June 2019 | Vol 19, Issue 2
SUN RAYS & SERVICE DAYS
Key Club International | CNH District | Region 3 Division 30 South | Oxford Academy Key Club
TABLE TABLE OF OF CONTENTS CONTENTS DIVISION June DCM: Driver SAFEKY When: June 21st, 1pm-4pm
CLUB
Where: John Marshall Park
OAKC Merch Design
RSVP: bit.ly/D30SJuneDCM1920
Requirements: OAKC Socials Prize: Free merch Due: June 30th
DISCOVERY CUBE ROCKET LAUNCH 6 EDITOR’S NOTE
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1
MORRIS
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
CARNIVAL
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CONTACT INFO 18 MAKING NEW FRIENDS 15-16 JUNE
OAKC EVENT FAVORITES
CALENDAR
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17 OC GREEK FEST 13-14
MAY DCM:
SERVICE AND CHILL 9-10
MAY IN REVIEW 11-12
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PRESIDENT’S CORNER End of School, Start of Summer I was expecting a low amount of hours for April since people were busy studying for APs and attending end of the term events such as DCON, however, Oxford served over 600 hours, almost half of the entire division’s total hours for the month! We also received first shining club for the third month in a row. It was definitely difficult going out to events on the weekends leading up to finals; some people stopped coming out on weekends entirely. I would be volunteering when I would suddenly realize, ‘hey, maybe I should be studying for my math final instead.’ I believe it’s very relaxing to volunteer on the weekends. It gives you an event to look forward to at the end of the week and push you through the long hours of school. Now that it’s summer, I look forward to seeing my key club friends on Saturday! This summer, I’m looking forward to participating in more bonding events with other schools and Beach Boomba. Last year, our home club did not do a lot of bonding events with other schools like we hoped to, so I’m hoping Jennifer and I will be able to make them happen this year. Summer is the perfect time for this, especially since people want to go out and be social with their friends. They can go out to bonding events with their friends AND get to meet people from the rest of the division. I’m personally hoping for a beach or ice skating social hehe. Starting June, we will also get incoming freshmen coming out to events. Unlike last year, I do not know many of them personally, so it will be harder for me to reach out to them, but I can’t wait to see all the new faces!
Tobi Yao OAKC President
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EDITOR’S NOTE Summer is Here! Hello fellow OA Key Clubbers, and welcome to Issue 2 of the 2019-2020 newsletter! I received lots of positive feedback from last month’s newsletter, and I just wanted to say thank you to all of you and my fellow board members for being so supportive. As you all know, summer is finally here! I started my break off with a trip to New York and Boston. I had such a great time exploring both areas and visiting schools, although, I have to admit I miss the city lights and New York bagels :( But now that I’m back, I have more time to spend on making these newsletters and volunteering! Speaking of, summer is a great time to get those service hours up. We tend to have a lot more events during the summer, which means there’s more opportunities for you to get out there and have some fun! Despite the fact that summer has just started, OAKC has already served over 700 hours! Thank you all for your constant dedication! I can’t wait to see how many hours we serve by the end of the term! On top of that, we’ve managed to raise over $900 for the Pediatric Trauma Program! If you weren’t aware, PTP is Key Club’s preferred charity ! Thanks to you and the hard work of our treasurer Grace Nguyen, we’re able to help out more children in need. Well, that’s all I have for you this time. Hope you’re all having a great break so far and thank you for reading!
