NYDKC Division Nine October Newsletter

MAKING A CHAN9E Volume II | Issue VI | October 2017

Lieutenant Governor Patricia Ahmed Executive Assistant Josephine Wu Kiwanis Committee Representative Mr. Leonard Gioia

Table of Contents 4 Executive Assistant's Greeting........................................5 Division 9 Social Media...................................................6 NYDKC Social Media.......................................................7 Governor's Project...........................................................8 Leadership Training Conference (LTC) 2018...................9 The Halo Movement.......................................................10 UNICEF............................................................................11 Key Club Week...............................................................12 Kiwanis Family Month.....................................................14 Pat & Jo's Advice Column..............................................15 Lieutenant Governor's Greeting......................................

Past Events

16 - Breast Cancer Walk.....................................................18 - Out of Darkness Walk..................................................19 - Service Spotlight: Club's First Meetings.....................20 - Halloween Events.......................................................24 Form Submission...........................................................26 Contact Information......................................................27 - Color Wars...................................................................

Upcoming Events November: Kiwanis Family Month November 6th-10th: Color Wars November 11th: Divisions 8-13 Fall Rally

Reminders ○ Dues deadline is December 1st! ○ MRFs are due on the 10th of every month! ○ FRFs are due ASAP after a fundraiser!

Lieutenant Governor's Greeting Happy October my Spooky Sharks!

October was such a spooky, service-filled month! Aside from getting Friday the 13th this month, we also got to get together in large amounts to show our support for raising awareness for breast cancer and suicide prevention through simply walking. In addition, several schools participated at Halloween-themed volunteer events where they got to dress up in costumes and spread happiness (or fear, through haunted houses). October was also a spooky month in terms of seniors getting college applications ready (like me-yikes!)

Regardless of how you spent this month, I think it was successful overall, and just shows how amazin9 this division is when it comes to showing our love of service and getting together in support of 9reat causes! In the Halloween spirit, all of our Key Clubbers featured in this newsletter are disguised as spooky monsters! I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed creating this.

I hope to see you all at Fall Rally! And remember: if you ever see me at an event, feel free to say hi!

Patricia Ahmed Division Nine Lieutenant Governor

Executive Assistant's Greeting Happy October sharks!

My favorite season is here again! There is so much to love about fall: wearing sweaters again, eating pumpkinflavored goodies, and of course, Halloween! October was full of many great events as well. We had the first ever Color Wars between Midwood, Stuyvesant, and Cardozo Key Clubs. Despite the terrible circumstances, the turnout was amazing and we were able to raise over $1,000 for Hurricane Maria relief! There was also the Breast Cancer and Out of the Darkness Walks, plus super fun Halloweenrelated events many clubs held! I am so happy to see all of what happens when we come together, whether it's fundraising and advocating for causes we care about, and volunteering events that enable us to improve our communities and meet new people.

Keep up with the great work, and I hope to see you at Fall Rally!

Josephine Wu Division Nine Executive Assistant

Division 9 Social Media

Note: Clicking on the icons

NYDKC Social Media

brings you to the link!

The Governor's Project: The Honeybee Conservancy How can I help save the bees?

Plant a bee-friendly garden Start a honeybee hive Build homes for solitary and bumble bees Protect bee habitat Sponsor a hive Support your local beekeeper Buy local honey Bee friendly!

Why should I care?

For crops like strawberries, honey bees increase the number and size of the berries, while other crops like almonds rely 100% on honey bee pollination. If the honey bee population declines, many crops will suffer. No honey bees, no almond butter.

YOU'RE INVITED TO THE

70th Annual Leadership Training Conference MARCH 23RD - 25TH, 2018 | THE DESMOND HOTEL | ALBANY, NY

The Halo Movement has launched a partnership with Key Club to find leaders that are actively contributing to their communities. Examples of these contributions are service projects and fundraisers. The Halo Movement will provide $2,500 to clubs that receive this recognition.

You can check out their website and view previously recognized services here. Clubs can apply anytime until November 30th through the

official contest page. From December 4-10, these projects and fundraisers will be open to everyone to vote for (friends, school, and community included!). The best part about the voting is that each person can vote once a day.

The 10 clubs with the most votes become the finalists and receive the award money.

