May 2019 Newsletter

May 2019 | Vol 19, Issue 1

SPRINGING INTO A NEW TERM

Key Club International | CNH District | Region 3 Division 30 South | Oxford Academy Key Club

TABLE TABLE OF OF CONTENTS CONTENTS

CYPRESS SPRING EGG HUNT 6 EDITOR’S NOTE 4 PRESIDENT’S CORNER 3

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BREAKING NEWS 5

CONTACT INFO 18 DISCOVERY CUBE: BUBBLE FEST 15-16 D30S AND

MAY CALENDAR

BEYOND

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7-8

NEW TERM, NEW CHALLENGES APRIL DCM:

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SUNSHINE OLYMPICS 9-10

OAKC BANQUET 11-12

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PRESIDENT’S CORNER We’ve Finally Started!

A month ago, I was writing a president-elect corner, but now it’s actually my president’s corner, which is amazing to think about. A big thank you to Oxford Academy Key Club for remaining active throughout the entire term. We continue to serve an astounding amount of service hours every month and were recognized at April DCM as the FIRST Shining Club!

In addition, we have officially exceeded our goal for the 2018-2019 term. At our visions meeting last May, Vina set the goal of 3800 service hours. We went above and beyond this amount, reaching 5696 service hours!

I’m so proud of my new board; you guys continue to step up and fulfill your tasks with utmost care and attention. Last week, we helped an eighth grader at Oxford who wanted to raise money for her project, Bears For Kids. Although this project was thrown on us the week before, many of the appointed board voluntarily came out to help us collect money. We walked around campus and talked to different groups of people, raising a total of $193.87 over the course of two days!

This next month will be hectic, balancing finals and AP testing while trying to reach our goal for the Eliminate Project, but I’m certain we’ll have another successful month.

Good luck on testing patriots!

Tobi Yao OAKC President

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EDITOR’S NOTE Welcome to the 2019-2020 Newsletter!

Hello, and welcome to the 2019-2020 Oxford Academy Key Club newsletter! I’m Natalie Melendez, your new Bulletin Editor, and I am beyond excited to serve you all this new term! The 2019-2020 term/school year will mark my final year of high school, but as sad as I am, I’m looking forward to creating even more memorable experiences with you all!

The month of April was already a great start to the term! Despite finals and AP exams approaching, OAKC members have consistently kept attending service events and continue to inspire and amaze me with their passion and dedication. Keep up the good work, Suns!

You’ll all help bring OAKC to new heights throughout this term and I cannot wait to get to know you all personally, especially my fellow appointed board members!

As for me, this last month I’ve come to realize how tedious the role of Bulletin Editor is. From collecting and sending pictures and articles to our division Bulletin Editor to making the actual newsletter, it’s a lot of hard work. But nonetheless, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it so far and I hope to make our previous Bulletin Editor and current Treasurer, Grace Nguyen, proud!

Well, that’s all I’ve got today for you, Suns.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and good luck on your exams!

Natalie Melendez OAKC Bulletin Editor

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BREAKING NEWS DIVISION May DCM: Service & Chill When: Saturday, May 18th, 12pm-3pm Where: Katella High School D30S Shirt Design Contest Requirements: ://bit.ly/2HerbUG Due: May 13th, 6pm

CLUB OAKC Merchandise Sales Past Term Shirts: $5 2018-2019 Shirts: $10 Link: https://bit.ly/30edEEc 8th Grade Sign Ups Why: Summer volunteering opportunities!

Link: https://bit.ly/2JGoJaW

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CYRPRESS EGG HUNT April 20,2019 Helen Tran | 10 | Project Chair The Cypress Spring Egg Hunt was truly a memorable and exciting volunteer event for me!