Natalie Melendez OAKC Bulletin Editor
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This event was special because Mrs. Stephan, my cluster teacher, organized this event to be accessible to Key Club Students. Without her help, the event would not have happened. When I first got into the gates of the school I was really confused. Essentially, there seemed to be no-one there incharge. So, I wandered aimlessly looking for the event that I was supposed to help at. Eventually, I found the lady, and my first task was to cut paper. Obviously, the weather had to be super-windy, making a job that I’ve done since I was 4 20 times harder. Plus, the event seemed kinda depressing because noone from Key Club had shownup yet. As time went by, everything became more interesting. I thought I was going to be alone. Alas, a kid, his therapist, and his mom, along with Lydia Lee and even Mrs. Stephan (who previously had given me her UPenn hoodie cuz I was cold) came to my rescue. Sadly, I had a real tough time operating ancient technology called an iPod. Thankfully, the cord that connected the iPod snapped off somehow, and the iPod ran out of juice. No matter the struggles, which included the fact that there were barely any cakes left, we
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M M O O R R R R II S S E E L L E E M M
C C A A R R N N II V V A A L L
persevered on! We decided to just use the radio function, and eventually there were dozens of desserts. The event was a cake-walk. Numbers were drawn on the ground, and when the music stopped, whoever was on a randomly drawn number won an entire cake. This was the most jealous I’ve been at an event, because the cakes looked stunning. Some even had moving decorations on them! Sadly, no-one offered the volunteers cake ☹. Some people stayed at the event for what seemed like an hour, greedily collecting free cake.
As my event winded down, I was faced with a hard decision. Should I just leave? What do I do now that my event is over?? As a good Key Clubber, if you have ever extra time but don’t have any more assigned work, look for work! I ended up just filling in a volunteer while they ate, and directed a janitor to a mess, but that’s better than leaving before your shift ends.
Kenny Le | 11 | Project Chair
Giang Nguyen | 11 | Historian The Rocket Launch was quite a special event, as Discovery Cube events tend to be very fun. It was my first time chairing an event for the term, although it wasn’t my first time chairing in general. In fact, it was my second time! Anyway, the event location was inconspicuous, to say the least. As I drove around the block trying to look for the event I was supposed to chair, I could only spot a massive Boeing building and a lot of industrial zones. As it turns out, the event proved to be very elusive. I found the event location eventually, allowing my panic to subside substantially. Tents were pitched up, with rows of tables set up on the grass and rocket launch pads lining the field. Volunteers were all dressed in purple Discovery Cube T-shirts tucked into jeans, in accordance to the dress code. Near the launch pads, everyone had on plastic safety glasses. Overall, it was an extremely professional environment. As we got down to
DISCOVERY CUBE ROCKET LAUNCH business, families began pouring into the scene and one by one, bottle rockets were being launched into the air. I went to oversee the recycling station with my fellow Key Club volunteers, where we spent the next few hours of our shift looking after people’s rockets as they came down from orbit. As the day progressed, things became more and more hectic, and the heat did not help. When we finally reached break time, I couldn’t help but feel a wave of relief. There was a line of food trucks waiting on the nearby street, and I took the time to enjoy some nice, cold Italian ice with my friends. As the event began to wrap up, all the volunteers formed a line and swept the entire field to clean up and pick up trash. At the end of the day, I considered this event to be a great success. In fact, I may have enjoyed myself a bit too much. This event was special because it felt more professional, yet more fun as well. Representatives from the Boeing company and community figures came to the event to give speeches and take part in the rocket launching as well. The only thing that could’ve made it better was if we could keep the shirts.
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FAVORITES FAVORITES FAVORITES FAVORITES FAVORITES FAVORITES BAKE SALE James Nguyen | 11 | Historian This month we had a bake sale where the board members baked goods to be sold. We also got hours for baking them, half an hour for each batch of a dozen cookies! Baking is a tad more difficult than what I had thought because following recipes aren’t are easy as they seem *cough*. Either way it didn’t turn out too bad and was edible to say the least. I had to go to Giang Nguyen’s house to make cookies because he had an oven capable of doing said task. It was a fun time making a mess in his kitchen and helping him make his cookies too. They turned out
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10 times better than the ones my sister and I planned to make but maybe it’s cause we followed the recipe, who knows. Overall it was a fun learning experience and bonding time. I would bake again if given the chance and make sure not to mess up on the recipe.