Key Club has been Trick-or-Treating for UNICEF and overtime has raised nearly US $5 million for iodine deficiency programs worldwide, the Eliminate Project, and HIV and AIDS programs in Kenya and Swaziland. Key Clubbers can support their world wide causes through various service projects and fundraising!

Throughout the month of October, Key Clubbers across Division 9 have raised hundreds of dollars through simply Trickor-Treating with a little, orange box!

Click here for more information.

Key Club Week Show people what Key Club is all about!

Spread the word by wearing Key Club gear and publicizing Key Club Week in local stores, your school Web site, community newspapers—even on the radio.

Personally thank all the Key Club supporters you know—teachers, advisors and other Key players. Write thank-you notes, host an appreciation dinner or do something uniquely your own style to recognize the contributions of these special people.

Key Club has three preferred charities— UNICEF, March of Dimes and Children’s Miracle Network. Take time to focus on service projects that help support these causes such as making non-slip socks or capes for your local CMN hospital.

A smile goes a long way. Spread happiness throughout your school by doing little random acts of kindness such as leaving cards with inspirational messages on every students locker or just simply holding the door for someone else. Challenge every member to complete at least one random act of kindness.

Key Club is the largest high school service organization in the world and is a member of the Kiwanis family. Celebrate the entire family of Kiwanis by getting the whole gang involved.

Connect with local Kiwanis, Circle K International, Builders, Kiwanis Kids or Aktion clubs and team up for a joint service project.

Happy Key Clubbing!

Kiwanis Family Month The Kiwanis family includes clubs for every age and ability. In November, we celebrate Kiwanis Family Month—taking time to appreciate each other and create a bond with the other clubs nearby. Reach out and share your love of Kiwanis with a fundraiser, service project or shared activity! Here are a few ideas:

♥ Invite SLP members to attend or lead a Kiwanis club meting. ♥ Write notes of encouragement to SLP club members. ♥ Thank SLP club advisors and officers for their dedication. ♥ Plan a multi-club community service project or fundraiser. What better way to bring the family together? Here are a few ideas: •Clean up trash from a street or park.

•Hold a pancake breakfast or dinner to raise money for a cause.

•Volunteer for a local food bank, or collect, pack and deliver canned food.

•Volunteer at the local animal shelter.

•Create thank-you cards or gifts for law enforcement officers and firefighters.

•Create care packages or write letters to military members.

•Hold a coat drive and donate to a local shelter.

•Make no-sew blankets and donate to a local shelter.

•Make knit caps for hospitalized kids who have had chemotherapy treatments.

The possibilities for Kiwanis Family Month are endless. Reach out this November, and then stay in touch. Keep family ties strong—all year long!

Pat & Jo's Advice Corner I’m getting all these opportunities from

A Concerned Senior,

colleges asking me to go in for interviews and from the school administration asking me to write momentos of my year because of my achievements, and want to celebrate them with my friends but since they didn’t do the same amount of work and didn’t receive these

First of all, congratulations on all of the opportunities you've been able to receive! Because your friends don't seem to be as supportive as they should be, I want you to know that I am proud of you and will support your endeavors. Senior year can be extremely tough for some people, especially if they feel like their futures aren't looking as bright as other students'. However, that doesn't mean one is

opportunities from the school

allowed to act rude or jealous. We have to accept

administration and from colleges asking

that some people are more privileged or qualified,

them for momentos and interviews, they

but also recognize our own talents and use our

are jealous and berate me for trying to celebrate my accomplishments simply because I have what they want. What do you suggest I do?

- A Concerned Senior

strengths to present the best versions of ourselves going forward. I suggest that you should have a long talk with these so-called friends, and if they don't seem to change their perspectives, maybe they aren't friends you should be holding on to. And of course, keep continuing to the best you can! Best of luck in your senior year!

So, there's this girl who everyone hates in my dance club because she's always mean to them (she has personal problems so she takes it out on other people),

Dear Sad Dancer, Firstly, I'm sorry that happened to you. I suggest you drop the facade of being her friend, but still remind respectful.

except to a couple of people like me, but

Although she hasn't been kind to you, I

she doesn't realize it. She graduated last

believe in respect for all regardless of

year but I live a block away from her and I

how that person treated you. This way

always see her and I don't want to maintain a facade of being her friend because she was always

you drop the facade but also maintain a respectful relationship with her without being mean. This is especially important

disrespectful...at one point she exposed

considering she has her personal issues

the fact that I had an eating disorder to

as well, which explain why she acts the

some of my friends that didn't know. I don't think she realized it, but I also don't want to be mean either. What do I do?