I volunteered at this event last year and had a lot of fun “hiding” the eggs for the younger kids. This year, I helped out with the face painting station. I was challenged to paint minions, bunnies, unicorns, and more. I would say that I was pretty successful with my task. I can now proudly say that I am more than qualified to be hired as a face painter for kids’ parties. Jokes aside, I loved talking to the younger kids as I painted their adorable little faces. They were so excited to be participating in the Egg Hunt, so I think it’s amazing for Cypress to host this annual egg hunt for the youth. They were bubbling with excitement and that really put a smile on my face to see them so happy.

This event was also very important to me

because it was only my second time chairing an event. There were so many students signed up that I was so nervous about tracking them all down to make sure that they would get the hours they deserved for the hard work! At first, I was very overwhelmed because I knew NONE of the freshmen who had signed up. With Tiffany’s help, I was able to hunt their beautiful faces down. I enjoyed chairing this particular event because I was given the opportunity to say hi and introduce myself to a few of the freshmen!

Overall, this event made my day thanks to all the amazingly positive young children. I was also so happy that so many volunteers showed up to help out with the event! I certainly hope that volunteers walked away from the event feeling just as excited and happy about it as I did that day.

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D30S & B DCON 2019– SERVICE IN WONDERLAND

Tobi Yao | 10 | President Last year, I was there as the now immediate past district governor gave his speech to the district after being elected. I clearly remember Jonathan Lum saying, “just keep swimming,” thinking that it was a strange way to start off his term. Why Dory?

However, after listening through the different trials the district executives went through this past term, I could understand why he said that. Even when you make mistakes, you have to keep working hard and push through the term.

DCON was a completely different experience for me in comparison to last year.

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When I attended as a general member, I was able to attend all the workshops Saturday morning, but this year, I got to help elect our new district executives. Congratulations to all of the elected district executives! I’m sure the CNH District has chosen highly qualified people to lead for next term and bring the district to new heights.

BEYOND DIVISION BANQUET Grace Nguyen | 10 | Treasurer April 20th marks the first D30S banquet I’ve attended in my Key Club experience, and it definitely will not be my last.

My president Tobi, and I helped with last minute decorations like blowing up the balloons and cutting up pictures since we came 45 minutes early.

Sadly, the division banquet was on the same day as the choir show (and our secretary’s birthday) so we didn’t have many people from our school come compared to last year. But never the less, it was an event to remember.

To our seniors, I love you guys. Even if I’ve never spoken to you before, I still love you!

The fact that you’ve dedicated your efforts, time, money, and heart to this club means the world to me.

To my current juniors, sophomores, and freshmen, I can’t wait to work with and get to know all of you better. Let’s work hard so that 2019-2020 can be a term that will make our graduating seniors proud.

I was able to talk to graduating seniors and make new friends from other schools. Listening to our DLT’s speeches made me cry (not as much as Tobi of course) because it made me realize how important Key Club was to many of us.

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APRIL DCM: SUNSHINE OLYMPICS April 27, 2019

Claire Lee | 9 | Publicist So the 2018-2019 term has finally ended; something that I have never imagined to happen so soon. Walking in the doors of Marie Callender's, I did not know what to expect.

Well, the truth is I only wanted to attend the banquet for pictures to post on Instagram.

However, through the OA Key Club 2018-2019 Banquet, I was able to once again remind myself of how much Key Club changed me as a person and became a huge factor in my life.

There were many events planned out for the three-hour banquet, but the two that stood out to me the most were senior speeches and open mic speeches. When Vina was saying her end of the year speech from the bottom of her heart explaining how much she will miss this club, it opened my eyes.

Soon, I am going to be standing up there in my senior year, giving the same speech.

Soon, there will be my last Key Club event that I will attend.

My last Hope Foods Distribution.

My last DCM. All kinds of thoughts filled up my head, and I started getting anxious. I realized time was passing too fast, so it was then when I made up my mind to really put all of my heart out to each Key Club event and DCM, because these times will not ever come back.

Key Club has helped me enjoy the present, and I learned this again through the speeches made by our beautiful seniors who will sadly be leaving our club soon.

