January Newsletter 2013

HEY CVHS KIWIS!

I'm going to start off with a HUGE

shout out to every member who's

been to an event this month. An

even larger shout out to all those

who attended DCMs these past few

months! We've had record numbers

in attendance of both service pro-

jects and DCMs this term. We're

having full sign up sheets and so

many new faces every single event!

It's honestly one of the officers and

my greatest prides to see you guys

so willing to help the community.

Onto serious business! We have a

number of deadlines coming up!

District Convention 2013 is coming

up! It's honestly been the best week-

end of every year for me for the past

three years. I look forward to it--and

it's the event that changed my opin-

ion about Key and made me really

dedicated. You might be thinking,

"Oh, Key Club? it's just something

where if I feel like waking up on a

Saturday morning, I will do it.', but

afterwards, it's more like, 'I WANT

to help--not just because I want to

make myself look great on my

December/January Newsletter, 2012-2013

Volume 1, Issue 3

official newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Club

President’s Message

college applications, but because

I'm making a difference, what I'm

doing makes ME feel good and it

makes everyone else around me feel

great as well'. If I was that dramatic, I

might say it's life-changing, but you

never know until you attend! Sure,

it may seem expensive, but we're at

a discounted rate AND when you

attend, you'll realize that it's so

worth every late night that you

worked, or every 6AM you've

woken up at for Key Club.

The officers and my term on the

board is sadly coming to an end.

We've more than just enjoyed serv-

ing you guys. We've grown as lead-

ers and as people, and we can't say

enough how amazing it is to watch

all the members grow and just have

fun at events. That being said, don't

be afraid to run for an office posi-

tion! Sure, it may seem like a lot of

work, and at times, it really is. But

the pay off is worth the time spent--

the rest of your officers create a

unique bond with each other, you

get to work behind the scenes in

Key Club and you'll learn so much

about your club, yourself and how

PAGE 1

• President’s message

PAGE 2

• Elections

PAGE 3-12

• Officers and their duties

PAGE 12

• Cleaning up at Studio One

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHAT’S COMING UP

• Jan 19: January DCM @ Stu-

dio One

• Jan 23– Feb 6: Officer Elec-

tions

• Jan 24– California Pizza

Kitchen Fundraiser/ice skat-

ing social

to be a leader. I completely believe

in every single member to be a

great officer, so if you have even a

sliver of desire to run, then do it!

Yolo, after all, right? Just kidding--

really-- thank you all for all your

hard work these past few months

and have a great rest of your se-

mester!

Buzzing with love,

Sarah Chen

Elections are just around the corner!

As you may or may not

know, officer elections are

coming up soon! Every year,

at around this time, candi-

dates that believe they have

what it takes to become an

officer runs for a position.

Typically, to become an offi-

cer, you must be an extremely

dedicated member. You must

have no less than 10 hours of

community service, and you

must also be prepared for all

the duties of an officer. How-

ever, not all officers are the

same. In total, there are 8 offi-

cer positions that members

can run for. The positions are

as follows: President, Vice

President, Secretary,

Treasurer, Historian, Public

Relations officer, Fundraising

Chair, and last but not least,

Newsletter Editor. These offi-

cers are the leaders of the

club, and they handle every-

thing from planning to

events, to making sure that

the club is organized and

functioning properly. They

work extra hard to balance

schoolwork and all their other

activities with their responsi-

bilities with Key Club. But

most importantly, our officers

make sure that everyone in

the club is having a good

time. Our club is one of the

largest clubs at our school, so

it’s important for Key Club

officers to be on top of things.

Typically, to be a candidate

for an officer position, you

must do a couple things. First,

you must complete an appli-

cation for the position you’re

applying for. Next, you must

write a résumé. Finally, you

will be expected to give a

speech in front of the club.

After that, the voting begins!

KEY CLUB PLEDGE

Don’t know the Key Club

pledge? No worries.

Just follow along below:

I pledge, on my honor, to up-

hold the objects of Key Club

International; to build my

home, school and community;

to serve my nation and God;

and to combat all forces

which tend to undermine

these institutions.

Beginning on the next page

are articles written by the of-

ficer themselves to tell you a

little bit about each position.

Not all positions are alike, but

all of them help contribute to

the club in fantastic ways!