- A Sad Dancer

way she does. Since she graduated last year, I doubt you two will be crossing roads anytime soon. Don't worry-be happy!

Color Wars The day before Color Wars, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go, since the weather weather was supposed to be bad. I took the chance anyways, and it was definitely a worthwhile experience. As soon as we got there, we expected to see very few people. I was shocked at how many people took the effort to show up despite the guaranteed rain. We were quickly organized into our preformed groups and were given wristbands and face paint matching each team’s desired color. After Flora explained the rules of the first game, we quickly got to know the team we were against, and it felt like we knew them for years. After a game of Ninja, we started the Scavenger Hunt, which was cool because it was kept in mind that not all people are athletic. It started drizzling, but most people coped with it, even bringing umbrellas while they played. When it was time to eat, though, it started raining like crazy. Most people couldn’t deal with the rain, and left, but I stayed to eat for a couple of minutes. The food was kept dry and tasty with a couple of people holding umbrellas, enough to cover the food. Even though we were drenched, the food was

amazing, but we left after eating, staying in front of a hotel walkway, out of the way of the door. What was surprising and heartwarming was that the hotel had turned on the heat for us, so we would dry off sooner.

After the rain stopped, some of us revisited the park, and quite a few people were still having the best time of their life pieing people and running around. This event was the most fun I had, even though I was dreading the rain. I would definitely do this event again, and I encourage people to come to the next one, where hopefully the skies are clear and the sun is out.

Victor Zheng Member Midwood High School

Breast Cancer Walk The Breast Cancer Awareness Walk on Sunday, October 15th was amazing. It was so cool seeing such a diverse group of individuals come together to support this one worthy cause. It was just wonderful seeing the love and care being spread around. The energy was so positive. Everyone was cheering. Music was playing.

Food and drinks were being distributed to the walkers. All the shades of pink were seen all around the Coney Island boardwalk. It was most definitely an experience to remember.

Julianna Miranda Member Midwood High School

Out of Darkness Walk At my first event in Key Club, I thought this experience was fun and exciting. I usually thought that volunteering was like having a job, but you aren’t being paid and you are doing it for the sake of helping others at the expense of your free time. However, it was all those things but a lot more fun than I imagined it to be. I had gotten to walk for a good cause and socialize with my friends at the same time, making these experience better than what I had expected it to be. I thought that the cause for the walk was very important; suicide is something a lot of us take lightly and joke about. Suicide isn’t something we should joke about, because it could affect all of the people that it happened near, so I’m proud that I walked in this event. It gave more awareness to the fact that suicide is not a laughing matter.

Ivan Yu Member Brooklyn Technical High School

Service Spotlight: First Key Club Meetings

James Madison HS October 5th was Madison’s first Key Club meeting of the year and was a massive success. To our surprise we had 51 new members attending the meeting, many more students than the room where the meeting was being held was meant to hold. Before the meeting can officially start, me and the other officers had to go and collect several chairs from nearby rooms to compensate for the extra students. When everyone was finally seated, the meeting was ready to finally begin. For every meeting we make a powerpoint to organize everything we need to say and keep everyone on track. We first started with our agenda for the meeting. Since most of our members were new to Key Club, we introduced all of the officers and explained to them what Key Club International was all about and how they are making a difference in their community. We followed this up with a review of our four core values, leadership, inclusiveness, character building, and caring, and how they are implemented into what we do.

After a brief rundown of the club dues, we did something different for our first meeting: a guest speaker Joanne Berry, (a good friend of one of our advisors Ms. Kovat) came in to talk about her fight with breast cancer and to promote the upcoming Breast Cancer walk. With her moving speech about her constant struggle with breast cancer, it convinced many members to get involved and even brought some to the brink of tears. After her heartfelt speech, we continued and went over the upcoming events. Sadly, after giving all of the members our emails for any further questions, the meeting was drawing to an end. As a final thank you to the students for attending or first meeting, we handed out home baked cookies I made last night for the meeting. Our first meeting was quick but it was impactful. Many members went on to compliment the meeting’s success. Our first meeting was a great way to start off the year for Key Club in Madison and it’s only going to get better from here.

