Key to the Southwest Volume 50, Issue 1

Hello Southwest District Key Clubbers!

I am Brennan Benavidez, your 2012-2013 Southwest Governor. This year will be certainly oneto remember because this is a year full of P.R.I.D.E. Each letter represents a word that shows what Key Club is to me; perceptive, responsible, idealistic, devoted, and euphoric. All five wordsare poured into each and every moment of my Governor’s Project. The Governor’s Project is anarea of service that I bring into focus within the district. For my Governor’s Project, I have chosen the Eliminate Project. The Eliminate Project’s main purpose is to “eliminate” maternaland neonatal tetanus. Pregnant mothers in third world countries suffer because their babies are at risk for contracting this disease. It is found in the soil nearly everywhere in the world, But these mothers and their babies don’t have the sanitary and medical protection from maternal and neonatal tetanus. The newborn baby infected with MNT is put through excruciating pain from simplest touch or even light. The cure for MNT is out there; it takes $1.80 to give a mother three shots to protect her and her future babies from this horrible disease. With my Governor’s Project, I begin by issuing a challenge to EVERY MEMBER of the Southwest District Key Club. I am asking you all to raise, AT THE VERY LEAST, $10 towards Eliminate. As a whole, the Southwest can impact thousands of lives.

Throughout the course of the Southwest District Board’s summer board meeting, we discussed the upcoming District Convention taking place in El Paso, Texas. We spoke about ideas surrounding the outcome of DCON and the theme. The theme for 2012-2013 DCON is... going to be announced at a later time this year. During our time at the summer board meeting, our Redivisioning Committee redivisioned Bisbee and Buena Key Clubs from the Copper Division to the Catalina Division; Las Cruces, Mayfield, Oñate and St. Mary Key Clubs from the Rio Grande Division to the Copper Division; moved Basha, Perry, and Queen Creek Key Clubs from Papago Division to Superstitions Division; and Arizona College Prep, Gilbert, Hamilton and Mesquite Key Clubs from the Superstitions Division to the Papago Division.

Many great things are ahead of us this upcoming year, and I hope to meet as many Key Clubbers as I can. Until the next time!!!

-Live with PRIDE, Lead with PRIDE,Brennan Benavidez KCI SWD Governor

The Key to the SouthwestVolume 50 Issue 1 Composed By: Morgan Preston

Gov Love! A Message from Your Governor

Important Dates: -September 8, 2012: District-Wide Officer Training -October 1, 2012: First Day to Pay Dues -October 5-7, 2012: Key Leader -October 8, 2012: Next Issue of the Key to the Southwest Comes Out (ONLINE ONLY) -November 1, 2012 Deadline for Early Bird Dues -November 5-9, 2012: Key Club Week

- 1

Southwest District Bulletin Editor- Morgan PrestonMy name is Morgan Preston and I am a senior this year. I've been in Key Clubsince my sophomore year, and I'm loving every minute of it. In fact, at our first KeyClub meeting of last year, I told everyone that our club gets together every Satur-day night to make keys at Lowe's. I even had old members believing it! When I'mnot Key Clubbing it up, I like to do NJROTC at my school. Yes, with the marchingand the rifles. Believe it or not, it's actually really fun! One of my goals for this yearto start at least one Builder's Club in a local middle school. I love serving the com-munity and look forward to serving with all of you in the Southwest District. Favorite Color: Green or Orange; I just can't decide!Languages Spoken: English, obviously, and I'm on my fourth year of learning Spanish

2

Southwest District Secretary/Treasurer- Andrew GarciaI am a senior at Vista Grande High School in Casa Grande, Arizona. I love meet-ing new people and learning more about them. Everyone has their own interestingstory to tell and I love listening to them. This is my first year ever being on theSouthwest District Board, so it’s a new experience for me! This will be my fourthyear in Key Club. I’ve held the position club treasurer for two years before I waselected Secretary/Treasurer. One of my favorite Key Club memories was assistingadults in the M.S. bike race and being able to talk with them about their daily stru-ggles they encounter. The community service conducted with Key Club is some ofmy best memories I have made and I hope to make even more this year. Pleasedon’t hesitate to contact me for any reason; I am here to serve the District to the best of my ability. Contact me at [email protected]. Favorite Color: My favorite color is green, along with other random colors.Languages Spoken: English, some Spanish, and I'm learning American Sign Language