HOPE FOOD DISTRIBUTION Lydia Lee | 10 | Historian Several months ago, I decided to go to HOPE Food Distribution despite the early hours of the event. My friends and I were confused upon entering, where did we go? We started hauling watermelons off of a truck and soon after met more Key Clubbers from Oxford. As I attended more and more food distributions, it soon became one of my favorite events. Every first and third Saturday became my favorite days of each month and I became sad when I couldn’t attend food distributions. At these events, I began to talk to more people and made more friends as well. But then again, what exactly makes HOPE Food Distribution so enjoyable? Maybe it’s the pizza workers yelling “Supreme!” or “Veggie!” to each other. Maybe it’s the cold mornings where the only source of warmth is each other, forcing us to huddle and compare hand warmth. Maybe it’s the difficult decision making where you must determine what type of pizza a pizza is. Maybe it’s the breadstick workers trying their best to advertise and sell out. Or maybe it’s just the people you meet and the friendships you make by going every other week. But honestly, it’s everything. Everything about this event is what makes it just so amazing.
our frozen pizzas make someone a tiny bit happier. I’m grateful to have made so many memories at this small place with a close community. I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to even attend a HOPE Food Distribution. So honestly, it might sound like I’m exaggerating and lying about how much I love HOPE Food Distribution, but trust me, I’m not. I truly enjoy going to every single distribution and I will make sure to attend as many as I can until I graduate. Not waking up early on Saturdays to attend this event makes me feel a bit emptier inside and this event has become a part of me. I’ve become a better person in many aspects thanks to HOPE Food Distribution. I’ve become more social and more grateful for all that I have. No matter how tired or busy I am, I do try my best to always go to HOPE Food Distribution. If you’ve read this far, trust me and come to the event too. If you know me, I’ll talk to you because I’ll probably be lonely. Or if you don’t know me, say hi, I’m always up to talk to random new people (that’s how I met some of my favorite sophomores). Overall, to end this rant of my love for distributing pizza, COME TO HOPE FOOD DISTRIBUTION! It’ll be an awesome experience, trust me. Even if you have to wake up early on a Saturday, it’s completely worth it. So, (hopefully) see you there!
After consistently going for quite some time, I’m grateful for the times where we are given hot chocolate and food. I’m grateful for the kindness that the people in charge show us. I’m grateful to see how
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MAY DCM: SERVICE AND CHILL May 18, 2019
Grace Nguyen| 11 | Treasurer On April 18, Jacquelyn, Claire and I went to eat at the Cypress Plaza after HOPE Food Distribution. At around 11:30ish my mom picked us up to take us to April DCM. The first thing I noticed when I first saw Katella High School was that their school was so huge. Their parking lot was basically the whole size of Oxford. If it was my first time coming to Katella, I would’ve gotten lost. Luckily, I still remembered where the gym was from FRS Spirit Night. During the DCM, Oxford got awarded as club of the month and Sofia got DLT of the month! I’m so proud. After taking the division and club pictures, we had bonding activities, like singing verses that had the words “love”, “baby”, and “happy”. I failed miserably though since I barely knew any American songs. After, we got split up into groups to start our serviced project. We made dog toys, pillows and stress balls for the rest of the time. This was my first time making dog toys so I was so confused when we had the Speedy Service. Overall it was a great experience, besides the fact that I embarrassed myself halfway through the DCM. :(( So this morning I was in a rush to get to HOPE that I only put in one of my contacts, so I had a somewhat fuzzy vision throughout all of HOPE and the DCM. So long story short: When I was looking around to find the OA gang, I thought I recognized the back of Timmy’s (our secretary) head and his jacket so I pulled his hat off as a joke. But then I realized that the kid wasn’t Timmy so I gave his hat back and ran. Poor kid. But gosh that was so embarrassing ahahha. But OTHER than that, April DCM was a blast! I even got four hours of service!
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Natalie Melendez | 12 | Bulletin Editor This month, I attended May DCM at Katella High School. Since I was unable to attend April DCM, I was excited to go to my first DCM of the term and see the new Division Leadership Team in action. The day consisted of fun ice breakers and service projects such as dog toy and pillow making for donation. Afterwards, we all had the opportunity to make stress balls, a much needed activity after the chaos of AP testing. We filled balloons with flour and, to my surprise, was extremely satisfied with the stress-relieving end product.
Soon after that, it was time to leave. You know what they say, time flies by when you’re having a good time. I thoroughly enjoyed May DCM and had lots of fun meeting new people, as well as working on service projects. Can’t wait for June DCM to arrive!