Daniel Palazzolo Treasurer

Brooklyn Technical HS Brooklyn Tech Key Club’s first meeting was on October 10th. We were so excited to see over 600 students come and support us. The entire executive board took turns speaking into the mic. We also incorporated several games to resonate with what Key Club represents: FUN! The first three members who followed our instagram accounts received donuts, and after the meeting, they all received festive candy and chocolate to celebrate the upcoming holiday. Towards the end, we handed out Trick or Treat for Unicef Boxes, and collected water bottles for the Brooklyn Tech Bottle Run. We are so so SO excited for the coming year! We hope to expand the club as much as possible so more students understand Key Club’s mission and grow into this family.

Kathy Song President

Edward R. Murrow HS Murrow’s first Key Club meeting of the school year was a success! It took place on Monday, October 16th in Room 344 at 2:50 pm. When I walked in, I was immediately excited to see the room packed full of students, all of them eager to learn more about Key Club. I noticed plenty of new faces as well as several returning members. For the first 15 minutes, the room was full of noisy chit-chat and random conversations as students were struggling to find a space to get settled in. More and more people kept coming in, to the point where some students had to stand in the back and even sit on the floor. I knew I had a lot to get through so I put the good old gong and gavel to use and started the meeting. Firstly by introducing myself, the other officers, and the two club advisors. We then proceeded by reciting the Key Club Pledge and then we discussed the function of the club point system and dues. I talked about the unique structure of Key Club International, introduced them to Division 9, and explained what events and activities we’ve done in the past so they knew what great things to expect from Key Club. To make things better we were honored to have two guest speakers, Kiwanis Club Representative, Mr. Giaio and Division 9 Lieutenant Governor, Patricia Ahmed. Both guest speakers talked about their history and overall experience with Key Club and I could tell their words had touched and inspired some students. With their help, I’m sure Murrow Key Club gained a couple of new members. The meeting was over before I realized but I took time to answer any questions that members could have had. At the end, all of my officers and I got together and we all thought excitedly that if this first meeting was an indication of the number of members to expect from our club then it might finally be time to get a bigger room!

Aile Cheng President

Spooktacular Halloween Party It was a mild morning in Manhattan when I stepped out the subway station. Not too far, I walked towards to the familiar Church Street Music School.

I volunteered there last December serving candy and helping kids make little gingerbread houses.

This time was no different; we helped set up a Halloween party for toddlers/young kids. We had a mini haunted house complete with spooky skeletons, tattered rags, and littered cobwebs. We lined hallways with black paper, plastering tree branches too. After that, we had some time to enjoy free food! Some of us were actors in the haunted house scaring people. Others helped kids in the crafts and arts section. By 3PM, we closed shop and cleaned up.

Carter Le Events Coordinator Brooklyn Technical High School

Great PUPkin Dog Costume Contest On Saturday, October 28th, Midwood volunteered at the Great Pupkin Dog Costume Contest in Fort Greene Park. Now in its 19th year thanks to the Fort Greene PUPS and the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, this one was filled with even more dogs and excitement. Volunteers arrived at around 10:30am, and the contest started promptly an hour later. With over 1,700 people expected to be in attendance, the organizers had trouble with crowd control.

This is where members stepped in to help. The weather was beautiful and the venue was well-chosen, with a stage for the owners and pups to get up and show off their costumes. However, it was clearly overcrowded and people started to sit and block the part of the steps where dogs went down to the stage. We had several tasks delegated to us, whether it was acting as bouncers at the steps, collecting donations, asking people politely to move in, or signing up for the PUPS newsletter. Despite the chaos, watching the dogs and their creative costumes made the event more enjoyable. All of the costumes were extremely creative and intricate in their own ways.We didn’t stay for the entire duration of the contest, but the MC told us to get on the stage. The organizers thanked us for our help and the audience applauded, much to our shock and embarrassment. Overall, we all had a great time at one of our more unique events. We hope to work with Fort Greene PUPS again at next year’s Great Pupkin Dog Costume Contest!

Josephine Wu Executive Assistant

Form Submission

Remember to submit MRFs on the 10th of every month!

Contact Information