Southwest District Eliminate Chair- Janine TantimonacoHi my name is Janine Tantimonaco. I am 17, from Payson, Arizona. I've been aLieutenant Governor on the District Board for two years and I am currently theEliminate Chair on the Key Club Southwest District Board. I am currently aSenior at Payson High School. I was born in Florida, but have lived in Arizona forsix years. I enjoy swimming, hanging out with friends, and doing community servicewith my home club. This is the seventh year I have been involved in the K Family,I was president of my Builders Club in 7th grade and president of my Key Club myfreshman year of high school. My goal for this year is to further support the Eliminate project by raising awareness of MNT in the Southwest District. Favorite Color: GreenLanguages Spoken: English and I have two years of experience in American Sign Language

Get to Know Your District Board!Board Member Mini-Biographies

Acronym AssistanceSWD stands for Southwest District. The Southwest District consists of Key Clubs from Arizona, El Paso, and New Mexico.

Caverns LtG- Stephanie M. LopezI am very excited for this upcoming year, and I'm looking forward to get to know each and everyone of the wonderful people in my division. A few of my goals for the Caverns Division are toget to know each and every one of you Key Clubbers by first name and become great friendswith all of you; grow the Caverns Division, that being said, it would be wonderful to see eachclub get at least 25 new members this year; and have every club go to DCON, which is in ElPaso, Texas this year! You meet so many new people who share the love of service and peoplewho want to build their home, school and communities, just like you and me! Friends come andgo, but Key Club friends are lifetime friends! They are always there when you need them and always willing to help. Random fact about me, I LOVE cows!Favorite Color: RedLanguages Spoken: English and a little Spanish, but I’m working to be fluent in Spanish.

3

Black Canyon LtG- Jacory WimbishI love joking around and I believe that you can be productive and have fun at the same time.One random fact about me is that I have very small ears (and often get made of fun for it.)The reason why I decided to become the Black Canyon LtG is because I believe that comm-unication within our division can be better than what it currently is it. I want to hold adivisional conference along side with a few others within the southwest district. Also to geta vast majority of Key Clubs to District Convention and hopefully ICON as well. I love KeyClub because it’s a way to give back to others, and I really do find it to be a humbling exper-ience. It lets you step back at look at the world and see what needs to be done in order tomake a difference in others' lives. Favorite Color: Safety GreenLanguages Spoken: I fluently speak English and am currently learning Spanish.

Catalina LtG- Cynthia MortonI am very excited to start the year with the new officers and make this a successful year forthe Key Clubs in my division. I currently attend Cienega High School in Vail,Arizona. I havebeen a varsity cheerleader for the past two years and an active member of the Cienega KeyClub for the past year. A random fact about me is that I pretend I’m at work in order to getmy homework done. When I joined Key Club, I realized I had joined a club where everyonewas as passionate about helping others as I was; that is what I love so much about it. Thisyear, I want to make it even better with more projects more community and school involvem-ent. I want to make Key Club a household name; so people know we don’t make keys, wemake a difference. Favorite Color: RedLanguages Spoken: English and a little Spanish, but I’m working to be fluent in Spanish.

Southwest District Webmaster- Jenalee Beazley My name is Jenalee Beazley and I am so excited to be the 2012 2013 Webmaster! The web-site is going to be rockin’ once I am finished with it! I am planning on remodeling the wholething to be more user friendly and fun to visit. One thing I want to focus on is taking sugge-stions and implementing them as best as I can. So please feel free to email me and let meknow your ideas! There are so many things I am going to add so keep on checkingwww.swdkeyclub.org and let me know what you think! Besides Key Club, I also love dramaclub. I have been in many plays this past year and I am part of the Joker's Improve Troupeat my school! I also like rock climbing and long distance running! Next year I hope to be onthe cross country team and track long distance team! Favorite Color: Orange, like unstirred mac and cheese orange!Languages Spoken: I also speak English, of course, and Spanish!