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Jennifer Vo | 10 | Vice President It’s pretty crazy when you think about how far we’ve all come. Just a year ago, Tobi, Timmy, Grace, and I were newly appointed officers fresh into the club, and then suddenly one day we were the ones appointing officers. Just barely over a year and a half ago, I had just signed up for my first DCM, knowing absolutely nothing about them. I tried to swallow my social anxiety; grinned awkwardly while everyone around me shouted spirit cheers at the top of their lung, and clung desperately to the few friends I had in Key Club. And most of all, I was absolutely terrified of all the ice breakers. Of course, all of that has changed but I am most proud to announce that I now have more than three friends in Key Club!!

It just really hit me back there at April DCM when I realized how loudly I shouted the spirit cheers and many people’s names I was able to cheer on at the competitions. To the future freshman that will sign up for their first of the many DCMs that I will be planning: I’m about to force you to make a LOT of friends, sis.

Jacquelyn Nguyen | 9 | Publicist For the first DCM of the 2019-2020 term, the April Sunshine Olympics was held at Modjeska Park, on April 27. The event began with announcing the new DLT team that will be working with our Lieutenant Governor, Ali Al-Saleem. Some members from our own club, like Jennifer Vo, were part of the team! It was super exciting for me as a new board member to see the success of my division.

When I came to the April DCM, I helped our Secretary, Grace Nguyen, by lending her a table for the merch sale. Luckily, she was able to make over $150 from selling key club merch to key club members from other schools.

The activities that followed were quite high energy, as all the schools present first were split into four groups that had to compete against each other. The first competition was a dance off, where new moves had to be performed. If a previous dance move was performed again, then that entire group was eliminated. Unfortunately, our group was the second group that was eliminated. However, we were able to gain twenty-five points for our group.

Other events included a balloon popping game, where many players were eliminated until only two were standing. The standoff lasted for a while, and the students surrounding the duo had to close in and former a smaller circle in order to lessen the amount of area available for the duo to fight/flee.

Overall, the April DCM was a huge event that allowed me to bond with my own key clubbers as well as key club members from other schools. I hadn’t attended DCMs in a while, as I attended the March DCM last month but I can’t recall attending any DCMs in the winter. But, this April DCM was both a signal for a new term, and a reminder of my duties as appointed board.

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OAKC: BANQUET April 26, 2019

Tiffany Ong | 9 | Historian As the school year came to an end, OA Key Club held a banquet to finish off the year on a good note. The banquet was full of smiles, tears, excitement, and nostalgia. I got to the banquet an hour early, to work on the photo booth backdrop with my fellow historian, Lydia Lee (member of the year!!!). It was our first assignment of the term as board members, and I was determined to do my best and make the backdrop unforgettable for all Key Clubbers.

Setting Up As I arrived at Marie Callender’s, where the banquet was being held, I began to put up gold streamers with Lydia to make the photo booth stand out from the rest of the room.

Although it does seem like a simple task, we still had to decide how we were going to put them up, where we were going to place the words, and whether or not all of it could fit into the camera frame. Eventually, we had finished taping the streamers onto the wall and it was time for the huge letters, “OAKC.” Lydia made the beautiful letters, but hanging them up was very difficult. We had to face the challenge of getting them to stick onto the wall, then the spacing between each of the letters. Finally, it was time to hang up the banner that I had made, presenting the years 2018-2019. After much thought and deliberation, we hid the string behind the streamers, and it tied everything together! As we were making our finishing touches, guests started to arrive to the banquet. I was so proud that Lydia and I were able to accomplish our task and I hope all the other Key Clubbers at the banquet enjoyed our work!

The Experience Overall, at the first OAKC banquet I attended, I enjoyed the fun skits and songs that Key Clubbers performed, and they all put a smile on my face. The senior speeches brought a nostalgic feeling to the room, as it was their final Key Club banquet together. Although I didn’t know them very well, they all made a positive impact on Key Club and it’ll be sad to see them go. Their speeches were all so meaningful and brought us back to their past.