Keep reading to find out

more!

official newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Club

President

President Duties: As a

president, I have to be in-

volved in everything. I

oversee the club, of course-

-both how members are

doing and keeping up with

my officers. Overall, I plan

and attend events. I write

up agendas for weekly offi-

cer and club meetings. I

also plan for District

Convention, Regional

Training Conference and

Fall Rally North--basically

all the bigger Key Club

events. I delegate tasks to

my officers so I'm not over-

whelmed with tasks, but at

the same time, you're also

the one shadowing your

officers ensuring that they

are coming through on

their parts. Daily tasks

would just be thinking of

how to improve the club,

service projects, fundrais-

ers and other various

thoughts. For this position,

I recommend someone

who's patient, creative, a

quick thinker, and some-

one who honestly cares

about seeing the better-

ment of this club. A lot of

work is put into this posi-

tion--and prospective can-

didates should be wiling to

give up a lot of his/her time

to work on Key projects.

Nonetheless, it's also

probably one of the most

rewarding experiences I've

ever had--if you have any

traces of wanting to be a

president, don't hesitate to

run and please please

please don't hesitate to

Written By: Sarah Chen

come ask me any ques-

tions! A picture of your

president! (Below)

Vice President

The duties of Vice-President

require dedication, coopera-

tion, and appreciation. The

hours of discussing executive

decisions with the board and

especially the president really

helps explore the dimensions

of leadership. It is important

to know the position of Vice-

President is a crucial one, for

if the President isn’t available

to take charge, the VP has the

responsibility to look after the

club.

Besides the basic duties of

this position, such as attend

all board and club meetings

and aid the President with

planning events, there are

also other responsibilities to

attend to. The VP has to en-

sure that the members are in-

formed and encourage event

attendance. At our specific

high school, the Vice-

President runs the second

meetings and informational

meetings. Hours and atten-

dance are to be kept track of

and a tradition our school

holds is calling members be-

fore events. We are aware of

the technological conven-

iences today, but we feel that

talking over the phone rather

than social media helps the

VP share a more intimate re-

lationship with the lovely

members. Also, it’s important

for the VP to attend Divi-

sional Counsel Meetings to

keep in contact with other

officers from different

schools.

Vice-President holds much

responsibility and is expected

to fulfill his or her duties to

be an effective officer mem-

ber. The results of happy and

active members along with

A picture of your vice president!

Insert photo here

Written By: Anne Lin

learned communication skills

are quite rewarding, making

the work load worthwhile.

Treasurer

As the treasurer, you manage the

club account. In other words, you

handle all the money. You are

responsible for knowing how

much funds the club has and how

much will be needed to do activi-

ties such as events and socials.

Organization is key, and you

must be very careful where you

keep the money and know who

gave you the money and when.

One main job of the treasurer is

collecting club dues and orga-

nizing the membership list.

It’s simple yet confusing once

you receive 200 member’s

due. Other tasks involve col-

lecting money from fundrais-

ers such as sweater orders or

social fees. It also benefits to

work alongside the fundraiser

coordinator, make goals, and

plan fundraisers! Aside from

your job as being the money

man (or woman), you also

have duties as an officer. Be at

events and help out! Get to

know your members and

branch out! Don’t worry if

you aren't super smart in

math. You don’t need to use

the Pythagorean Theorem to

count up to 100. Being the

treasurer is fun and the job is

simple, as long you keep a

good record of how the

money flows! (left) A picture

of your treasurer!

Insert photo here

Written By: Crystal Lee

Please note that it is NOT too

late to apply to become an

officer! Forms can be found

with Sarah Chen, who is

usually in room 304. The

deadline to apply is January

16th, however, so you should

hurry if you want to run for

an officer position!

Being a secretary of Key Club re-

quires more work than one may

think. As a secretary, I am the re-

cord keeper—the one who must

keep tract of every single aspect

and accomplishment of our own

CVHS Key. For instance, I am re-

quired to keep track of all mem-

bers and their personal informa-

tion, all dates/times/number of

members of all board meetings as

well as genergeneral meetings, all

updates that go on at CVHS Key

(number of newsletters, member

inductions, new achievements,

goals, etc.), money made, and

much, much more. I also have to

know every event that takes

place, the date, accomplishments

achieved that those events, etc.

