Hi Ninjas,
I hope you all are enjoying the remainder of
your summer break. Hopefully you all didn’t pro-
crastinate, unlike me, and did all your summer
homework!
Any who, I hope your passion for service
still burns as we transition into the school year.
Use that passion to help guide others to serve
and join this amazing organization, “be that drop
of water to cause the ripples.” Inspire others to
serve and help their home, school, and commu-
nity.
If you’d like to write an article about any of
your Key Club experiences during September
please email me at [email protected]!
Don’t forget to send pictures too! Articles and
visuals are due September 10th at 6pm! Thanks.
Have a great day!
Crystal Kem
Letter from The Editor...
District Convention, also known as “DCON”, will be held March 13th-15th
in Anaheim, California. During District Convention you’ll have the oppor-
tunity to meet Key Clubbers throughout California, Nevada, and Hawaii! As
well as learn more about the organization through workshops and general
sessions. Although District Convention will be held in Southern California,
it will still be on the pricier side. The price for District Convention has not
yet been announced but it would be smart to start saving up NOW! I hope
you ALL consider attending District Convention because it’s an amazing ex-
perience that you won’t want to miss out on!
July 11th brought the annual Kiwanis Karnival, held at Thompson Park
in Bellflower. With St. John Bosco’s campus just a block up the street, we
had many volunteers who helped with this event, and even gained some new
members. Our club had volunteers presented for all three days of the carni-
val. Starting on Friday afternoon, our volunteers arrived and began to set up
tables and chairs for the carnival goers as well as food booths. At 5 o’clock
the carnival officially began, and the air was filled the smells of roasted corn
and the sound of giddy children eager to have a good time.
Once our set-up responsibilities were complete, our work shifted to
maintenance and security. Club members helped to pick up trash at the car-
nival, and to watch the gates to make sure everyone was following the rules
when they entered the carnival. On Saturday, our volunteers drummed up
attention for the carnival with signs, and on Sunday helped with clean-up.
On Thursday, July 24th we had
our July DCM at Cerritos Regional
Park! The DCM consisted of fun ac-
tivities such as a water balloon fight,
potluck, and tons and tons of fun ice
breakers!
We began the DCM with the
pledges and quickly followed with
Club and Division updates. We had a
great turnout and the members
seemed to enjoy the day.
On Saturday, August 16th, Division 13
South gathered at Bolsa Chica Sate Beach for
the August DCM. We planned to have a bonfire
but unfortunately we weren’t able to snatch a
pit. But that didn’t stop us from having a fun
time! We had a great time getting to know each
other by playing ice breakers such as “Bang!”
and the “Blanket Name Game.” Everyone
seemed to have a great time and it was a great
way to have our last summer DCM!
We had set up our own park clean-up this month on July 9th at Simms Park in Bellflower. Park clean-
ups are great and simple service projects that members can participate in for a good old fashioned volunteer
event. It is a fairly simple event that actively contributes to the local community and another step towards
helping the welfare of the general population. It is also a nice opportunity for a school's Key Club to get clos-
er to all its members, old and new. This would even be a good chance to ambush initiating key clubbers com-
ing out to their first event with icebreakers that we have all come to love, or for some will in time. Park clean-
ups provide experience for members to actively help and physically get involved while making for a produc-
tive day in all as they can get to know each other. We encourage every school's Key Club to host their own
Right off the bat, we had the opportunity to start off the first week of July by volunteering with the Cham-
ber of Commerce and several other local churches to work at the Phantom Fireworks Stand selling fireworks
for families' fun and festivities on their Independence Day celebrations. Throughout July 1st-4th, we had
many members from our club volunteer in the booth set up in the heat of the summer.
Over the course of these four days, though few but dedicated, we were able to accumulate an outstanding
number of volunteer service hours totaling 78.5 hrs collectively as a group of 16 key clubbers. Members
worked the stands for multiple shifts a day towards the upcoming Fourth of July. Hustling to meet the Amer-
ican people's needs for their fiery traditions, our Key Club assisted our community in their annual
recreations during this lively time of the year. This event with Chamber reinforced their trust in longtime re-
lations with Key Club's service leading to their continued offer on further events to help out with later into
the year.