They all talked about their experiences of joining Key Club as freshmen, and how it has shaped them to who they are today.

I hope that I can follow in their footsteps and help improve the club for years to come!

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Giang Nguyen | 10 | Historian As the 2017-2018 year wraps up, I can’t help but feel both apprehensive and eager for the daunting challenges ahead of me. Although the official term had started weeks earlier, the year felt like it came to a close at the end-of-the-year banquet. It was sad to watch as the seniors delivered their last heartfelt goodbyes to Key Club, but we were all happy to see them move on to greater things in life and wished them the best of luck.

This banquet was a large milestone in my Key Club experience, marking a point of development in which I evolved from a general member to an officer with duties. The venue was excellent and although the banquet room was not very large, it felt very cozy and intimate. For me, what made this experience different from last year’s banquet was that I was now part of the appointed board that helped to set it up. Most of the tasks were effectively delegated between all the officers. But although my duties and contributions were small, my purpose felt huge.

Even though I expected a pleasant and enjoyable evening, it was significantly more so than I thought. Watching the recap videos put the whole year in perspective and brought a tinge of nostalgia. The skits and acts were hilarious and entertaining to a degree that can’t be explained. Especially the rap battle, which was definitely one of my favorite parts of the night. However, the most memorable hour of the evening was the open mic session, which was filled with emotional and moving speeches that brought the room down to a humble mood. When I was up there speaking, I didn’t realize just how personal I was going to get and how comfortable I was with sharing my own stories to everybody in the room. I felt a connection to everyone, and I felt part of something greater. Key Club truly is a special experience, one that I never though could have existed in a school club. Everyone is part of the family, and this year’s banquet was a fine example of why I have come to love this organization.

James Nguyen | 10 | Historian Oxford’s Key Club Banquet for the 2018-2019 term!

This year was the first year that I attended the club banquet and it was a blast. Full of emotion and passion, I could feel the genuine love and care for the club, its members, and the community.

There were fun skits and talks performed and given by the board members and general members. We also got to see a recap video of the entire term (prod. by Giang Nguyen) which was filled with endearing memories.

The banquet wasn’t all fun and food though, we had to sadly give our goodbyes to Vina, our last term’s president. We prepared a farewell video and mini speeches for her to part with. I don’t know why but I was sweating from my eyes!

Otherwise, it was a great time filled with many laughs and cheer, this really seemed to bring our club members closer together. I’m looking forward to another great term with these bright suns!

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NEW TERM, NEW CHAL Timmy Bui | 10 | Secretary School is hard. All the work accumulates, one task after the other. School is a physical and mental challenge. It eats up all your free time. I would always use my free time to volunteer at events, or I would even prioritize it over other events I had. From March to May, it’s been hard for me to stay diligent. I probably volunteered less than 5 times over the course of the final stretch of the school year. I’ve also been adjusting to all the new changes. Not only do I have new time-consuming tasks, but I also have to act like a leader for the other officers. There’s only so much that skill or work ethic can carry you in such a position.

What’s important is adaptation.

The new officers take their work very seriously, going above and beyond on every task, like writing an entire page for an article. They immediately apologize for any mistakes and want to make sure they’re doing everything right, which is very admirable. They may feel uncomfortable with the work. I remember it took me a whole quarter to finish all my historian duties without looking at the instructions Mai-Vy gave us at the beginning of the term.

As time passes, they will get used to it. It really will become second nature, but by the time that happens, the term may be already over. That’s why our officers need to be used to being uncomfortable, become used to the abnormal or unknown. Key Club is an awkward place. Those who can feel comfortable in the face of the uncomfortable will thrive the most in Key Club.

Natalie Melendez | 11 | Bulletin Editor If you would have told me in my freshman year how much of an impact Key Club would have on my high school career, I simply would not have believed you. As an introvert who oftentimes struggles to feel at place, 9th grade me would have laughed at the idea of forming part of such a large, loud, passionate, and spirited organization such as Key Club.

