Circling the

Empire

IN THIS ISSUE

mailto:jcondino@twcny.rr.com

Table of Contents

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals for

you and your club, plus a

run-down of NYCKI’s goals

this year!

Page 7

Governor’s Note

Hello Mighty New York District,

Congratulations on an outstanding service year and for making a difference in your

communities. It has been such an honor to work alongside such inspiring leaders like you

and to watch the New York District grow together.

This has definitely been an unforgettable year. I had the chance to visit 27 out of our 33

clubs throughout the state and I spent 100 hours on Greyhound to do this. However, like I

said during my farewell at DCON, I would dedicate 100 more hours to traveling if I could. I

was so impressed with your unique service projects, fundraisers, and meetings. Aside from

the events themselves, I was impressed by the outstanding fellowship within your clubs and

the family that you created within your club. When I think about my favorite part of my

visits and my year, my answer is generally “knowing that no matter how far away from

home I am, I know that I have my family welcoming and supporting me.”

You have been a large contribution to our district’s success. It is you who completed the

service hours, raised the funds, paid your dues, and attended our district events. You were

the ones who stepped up and served your clubs to the best of your abilities and made a

difference. By doing this, you proved yourself to be servant-leaders and I hope that you

never lose sight of what you’ve gained during your experiences in Circle K. Whether this

was your first or last year, I wish you the best and encourage you to continue to serve in

whatever capacity possible. Finally, remember that the end of the 2013-2014 service year

simply means that it is a fresh start that is filled with opportunities for the 2014-2015 year.

Let’s celebrate the end of the year and challenge ourselves to continue to be everyday

heroes.

Yours in NYCKI love,

Kelly Chan

2013-2014 District Governor

Christine Retta

A Letter from the Editor

NYCKI’s Goals Report: ’13-‘14

With the new service year rapidly approaching, it’s important to set goals, either as a

leadership team or as an individual servant leader! Do you want to complete a certain

number of service hours? Do you want to create a committee for your club or increase

your recruitment efforts? Use this guide to create S.M.A.R.T. Goals for 2014-2015!

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Specific goals address the “who-what-

when-where-why” of your goal.

EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, “Do

lots of service.” But a specific goal would

say, “Do at least one service project each

week.”

Establish specific ways of documenting

your goals

EXAMPLE: Ask “How much?” “How many?”

or “How will I know when I’m done?"

SPECIFIC:

MEASURABLE: ATTAINABLE:

Set goals that you are a stretch for

yourself while retaining an element of

realism.

EXAMPLE: Wanting to do 1,000 hours of

service is great, but logically can you

accomplish it? Maybe an hour a day (365

hours total) would be more attainable!

RELEVANT: Set goals that you are important to you.

It will mean more and help you

accomplish your aims.

EXAMPLE: Complete service projects you care

about to help reach your goals TIMELY: Giving yourself a time-limit to complete

your goal allows you to set new, relevant

goals frequently.

EXAMPLE: Use the service year as a timeline to

complete your CKI goals!

Getting to Know the 2014-2015…

What are you most excited about for the upcoming service year? What am I most excited for?! Ah! How am I supposed to pick just one thing when I’m excited about so many things? Hmm. I’d have to say it is a tie between seeing all of the awesome projects that our clubs will do for the Governor’s Project and getting to know the members of our district through division visits, Skyping into club meetings, and my office hours! What can club officers in your position expect from you over the course of the year? Club Presidents should expect to be doing Presidents chats with me throughout the year as well as the release resources on topics ranging from service projects to fundraising. We will also be utilizing the website and google calendar. How do you plan on bringing your favorite aspects of Circle K to the members? I plan to bring my favorite aspects of Circle K to members by connecting with them on a personal level, making our conventions AWESOME, and bringing back our NYCKI TV Channel. What would be your dream convention theme? Why? OMG. Lord. Of. The. Rings. For. Sure. Because I’d really love to dress up like an elf. Name your favorite district-wide resource and how you plan to promote it within your position SOCIAL MEDIA! I’m going to encourage our district to utilize our social media outlets through my newsletters, Presidents chats, and office hours. Be on the lookout for the new NYCKI Instagram and Snapchat accounts! Please explain your Governor's Project to NYCKI. Through my Governor’s Project, “Small Hands, Big Future,” I challenge you and your clubs to do service that will benefit the children of your community and our world. Since Kiwanis’ main focus is helping children, the Governor’s Project will give you the opportunity to collaborate on projects with the Kiwanis and other SLP clubs in your area. While the Governor’s Project is focused on doing service for children, I am requesting that any funds raised for the Governor’s Project go to It’s My Heart, an organization dedicated to helping families who have children afflicted with Congenital Heart Disease.