Tiffany Ong | 10 | Historian May DCM was the second DCM of this term, and I loved that we could serve the community while also getting to know our fellow D30S suns! This DCM was especially fun and memorable because I got to meet new people from different schools and bond with them through service activities. I'm usually shy, so this DCM pushed me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to make new friends! For the service activity, we made dog toys and pillows out of t-shirts, but unfortunately, my group wasn't able to make the pillows. We made dog pillows the entire time, which was a bit confusing at first, but over time, we got the hang of it. It was also really fun to teach others how to make the dog toys and also braid the cloth in order to make them. Towards the end of the DCM, everybody got balloons to make stress balls, but my friends and I decided to blow our balloons up instead to play with them. It was really fun and time passed so quickly! Overall, the DCM was a very fun and memorable Key Club event, and I hope there will be more events like this in the future!
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MAY MAY IN IN REVIEW REVIEW
Helen Tran | 11 | Project Chair The end of finals marked the end of stress, procrastination, and late nights of sophomore. I have been DYING to fast forward to summer 19 since the first day of school. With the arrival of summer, I was so beyond excited to be out of school and enjoying my time with family and friends. During the school year, there would be times when I was not as active as I wanted to be with volunteering at events because I was drowning in schoolwork, but this summer I hope that I spend a lot of time volunteering! A lot of people bash on spending your free time at just another “Key Club event”, but what’s wrong with wanting to help out your community while spending time with friends AND meeting new people? Don’t even get me started about the freebies that we get at events. The summertime has so many cool events that Kenny and I can’t wait to search for. There are so many different unique events that I’m looking forward to and that I hope members will enjoy. Hopefully these events will bring a smile to their face and make them happy that they chose to spend their summer volunteering at events. I’m also very excited to see the incoming freshmen start to volunteer; I hope that I can help to make the most of their Key Club experience.
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Jacquelyn Nguyen | 10 | Publicist I can’t believe that I’ve already been a part of my school’s Key Club Appointed Board for approximately one and a half months now! Within that time span, I’ve digitally created four ads that were posted on both OAKC’s Facebook page and Instagram account. I’ve also posted about fifteen stories on the Instagram account that publicized various events, such as the Division 30 South T-Shirt Design contest, selling old OAKC merch, and bake sales! I also chaired two events so far, one which occurred last month (April 16, Lexington Track Meet) and one that occurred this month (May 6, HOPE Food Distribution). Although this may appear to be minor accomplishments, to me, all these tasks signify that I’m contributing in helping my club function properly in this new term, especially with the end of school and the beginning of summer. Unfortunately, I haven’t been volunteering as much as I would like, considering school’s no longer a factor that would take time away from attending club volunteering events. However, some Key Club events conflict with my parents’ schedules, such as the Faith Ngo’s Gold Award event and the HOPE Food Distribution occurring on June 1. Luckily, I was able to attend the May DCM, which occurred on May 18. This DCM holds a special place in my heart, as it would be the last DCM that I would spend with a close friend of mine that I’ve known since entering Oxford Academy. The DCM was also extremely therapeutic in the sense that finals week had fried my nerves, and performing tasks that required minimum mental effort was greatly appreciated. As all Key Club events are, I had a splendid time interacting with others in the same division through many mini games and group-bonding activities. Fun story but there was this group of kids, that I didn’t know, who just randomly offered me a free churro because they were full! It was quite a pleasant surprise, and I was able to enjoy a free churro with a cup of boba that I split with my friend. To summarize, I experienced many memorable Key Club activities during the school year, for instance, the May DCM. As summer goes on, I’m ready to learn more about Key Club through events such as OTCs and attending DCMS.
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OC GREEK FEST May 17-19, 2019
Timmy Bui | 11 | Secretary OC Greek Fest was my favorite event from this month. I had so much fun at my station. Initially, when the volunteers were left alone to simply watch over each game, I thought it was just going to be a bunch of standing around and watching kids shoot a ball through a hoop, or maybe climb up and around walls. But once we got the idea to start actively participating with the kids, that was when it got exciting. For most of my time, I manned a station where kids put on a suit covered in velcro and tried to stick to a wall of a bouncer which also had velcro on it. We started to get on the bouncer and jump with the kids rather than simply stand next to it. We helped every kid stick to the wall by picking them up and giving them a boost. It was great to see all the kids get stuck to the wall and just hang there middair, and I even tried it out a couple of times too! I got hurt quite a bit due to the velcro and carrying all of the kids, but the event still made my evening.