As you may or may not see, the

secretary should know everything

about everything. If one of my

fellow officers suddenly needs to

know the number of members

that went to all the events five

months ago and the exact

amount of money made during

those events, or the number of

people who attended one of the

general meetings on the week of

October 5, he/she will depend on

the secretary to pull out that in-

formation. All secretaries keep

all of this information in one big

Excel file, and we call it a Month

Report Form (M.R.F.). This sa-

cred file, the most important part

of a secretary’s job, is updated

and sent in by the 5th of every

month. If you have any ques-

tions about the MRF, please ask

me. I would love to tell all about

it, but that would take about a

couple of pages! As mentioned

before, the M.R.F. has so much

more to it—more requirements,

aspects, and other information

one must constantly fill out.

Someone who is neat

organized and constantly willing

to update information would be

well qualified for this position.

As a secretary, I can tell you that

A picture of your Secretary!

Written by: Brianna Xu

it is nearly impossible to remember

everything about what your club did

in a month, especially when our very

own CVHS Key is always so active.

You need to make a system that

works for you—whether that means

recording information after every

board and general meeting, always

typing the information other officers

give you from past events, etc. Not

only does that system have to be

neat (i.e. if you choose to write down

the info., don’t lose it!), but also it

has to be easy and efficient. From

experience, I know that always hav-

ing to update the MRFs and keeping

track of all things that happen can

become very tedious. Officers will

constantly be giving you new infor-

mation (or you may just have to dig

up the information up yourself), and

you’ll have to be ready to record it.

However, you cannot slack off, be-

cause you might miss an important

piece of information for the MRF. If

you believe that being neat and or-

ganized is not your forte, no worries.

You can, of course, still qualify to be

a secretary, but completing the

MRFs will be a bit of more work for

Secretary

Overall, being the secretary is fun,

and it’s nice to know that others

depend on you for information

(keep in mind that it can be a bit

pressurizing, too). That is why I

chose to rerun for secretary last

year, instead of choosing another

position. Just like any other posi-

tion, the secretary also has to fulfill

the role of an officer. That means

that besides the MRFs and keeping

track of all that goes on, I am re-

quired to be a leader, to demon-

strate what Key Club is really

about, to be ready step in for a fel-

low officer when he/she is not

available, and to aspire other

members to be more involved with

Key. The main hardship I’ve come

across was depending on other

officers for information for my

MRF. Again, as a secretary, I often,

if not always, retrieve my informa-

tion for the MRF from other offi-

cers. When other officers con-

stantly update information, it

makes my job ten times easier. For

example, when officers update the

members’ hours online, I can sim-

ply visit that website when I do

my MRFs and copy down the

number of hours. However, you

have to remember that the other

officers may be extremely busy

and may sometimes forget to up-

date the information immediately

after events or meetings. Or per-

haps other officers are not re-

quired to submit their own

monthly information until the 10th

of every month, so the informa-

tion isn’t updated until after you

turn in your MRF. Whatever the

case is, you have to always keep

in mind that other officers may

not always work to your agenda,

and you must be prepared to find

the needed information on your

own (be organized!). I suggest

either talking to your fellow offi-

cers about making a system that

works for all of you, or simply

keeping tab of everything that

goes on in the club on a daily/

weekly basis, so that when the

MonthlyRF comes around, you

can just fill in the information

you’ve acquired over the past

days/weeks. If the system be-

tween you and your officers is

disorganized, MRFs will be a lot

harder to complete! Just as there

are for any other position, being a

secretary has its ups and downs.

At the end of the day, though, I

could not ask for a more suitable

position for me. I absolutely love

being the secretary, and will be

sad to leave this position that I have

had the honor of completing for two

years. This position has taught me to

be more structured, and has pre-

pared me for other positions I hope

to fulfill that are similar to this one in

the future. I cannot tell anyone

enough how great being a secretary

is. It makes me feel good to know

that I am always on top of my game

with knowing the details of CVHS

Key. I hope that whoever takes on

this position will gain the experience

that I have by being secretary, and

more importantly, will learn to love

Key on a whole new level.