What are you most excited about for the upcoming service year? This upcoming Service Year I am most excited about meeting all of the secretaries and finding out what service their clubs are participating in. What can club officers in your position expect from you over the course of the year? Club Secretaries can expect me to stay dedicated to each and every club in the district. They can expect different resources to be released along with newsletters and of course they can expect a new look to the MRF. They can also expect to be trained via a personal chat with myself and of course a Facebook friend request. How do you plan on bringing your favorite aspects of Circle K to the members? I plan on bringing my favorite aspects of Circle K (which are service, friendship, and fun) to the members through my newsletters as well as getting to know the members of our great organization. What is your favorite service project? How can others help out with it? My favorite service project is raking in general. For some odd reason I really like to Rake and find it fun and enjoyable. I have not had a chance to participate in this service project YET but a great idea for a service project would be to go around your town in the fall and rake the leaves of strangers’ houses and ask for a donation or just do it as an act of kindness. What would be your dream convention theme? Why? My dream convention theme would have to be a 007 themed

convention. I really enjoy spy movies and spy like things. The

convention could be called DCON: License to Serve or New York

Speaking: License to Serve.

Want to get to know the 2014-2015 NYCKI

Executive Board? Read on to find out more

about Renée, Brian, Walaa, and Brian and what

they love about CKI and hope to do for the

upcoming service year!

New York District Executive Board

What are you most excited about for the upcoming service year? I am really excited about getting to know all the new treasurers in our 33 NY District clubs! Especially the clubs that didn’t come to DCON, because I would love to help them with their budget and fundraising so they will be able to come to the next 2014-2015 DCON! What can club officers in your position expect from you over the course of the year? A lot of help! I am so excited to get to share my resources, templates and insights about all the obstacles my club has been through over the past 3 semesters. I want to contact all the clubs and see what level or stage they are at, assess their strengths and weaknesses financially so I can prioritize the best way to help them for the upcoming 2014-2015 Circle-K year. How do you plan on bringing your favorite aspects of Circle K to the members? FELLOWSHIP is my favorite aspect, which means fun and tons of it. I hate formalities especially when I’m trying to help others, I feel they get in the way. I would really like to hold fun interactive meetings for treasurers who live near each other and maybe that’s a long shot, but it’s worth a try. I also want to start a NY District Facebook treasurer’s page, because who’s not on Facebook all the time? That might be the best way to upload all my files while also making it available on Google Drive or Dropbox. What is your favorite service project? How can others help out with it? My favorite service project is making goodie bags for children in the pediatric center. It’s so much fun because you get to share your creativity with a child who is going to appreciate it more than you can imagine. It’s also so easy to do—you can add anything to it and the bags can vary depending on the age group. You can also promote healthy eating or just have a seasonal theme. Any club can do this for the pediatric centers in their community. You can easily call the hospital up and ask if how many bags their pediatric center would need to provide for all the children there. It can be a great project that Circle-K can really make a difference with. Tell NYCKI a fun fact about yourself!

I really want to be a doctor so I can work in underprivileged

communities or areas around the world. Hopefully get to do

Doctors without Borders someday.

What are you most excited about for the upcoming service year? I am most excited about working with the district board and learning about one another. In addition, I can’t wait to meet all the new people I will come across serving the New York district. What can club officers in your position expect from you over the course of the year? Definitely a responsible, reliable, friendly, and easygoing person. In addition, what I promised: a directory for editors, a newsletter every three months, sample templates, and any other resource I think will be useful. How do you plan on bringing your favorite aspects of Circle K to the members? I truly love service. What is your favorite service project? How can others help out with it? Currently, Stony Brook CKI is doing a project where we make paper stars and put it in jars to donate to hospitals to put in rooms where children in. I really enjoy this service project because it really brings together our club and everyone learns something new. What would be your dream convention theme? Why? My dream convention theme would be apples and other fruits. I love fruits, they make up most of my meals and I just grew up loving them. Tell NYCKI a fun-fact about yourself! I am majoring in civil engineering.

Join a Committee Now!

UNICEF Tap Project

Members of the Month

Congratulations to the following MEMBERS OF THE MONTH! The below-

mentioned information was received through MRF submission. If you

would like a member from your club to be recognized, please

include it in the MRF for that month.

Olivia Carroll from UAlbany

Alexandra Hammer from Queens College

Elaine Kriss - UBuffalo

Sydney Mohr from Russell Sage College

Aminoor Rashid from Hunter College

Teanna Schmeah from HVCC

Kiran Sharma from Stony Brook University

Lindsay Cannon from Elmira College- She has been proving herself time and again recently.

Lindsay started becoming very involved, elected to run for a new chair position, and also ran

(and won) for the club senator position. We are so proud! - Elmira

Mary Kate Cary from Fordham University – She has been to all of our meetings this month. She

also participated in making scarves for the homeless people.

Benjamin Daniels from RPI – We feel he really deserved to be selected this month because he

has displayed himself to be a very dedicated member to the club and we can all tell how

much he enjoys being a part of circle K

Camila Merchan from LIU Post – Camila joined Circle K this January and has quickly become

involved. She has participated actively in our meetings, and she will be attending upcoming

service projects as well as District Convention.