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Victoria Truong | 10 | Tech Chair This month was, as we all know, a very stressful one for many of us, but some of us KeyClubbers still managed to sign up for events and continue to serve our community despite finals and schoolwork. I was only able to attend two events this month, May DCM and the OC Greek Festival, but both were still memorable for me and I finally seized the opportunity to chair my first event. I remember when I first read the information about writing an MRF, I felt overwhelmed and got worried that I wouldn’t do it right when the time came and really just exaggerated the difficulty of completing the task. I was really just overthinking things and at the time, felt pressured to do a great job as a new Key Club board member, and I still do now, but sometimes being a newbie can get confusing. However, my experience with chairing the OC Greek Festival taught me how simple and easy it is to fill out an MRF, and I was responsible for keeping track of a 3-day event, too, so it would definitely be easier to do that with a one-day event. With that being said, let’s move on to the details and bits of the OC Greek Festival (I’ll abbreviate it as OCGF). The first day of the OCGF was at the St. John Greek Orthodox Church, taking place from 3 -10PM on Friday, May 17, and volunteers worked from 4-8PM for Shift #1. I wasn’t able to go to this one, but there were a few OA sophomores who had attended (shoutout to them --you know who you are). Things seemed to have run smoothly that day since none of them complained or commented on anything that day. On Saturday, there was one shift in the afternoon from 4-8PM again, although the event ran from 12-10PM this time. There were both freshmen and sophomores who worked and I got to experience the festivity of a celebration based on Greek culture for the first time. It was a unique experience because I was assigned to the inflatables, as were the others, but I worked at the one with Jennifer Vo, where these large bubble bouncy inflatables were. We had to push the bubbles around whenever the riders inside couldn’t move on their own, which got laborious at times, but we pulled through and I also made new friends with other Key-Clubbers from Savanna and Katella HS. On the other side of the inflatables were the blue tents and vendors full of Greek food and performances like the Greek Folk Dance and Greek Wine Tasting. I was having a hectic blast at the festival, but soon, just like that, the end of the shift arrived, just as quickly as the next day did.
Sunday provided us with two more shifts that day, but I only went to the first one. It was similar to the previous shifts with the only significant difference being the volunteer attendance dominated by freshmen. I completed most of the MRF before I even left for the event that morning, so the rest of the day was a breeze and I really just tried to have fun for the remaining time I had at the OCGF. When I left, I thanked the people in charge for having us volunteer and promised I’d return next year, so it seems like I’ll be getting the chance to experience this event again.
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MAKING NEW FRIEND A NEW FAMILY MEMBER — Tobi Yao | 11 | President I’m lucky to have started coming out to Key Club early in my freshman year. I could always follow where my sister went or bring my friends along with me. This past month, I got to bring my friend Ariel from Whitney to her very first DCM. She always struggled getting rides and no one in her friend group was really active. However, I was able to take her after we both volunteered at HOPE Food Distribution. The event ended up being really fun, and since I had to be there early to set up for DLT, Ariel was also able to meet people from around the division. It was a bit difficult for her to talk to others at first, but by the end, she was able to make new friends. This experience reminded me just how important it is to reach out to newer members. Starting June, incoming freshmen will start receiving emails and coming out to events, so I can’t wait to meet all of them and help them find a family in OAKC!