Nevertheless, the spirit and enthusiasm of Key Club board members during Club Rush are the very factors that led me to join Key Club my freshman year.

That freshman decision led to me becoming one of OAKC’s publicists for the 2018-2019, and then to becoming the new bulletin editor for this new, 2019-2020 term, my final one.

Key Club has remained a constant source of fun and fulfillment these last 3 years, and the idea of my Key Club journey soon coming to an end continues to boggle my mind. This club has taught me so much about community and has given me countless great memories, and parting with it is something I’ll struggle to do.

But I’ll hold the tears! The 2019-2020 term is only just beginning. This means I have one more year left! One more year full of memories, fun, and community. One more year of passion and dedication. One more year of Key Club. I’m excited for what this term holds .

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LLENGES Kenny Le | 10 | Project Chair When Grace called me to announce the decision that I would be a project chair, I was shocked. So shocked, that Grace had proclaimed that I was very unenthusiastic. Honestly, when she called me, I was about to take a nap, so I was kinda out of it. That turned into what seemed like a depressing thank you. Right after the call, I kind of just excitedly grinned for a bit, then slept! I knew that during the week I might have gotten a call, so I picked up every call I got. Through the fake real-estate agent, the IRS scammers, and the cruise line deals, when I heard Grace’s voice, I knew that my hard-work finally payed off.

When I was a freshman, I truly felt that Key Club was only about getting volunteer hours. I joined because my sister, and basically all my cousins who went to high-school all at one point joined at one point or another. I vividly remember the first general meeting that I had. It was packed front-to-end with students, and a line of people were stating their board positions. I remember that year’s exec being Samantha, Huda, Amber, and Vina, and Steven being the project chair. The only reason I remember Steven is because he was the only appointed board member to always say hi to me, even though I absolutely had no idea who he was, until I googled a past newsletter and saw that he was a project chair, which makes the rest of the article really easy to write! That year as a freshman was the best year of Oxford so far, with Key Club probably being a big part of why I fondly look back at freshman year. Although me reminiscing about my first term in Key Club seems like I went off on a tangent after talking about how I got into Key Club board, it really isn’t!

My point was that Key Club’s board has always been amazing, specifically the project chairs. Without Brianna and Emily, Key Club simply would not have at its very core functioned as a club, with in my opinion, the core being volunteering. As one of next terms project chairs, my personal goals are to find new, great events, and not disappoint any members of our club for whatever reason. But I know that if I mess up or need help, Helen will have my back.

I want to end this by whole-heartedly thanking Vina. I only was really active in Key Club as a during the summer after Freshman year, with RTC really being the event that showed me the extent of Key Club, and Vina as President was doing the best job that anyone could have asked from her. Throughout senior year, never once have I ever thought that she was doing anything other than a fantastic job. I cannot think of a single mistake from Vina, which shows how much she has done behind the scenes. Not only did she work diligently throughout the year even when finals, college apps, and through all her other extra curriculars, but she maintained the drive to interact with her members. Honestly, when I first talked to her during HOPE, I didn’t even know she was President until Grace told me, because although her name was on the emails, I didn’t get to talk to her as a Freshman. I was real awkward, which I still feel bad for, but I was really nervous! But I think that event is a testament to her amazing character. As President, no one could have stopped her from growing power-hungry and self-conceited, but no, she stayed true to Key Club’s spirit of inclusiveness, leadership, caring, and character building. Thank you Vina!!!!!!!!

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DISCOVERY CUBE: BUBBLE FEST April 6 + 13, 2019

Victoria Truong | 9 | Tech Chair This month’s article is about the fun-filled and bubbly event that’s called Bubble Fest, which took place at Discovery Cube Orange County. It had its ups and downs, but I definitely made some new memories there with the fellow Key-uties that volunteered with me. There were two shifts that were both on two consecutive Saturdays and in the afternoon, so at least I knew I’d be more awake and conscious compared to an event l i k e H o p e F o o d D i s t r i b u t i o n .