*Note: If you are interested in

running for secretary and have

more questions, please contact

me via Facebook

(www.facebook.com/

funkyteachaspet5) or email

(volleyballswimmingtennisgirl12

[email protected]). Or, of course, you

can always ask me in person. Re-

member, there is more to this po-

sition that is not mentioned

above!

Secretary (Cont’d)

Public Relations

Being the public rela-

tions’ officer of club is

great! My job is to in-

teract as much as possi-

ble with all the mem-

bers, promote the club

to the general public,

and attend thmeetings

every Tuesday to keep

relationship with all

the Kiwani members. I

would say the hardest

part of the job is pro-

moting and publicizing

the club because you

have to distinguish Key

Club from the rest of

the clubs and show

why we’re the best club

out there! My favorite

thing about being the

Public Relations officer

is just spending time

and talking to the

members because Key

Club is NOTHING

without them. A pic-

ture of your Public Re-

lations Officer! (Left)

Written By: Herman Yang

Sweats are still on sale! They

are $20 each. Please give your

money to Crystal Lee or

Brianna Xu, who are usually

found in room 304 at lunch or

break!

Just a quick reminder!

Insert photo here

Fundraising Coordinator

As a fundraiser coordi-

nator, my job is to or-

ganize fundraisers.

Fundraiser are basi-

cally to earn money for

your club or for service

projects like PTP for ex-

ample. One of the

hardest parts of being

in charge of the fund-

raising is having to talk

to managers, because

there is a possibility

that you may get re-

jected by them. One of

my favorite parts about

being a fundraising co-

ordinator is that feeling

of accomplishment!

The numbers that you

get from your fund-

raiser really makes you

feel proud and accom-

plished! Remember,

there's always a reason

to fundraise. Fundraise

to make everything

cheaper for the mem-

bers. The cost of club

membership, club

sweats, DCON, etc. can

be really expensive.

That's why I love my

officer position! So I

can help raise money to

make everything

cheaper for the mem-

bers. I most definitely

don't regret running

for this position. So I

Written by: Jessica Tang

hope you are interested

in running for this po-

sition also! A picture of your Fundraising Coor-

dinator! (below)

official newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Club

Insert photo here

Historian

Being a historian is both a

lot of fun, yet a little diffi-

cult at the same time. In

some ways, it’s the most

fun officer position out

there. Historians mostly

spend their time taking

photos, to keep a record of

all the things that our club

has done. It’s certainly not

the most exciting job, but

it’s very enjoyable. Wher-

ever memories at an event

are being made, a historian

is there with a camera in

hand. Of course, being the

historian means also hav-

ing to madk an annual

scrapbook. At around the

same time as DCON, histo-

rians need to start creating

a scrapbook. This is basi-

cally the biggest job of any

historian’s term. The scrap-

book is comprised of all the

photos that were taken

over the year. They can be

decorated in any way, and

as creatively as possible. A

person that is outgoing,

friendly, and who enjoys

taking pictures is an ideal

candidate for this position.

You don’t need to be a pro-

fessional photographer, nor

do you need to have a su-

per fancy camera. All you

really need is a good atti-

tude, and the willingness to

step out of your comfort

zone and take as many pic-

tures as you can. One good

tip for hopeful historians is

to just take as many pic-

tures as possible. It’s al-

ways possible to pick out

good pictures later.

Being a historian also

means being an officer.

However, that’s the easy

part. Being an officer just

means going out there and

getting to know the mem-

bers in the club! Being an

officer is a great way to get

to know the workings of

the club, as well as the peo-

ple involved in running it.

official newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Clubofficial newsletter of Castro Valley High School Key Club

Newsletter Editor

As a newsletter editor, it’s not al-

ways easy. When you’re in charge

of keeping information and re-

membering things for the club, not

to mention your responsibility to

write a regular newsletter, it’s easy

to fall behind. There’s so much to

keep in mind, being organized is a

must. To be honest, while a news-

letter editor does not have as many

duties as, say, a president might

have, being an editor takes a lot of

commitment.

One of the main jobs of a newsletter

editor is to, obviously, make a

newsletter. Newsletters can be any-

thing from weekly to bi-monthly.

Most of my time is actually spent

making newsletters to keep the club

updated on upcoming events and

happenings in the club. This might

not seem like the hardest thing in

the world, but a lot of things go into

it. The newsletter is made to keep

people informed about past events,

or exciting news that’s coming up.