LOVE BUENA PARK — Jennifer Vo | 11 | Vice President Summer is here which means I can finally volunteer more! One of my favorite events of this month was Love Buena Park: Sound the Alarm. Upon arrival at the residential area, we immediately felt out of place-- tiny Oxford kids next to extremely tall and muscular (and kind of good looking) firefighters and police officers. As we split up into groups of four, each person was assigned with a job: educator, installer, documenter, and another position that I completely forgot about. They probably weren’t relevant. Anyway, as an educator, I went over the importance of having an escape route out of the house and how to check if their smoke alarms were still functioning. I also completed surveys with the residents by asking them questions like how many people lived in there, or how many smoke alarms needed to be replaced. The installer of our group was this guy whose name I’ve also forgotten, but he was 23 and he was a health educator at America on Track. I also met this woman named Ana and her really shy 13-year-old son and they were so adorable and sweet! Ana gave me her phone number and also her entire life story. 19 houses later, we came to a stop and enjoyed free pizza and donuts. I’m really glad I came out and I’m so proud of our project chairs for finding such a powerful and meaningful event. Proud of you, Helen and Kenny <3
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DS SOUND THE ALARM — Claire Lee | 10 | Publicist Love Buena Park is a city-wide alliance that takes place one day each year. People from all around the city come and volunteer to make the city a more clean and safe environment. This year, Love Buena Park took place on May 4th, and OA Key Club was given an opportunity to be a part of such an amazing service day. The volunteer’s job was to install smoke alarms in senior homes. I personally did not know what to expect, because I had little to no background knowledge of installing smoke alarms. I had accidentally missed the orientation meeting, so this made me worry even more. When the volunteers were put into groups of 3-4 members, I was pretty disappointed because my friend and I were not in the same group. However, I decided to stay positive and see this as an opportunity to get close to other students that also attends Oxford Academy. My personal task was to introduce our group to the seniors and explain to them the reason we were visiting for. Because it was still pretty early in the morning, our first few homes did not answer to our door bells. However, the first home that actually answered was very memorable. She was a Korean, middle-aged woman and also owned a small,, white dog. We clicked instantly. We were discussing in Korean because she did not understand English that well, which went pretty smoothly. While an adult that was part of was installing the smoke alarms, I started asking her about her puppy, and she revealed that the puppy was getting really old. She asked which school I attended and thanked me and my group for volunteering to do the work. I was really touched by her reaction, because I personally thought that the seniors were not going to accept our help. She also gave me some advice to succeed in life, such as following my passion and to not worry about life too much because everything will work out in the end. Even though it was only for a short period of time, I was able to learn so many unique things about her, such as how she taught her dog to always walk straight and how she loves Billie Eilish (I forgot how the conversation led up to that but she is a HUGE fan.) I was upset it was time for us to move to a different home, because we became so fond of each other. Just like that, through Key Club, I receive unexpected blessings, which in this case, was being able to connect and engage in a conversation with a beautiful, kind woman. I get reminded everyday to appreciate how Key Club has provided me with many new opportunities to talk and be friends with people I never imagined talking to everyday, and this incident stood out to me the most this month.
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1 HOPE FOOD
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BAKE SALE
EID PRAYER SET UP
3 EID PRAYER SET UP
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ANAHEIM 5K
OC PRIDE FESTIVAL
CONCERT ON THE GREEN PARISH CARNIVAL
9 FLAG DAY EID FESTIVAL
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PARISH CARNIVAL
HOPE FOOD
OC PRIDE FESTIVAL
CONCERT ON THE GREEN
ACS TRI RELAY
INT. SURFING DAY
PIRATE’S 5K/10K RUN
21 JUNE DCM
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C O N T A C T
PRESIDENT | Tobi Yao tcyao2003@gmail.com VICE PRESIDENT | Jennifer Vo vojenniferv@gmail.com TREASURER | Grace Nguyen 12GNguyen22@gmail.com SECRETARY | Timmy Bui bu1timmybu1@gmail.com BULLETIN EDITOR | Natalie Melendez natalie.melendez@outlook.com TECH CHAIR | Victoria Truong victoriantruong@gmail.com PROJECT CHAIR | Kenny Le Kennl_l@outlook.com PROJECT CHAIR | Helen Tran helentran952@gmail.com HISTORIAN | Lydia Lee LHLee017@gmail.com HISTORIAN | Giang Nguyen giangadonrawr@gmail.com HISTORIAN | James Nguyen verll123@hotmail.com
U S
@oakeyclub
HISTORIAN | Tiffany Ong ongtiffy@gmail.com
Oxford Academy Key Club
PUBLICIST | Claire Lee 0128jil@gmail.com PUBLICIST | Jacquelyn Nguyen bwama123@gmail.com
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SEE YOU NEXT TIME...