On July 19, Mayfair Key Clubbers went to Compton to help paint
some schools in the area. Long Beach Poly, Millikan, Lakewood, and John
Glenn High School also represented Key Club throughout the day. Every-
one met up at Ralph Bunche Middle School in the morning, and then
split up to work on the school they were assigned.
Mayfair, Long Beach Poly, and Division 13 North were assigned Mar-
tin Luther King Elementary School. Key Clubbers had a great time paint-
ing the school dark blue and were rewarded with a pizza lunch after all
their hard work. Everyone relaxed, enjoyed their pizza, danced, and played
ice breakers to get to know one another and keep the excitement levels
high.
Mayfair Key Club President Ciairra Riley sums the event up by saying,
“It was a great event because the members got to make a city a bit more
beautiful while also getting the opportunity to experience the change they
were making and the gratitude of the community for their hard work.
Hopefully they were able to make more friends and have fun as well!
International Convention, also known as “ICON”, is the BIGGEST Key Club event
all year. Every year, Key Club International hosts ICON in order to celebrate all that
KCI has accomplished along with electing the new International board and trustees.
Our NEW International board members are…
Maria Palazzolo — Key Club International President
Kevin Zhang — Key Club International Vice President
Our NEW International Trustees —
Jenalee Beazley
Gary Cheng
Renisha Daley
Tashrima Hossain
Laken Kelly
Nicole Lema
Rip Livingston
Robbie Mathis
Shane Meyers
Liz Moore
Barry Seng
Attending my first icon was definitely an eye opening experience. I was able to gain so much
knowledge, like volunteering ideas, ways to improve my club and ways to improve myself
through all the workshops and sessions. I'm not going to lie, I fell asleep during some of them
but trust me, it was such a great experience. Aside from the official business there was 2
very TU dances. CNH yelling "We want ratchet" was one of the most memorable moments
for me. I'll never forget the hall mate hangouts we had and the division walking to downtown
Disney so many times. Overall, it was just heartwarming to see so many key clubbers com-
ing from all over with such a strong drive to change the world. Icon also showed me just how
big key club really is. Honestly, my favorite part of icon was meeting so many other key club-
bers. It's amazing to me that it's almost been a month since icon, but the Icon attendee group
on Facebook,all the group chats, and Skype calls are still going strong. I pray that I could
ICON was an indescribable experience. It was the most amazing weekend of my life.
I gained a lot of knowledge and experience through workshops, inspirational speak-
ers, general sessions, and new friends I met. At ICON, I not only got to spend time
with the CNH Ohana, but I also got to meet a lot of new friends from other districts.
Every Key-Clubber that I met was so nice and inspirational. I enjoyed every single
moment. I will always remember the parties in the hallways, the boba runs(because
boba is life), watching the fireworks on the fourth of July, sharing Cup of Noodles with
other Key Clubbers, the songs we danced to, the people we met, the millions of
selfies we took, and the smiles we shared. I want to say thank you to everyone that
made ICON 2014 happen. I will forever treasure and appreciate this great experi-
ence.
If I could sum up ICON in one word, it would probably be indescribable. I can’t honestly put
into words my experience in Anaheim. Words cannot describe the amazing people that I
met from all over the country as well as Canada, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. Words can-
not describe the workshops that I attended to further my knowledge as a Key Clubber and
knowledge that I could bring back to my club. Words cannot describe how crazy the dances
got. Words cannot describe how lucky I am to have found my place in high school.
As a CNH Key Clubber, I had a bit of pride seeing other Key Clubbers from different dis-
tricts blown away from the amount of service, people, and spirit that we had. I didn’t realize
how big a thing Key Club; I didn’t know it was an international organization. It was encour-
aging to know that thousands of students like myself have the same drive and passion for
service. From the times of general sessions and caucus to the times of roaming around
Downtown Disney and hanging out in the student lounge, ICON would have to be the high-
light of my summer. It’s crazy that over a month later, I still keep in touch with the amazing
people that I got the chance to meet. I didn’t think it was possible to fall more in love with
Key Club.