For example, everything in a news-

letter is generally written by the

editor themselves. However, it is

not uncommon for members of the

club to submit their own articles/

pictures if they wish to do so. But

because of the fact that a lot of the

material comes straight from one

person, the editor themselves must

be independent enough to be able

to make a newsletter without rely-

ing too much on the help of others.

If you’re looking for someone to be

an editor, my advice is to look for

someone that’s committed, creative,

and organized. To even write a

newsletter, you need to be commit-

ted to the task. Otherwise, you’ll

just keep putting it off until it’s just

not worth doing anymore. Trust

me, I’ve been there. When you’re an

editor, you don’t have deadlines.

Everything is up to you. So if you

want to put off writing a newsletter

until the very last possible minute,

that’s up to you, but it’s not fun.

Honestly, the only way to avoid this

is to either do it early, and finish it

as soon as you can, or to do it in bits

and pieces everyday. But to do ei-

ther of these things, you have to

A picture of your editor!

Written by: Jeffrey Van

be committed to opening up Mi-

crosoft word and actually working

on it. Also, to be an editor, you

need to be creative as well. Mak-

ing a newsletter is nothing if not

creative. Whether you’re writing

stories about your, or putting to-

gether collages of pictures from

events, it’s actually pretty fun. It’s

a way to express yourself, and

your love for Key Club, Through

words and pictures. Lastly, it’s

important to be organized. This is

probably the most crucial aspect of

a newsletter editor, because of all

the information you have to han-

dle. One of the worst things you

could do as a newsletter editor is to

publish incorrect information

about the club, such as a wrong

date for an event, or a piece of in-

formation that others may need.

You need to be organized and on

Newsletter Editor (Cont’d)

top of the information that you’re

publishing, to make sure that it

doesn’t become outdated. If you

have everything stored in files in

your computer, like me, that’s gen-

erally a good way to keep things

organized. Personally, I have a

folder on my desktop completely

dedicated to key club related things,

and I store everything that I might

need for newsletters there, like pic-

tures, articles, and even president’s

messages. But at the end of the day,

I think being the newsletter editor is

one of the most fun parts about be-

ing in Key Club. It’s nice to be in

charge of your own deadlines, and

to be your own boss.

I think the hardest part about this

position would just be finding the

time to make newsletters. High

school is busy, and it’s hard to

find time between schoolwork,

and making newsletters for the

club. However, once you do finish

one, it gives you a sense of accom-

plishment like no other. Because

of you, other key clubbers will be

well informed, and they’ll know

what’s going on in the club. I’ve

learned so much from this posi-

tion, and I can’t wait for my suc-

cessor to discover how much fun

being an editor can be.

Cleaning Up Studio One!

On a brisk morning in January, Castro

Valley’s Key Club, along with Oakland

Tech’s Key Club, went and helped out

an art studio called Studio One. We

came to help clean up the entire build-

ing. When we got there, Key Clubbers

were already helping the staff pack pot-

tery into boxes. After that was finished,

we moved onto the pottery room, and

cleaned out the entire room. We did

everything, from sweeping and mop-

ping, to washing utensils in the sink. It

was a busy morning. Soon, we moved

on to some rooms upstairs, where we

wiped down tables, cleaned counters,

and much more. Many of the key club-

bers, like Mathew Coo and Jeremy Yu

bonded with other members as they

worked, and everyone ended up mak-

ing a new friend or two. As the day

slowly winded down, things became

more relaxed, and we ended the day by

bonding with Oakland Tech members

and enjoying a few refreshments. Hey there Key Clubbers! 2012 has finally come and gone, and 2013

has arrived. And with the new year comes new opportunities to

serve your community with key club! Sorry if this month’s issue is a

little text heavy. With elections coming up, there’s no room to spare!

I hope you all had a wonderful winter break, and now that school’s

back, it’s time to start studying for finals! But in the midst of drown-

ing in your studies, don’t forget to stop by and come to some key

club events! They’re a great way to de-stress after hours of studying!

We’ve got tons of fun things to do this month, like ice skating, and a

movie with the rest of the division!

With love,

Jeff Van, your editor.