home”.

Taking care of our community is a lot of hard work but it pays off in the end, giving us a beautiful scene.

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Color A COLORFUL ADVENTURE

By Anthony So, Dedicated Member

The Color Run was a very unique experience where “color runners” of all ages came together to experience the most colorful run of their lives. Whether you were an athlete or just simply a person looking for some fun, the Color Run was one of the most memorable and colorful runs I have ever attended. The goal of this event was to make all runners look like they fell into a rainbow by the end of the race. Runners began at the 5K start line and made their way through the “coloring” course being blitzed by colors in the different zones of the race.

Although I was not given the honor to color people when they ran through the zones, I was positioned at the water station and had a tremendous amount of fun. We were constantly surrounded by rainbow-colored runners thirsting for water. I thought that the water station was the most important and one of the most fun stations of the Color Run. Water is a necessity, especially during runs! At the water station, we had to constantly make sure that there were more than 100 cups of water set out at the tables to ensure the hydration of the runners. Our hectic work and quick serving recieved many thanks and cheers from the crowds of runners which was very rewarding.

As our station leader said, “Enjoy it. It may be the only time you are praised this much when you are working. No one will probably call you ‘my savior’ ever again.” At the water station we saw a variety of runners ranging in terms of height and race. There were also many little children, some as young as ten years old. I was very happy seeing the smiling faces of children and of the colorful runners, knowing that they were having a wonderful time.

Since we filled up cups of water very quickly, there were many cups of water leftover. And what did we do with the extra water? We obviously poured all of them on each others shirts! A little bit strange?

Maybe; but like the color run, it was definitely a lot of fun!

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BRONX SCIENCE KEY CLUB Newsletter

RUN!!

COLORED FROM HEAD TO TOE! Christine Lim and Jasmine Quindala dedicated members

The Color Run is an annual 2-day 5k run where the runners have a different colored powder thrown at them at every kilometer. This year, it was held on August 25th and August 26th. Bronx Science Key Club along with other key clubs volunteered on August 25th. At the finish line, the crowd threw their own pack of colored powder to provide one big last blow of color to the racers. At the end of the race, music, food and a store with Color Run apparel were present. To be a color runner, you had to pay a certain amount of money and the money is donated to different charities. This year, the New York Color Run donated to the Police Unity Tour and Tuesday's Children.

Despite getting up at 4am and traveling when the sky was still dark, it was a great experience. Runners started arriving as soon as the sun rose at 7AM. Our jobs were to spray red powder as the runners came by our station. Later on, they were sprayed by other colors at the other stations. They wore white shirts in preparation of all the colors that would be thrown at them. The energy of the colorful crowd passing by us was frenetic, especially since our station had its very own DJ Zeke providing music and live updates. Traditionally, the color red wasn’t part of the colors that were thrown at runners but this year was an exception due to their Red Bull sponsor.

We had fun spraying the runners and dancing to the music. However, the crowd wasn't alone in being colorful. We were all colored up too and had a blast with coloring each other! Before and after the runners came to our station we all sprayed each other with red powder and even blue when we ran over to our neighboring blue station. At the end, we had to sweep the floor that was covered with red powder, though. Abdullah Mahmood, from William C. Bryant Key Club, said, "The best Key Club event by far, anyone that didn't come, be jealous! It was awesome, and I can't wait for next year!" Barry Lee, from High School for Math Science and Engineering Key Club, recalled, "The atmosphere at the Color Run was absolutely surreal; the cloud of colors, the enthusiasm of the volunteers, and the wicked excitement from the runners. I wouldn't have done anything else in the world that weekend." It’s pretty likely that everyone who attended this event, regardless whether it was as a participant, runner, organizer, or volunteer, had an amazing time.

The Newsletter Staff!

Jessica Chan Editor Connie Liang Public Relations Committee Chair Qing Lin Public Relations Committee Chair Valued Contributors: Irena Chen, Kevin Chen, Kenny Eng, Melissa Lei, Christine Lim, Lisa Liu, Terrell Merritt, Jasmine Quandala, Natalie Qin, Anthony So, Amanda Tam Thank you so much for submitting to the newsletter! If you article did not appear in this issue, they have been submitted to the divisional or district newsletter; so look out for when those are released! ď Š BXSCIENCE KEYCLUB BOARD! AMANDA TAM Club President JAEHWI KWON Vice President LAWRENCE CHEN Secretary ROMAN MONDAL Treasurer JESSICA CHAN Editor

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