Acronym assistanceLtG is an abbreviation for Lieutenant Governor. Lieutenant Governors serve as representatives for each division at board meetings. They also serve as a link between individual clubs and the district at large.

4

Copper LtG- Carley Casey Hello! I attend Silver High School in Silver City, New Mexico. I am a big band nerd. Ifyou cannot find me, I am probably in the band room. If I am not there, I am probably atthe dance studio. I do jazz, tap, ballet, and pointe (where you stand on your toes). I loveto dance and hope to one day dance for Disney. One of my favorite things about perfor-ming is making people smile and laugh. I found that I can do that through service andKey Club, as well. Key Club, to me, means smiles, not only for myself, but everyonearound me as well. This year I plan to make people smile, as well as put in a K-kids at one of the local elementary schools. This year is going to be an awesome one!Favorite Color: PurpleLanguages Spoken: If you count music as a language, then I speak that!

Estrella LtG- Jack Rumary I'm 17 years old and I go to Dysart High School in Arizona. My goals in life are to beco-me an aeronautics engineer and to always help as many people as I can at all times. MyKey Club goals are to bring out the voice of every member in my division and to help mydivision in the area of recruitment so we will have more members for next year. I'm a 2year varsity baseball player, I play the piano for the choir at my school as well as co-leadthe tenor section of the choir. The thing that absolutely makes me the happiest,is helpingsomeone in need or watching someone discover that feeling for themselves. I take all advanced placement classes and have kept a solid 4.5 GPA throughout high school. Favorite Color: Red Languages Spoken: I took two years of Spanish class but I don't remember a thing about it.

Lookout Mountain LtG- Nic Deininger I am going to be a senior at Cactus Shadows High School, where I am a member of the International Bacca-laureate program (IB). I am also a devout member of Student Council, though Key Club always comes first. When it comes to school, I am one of those math people; I love studying economics and physics. That iswhy I want to be an astronaut or work for the World Bank when I am older. Some hobbies of mine includedownhill skiing and running, both of which I competed in. Yet, my life isn’t all Key Club. A random fact is the probably the fact that I am terrified of jellyfish, they always seem to creep me out. I love people and tal-king to new people. If you meet me it is likely I will give you a hug. I am very excited for this year and Ireally cannot wait until everything really gets started up. This brings me to a few of my goals for the year. First, I want to work on uniting the clubs within the Lookout Mt division as well as the district, this is because I want to see more inter-club projects and friendships. Secondly, I want to push for some extreme fundraising in the division, especially for Eliminate. Finally, I want to support a more active relationship between Key Clubs and their Kiwanis sponsors so that Key Club has even more representation in the community as well as another very strong group of individuals to work with. Thank you for this opportunity and I look forward to seeing many of you throughout the year!Languages Spoken: I am somewhat fluent in Spanish thanks to four years of Spanish so far.

McDowell Mountain LtG- Haley BraunMy name is Haley Braun and I am the McDowell Mountain Lieutenant Governor. I amcurrently a junior (GO 2014!) at Fountain Hills High School! This year one of my maingoals as Lieutenant Governor is to get my clubs more involved on a district level. At the2012 District Convention, only 1 of 5 McDowell Mountain schools attended, so a big goalof mine is to change that next year! I would also like to complete a division project, andjust do as much as possible to make this year fantastic. And a random fact about me is thatI skipped 4th grade and my fingers are double jointed.Favorite Color: Bright BlueLanguages Spoken: English, taking 2nd year of Spanish, and a couple of words in sign language.

Board Member Mini-Biographies (Cont.)