Speaking of being awake, that was something I definitely had to be while working at Bubble Fest because I was dealing with a bunch of rowdy kids who were excited about the overflowing bubbles during the show (and I have to admit I was tempted to look behind my back, too). I was also helping with controlling lines for admission to the show and directing families to the right spot with my purple Discovery Cube Volunteer shirt and name tag. Although the volunteer rules were a bit nitpicky about certain things, like staying off of devices and phones while working and even having to wear specific clothes in order to volunteer, the experience was definitely worth the trouble in the end and I would 10/10 recommend volunteering at Bubble Fest in the future.

I still remember all the glittering eyes of excitement and giddiness in those childrens’ eyes when they watched the bubbles overwhelmingly fly everywhere when the Yang siblings worked their magic. I feel like the best part of this entire event, other than the free snacks, was when some of us were given the opportunity to see the show with our own eyes, and that was the absolute highlight of the event for me. I felt like a real kid all over again while screaming at the billions of bubbles in the air and I even filmed the entire thing. If I gained anything from volunteering here, it’s that I really want to volunteer here more often in the future and possibly even work part-time.

I had a blast enjoying it and thankfully, I wasn’t as soapy either! In conclusion, this was one of the best events I’ve ever volunteered for. To end this article, I’d like to say that if Key Club presents Bubble Fest again as a volunteer opportunity next year, I will happily sign up for it.

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Lydia Lee | 9 | Historian Near the beginning of the month, I went to HOPE Food Distribution, which, by the way, is an amazing event. Several hours later, two of my friends and I carpooled to Discovery Science Center to volunteer at their annual month-long event: Bubblefest!

The event was hosted on two consecutive Saturdays, and I attended both. The first Saturday had more volunteers in attendance, and as we all arrived, we were faced with a crisis. We were supposed to be wearing black shoes and black pants. This was a big problem for us blue-jean loving teenagers. Most of the volunteers had to call their parents and ask them to bring the necessary clothes and shoes, but I was one of the unlucky few who lived way too far to consider this option.

With less than an hour left, and too many of us not fitting the dress code, the staff was a bit lenient to those with darker pants and shoes. However, my friend and I were still not within the dress code.

So, we did the thing every other logical person would do: run to the nearby mall and quickly buy the necessary pants. After spending about 30 minutes zooming around the rather large store, I was able to find a decent pair of black pants that weren’t over $50.

(A staff worker snickered when we said we were trying to look for clothes under $50). and will try my best to go next year!

However, my friend was not so lucky and we returned back to the Cube due to lack of time.

At the actual event, we worked behind the scenes in the store. We labeled items like big bottles of bubble solution, bubble blowers, and every other item related to bubbles.

We then went around to different stores restocking food and drinks and organized the main store as well. Every time I ran into a volunteer while going from store to store, I tried my best to snap a quick picture of the many key-uties.

The next week I went, I helped out at the Early Learners section which was specifically for visitors 5 and younger. We blew bubbles and pulled a string up and down to create a bubble wall. Honestly, I never knew I was so bad at blowing bubbles. Luckily, Bubble fest gave me the chance to practice and now I’m not that bad at it.

Overall, the event was pretty fun and it was really cool going into all the backrooms and storage departments. I hope to be more prepared for every event I attend and will try my best to go next year!

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4 HOPE FOOD

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LOVE BUENA PARK

DISCOVERY CUBE

OC MARATHON

ROCKET LAUNCH

10 MORRIS ELEMENTARY CARNIVAL

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OC GREEK FESTIVAL

OC GREEK FESTIVAL

18 CHILDREN’S FEST

MAY DCM HOPE FOOD

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OC GREEK FEST

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

30 FAITH NGO’S GOLD AWARD

25 BAKE SALE

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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...