5

Mogollon Rim LtG- Anthony TantimonacoMy name is Anthony Tantimonaco. I am 15 years old and a sophomore at Payson HighSchool. I have a photographic memory when it comes to movies. My goals this year is tohave better my communications with my clubs, and to get Holbrook Key Club back. IHave been involved with the K-family for 4 years, and recently I have been made amember of our Kiwanis Club.Favorite Color: BlueLanguages Spoken: English

Mohave LtG- Kristy WakulinskiI attend Lake Havasu High School - class of 2014! I was born and raised in Chittenden,Vermont. I have been a part of Key Club since my freshmen year, and I intend to continueserving Key Club until I graduate. After I graduate, I plan to join Circle K and Kiwanis. Iplan on improving communication throughout my division. Not only will I e-mail myschools, but I will also use phone calls and Facebook to keep in touch. One of the strangestfacts about myself is that I am double-jointed throughout my entire body - my favorite partto show off is my thumbs. If you ever want to know what I mean, just ask me.Languages Spoken: I speak English only; however, I know a little Spanish, and my friends like to kid around and say that I am fluent in sarcasm.North Mountain LtG- Eric AndrewsI am seventeen years old, and I am currently a senior (Class of 2013) at Brophy College Preparato-ry in Phoenix, AZ. Some of my goals this year are to connect my division with both other schoolsin my division and with the District more so than they have in the past. I also hope to be a helpfulsource of information that all my clubs feel comfortable enough to contact with questions. Just togive a little background information on myself, I have been in Key Club for two years, and I serv-ed as my club’s secretary for the 2011-2012 school year. Other than Key Club, my favorite hobby isdefinitely Sign Language. I have been a member of My Kids in Sign, a group where kids and teens can learn and teach American Sign Language, for eight years. I am an Eagle Scout with Boy Scout Troop 148. I am a huge fan of reading, especially series such as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. I look forward to working hard this upcoming year and getting to know my fellow Key Clubbers! Southwest District’s number one! Southwest is the best!Favorite Color: RedLanguages Spoken: English, American Sign Language, and three years worth of Spanish.

Papago LtG- Gisele SmithHello everybody! I am a senior at Chandler Preparatory Academy. I love to sing, play volley-ball, and obsess over anything that has to do with fashion and Disney. If my life where amusical, I would be thoroughly pleased. Also, I love Key Club. This past year was my school'sfirst year having a club and I am so lucky that they decided to have one. Key Club is the oneplace where not only do I get to help people in need and make a lasting impact on my com-munity, I get to do it with a bunch of the people with the same goal in mind. I can not wait to get things started and see all the ideas I have planned for the year unfold. This year, some of the things I plan on doing are: building up our K-family, creating more inter-club events, and hosting one big event that allows all the schools in my division to join together and make a difference. Unity and Communication are key, and with those two ideals Papago can not be stopped.Favorite Colors: Blue and YellowLanguages Spoken: In the process of learning French

Acronym assistanceDCON stands for District Convention. That's when all the divisions from all over the Southwest convene to elect the new District board and celebrate a wonderful year of service. Check out page 8 for more information!

6

Petroglyph LtG- Chelsea SamHello Southwest Key Clubbers! My name is Chelsea Sam. I attend school at Gallup High Schoolin Gallup, New Mexico. I will be a senior this year. I’m in band, chorus, and also S.A.D.D (Stud-ents Against Destructive Decisions). I’m Native American. I love to listen to music. If you see me,I’m usually listening to something or singing to myself. I’m a huge gamer, but games are for funafter the busy part is done. My first game was Halo and is still my favorite series of games. I’m totally obsessed with Cookie Monster. I like hanging out with my friends especially my Key Clubfamily. I’m really excited for this coming year. I hope to meet more Key Clubbers and extend the family that’s always there when service is needed.Favorite Color: Green and Hot Pink.Languages Spoken: Navajo, I'm but still learningRio Grande LtG- Karol SuenI am from the Coronado Key Club in El Paso, TX and am so excited to take on such an import-ant role this year. Being that this past year was my first in Key Club, I was ecstatic to learn thatI was chosen to preside over and represent my division. Though we had a good year, we hadsome rough patches here and there and one of my top goals for this upcoming year is to bringall the clubs in my division closer together. Communication is key (pun intended) and I havemade it a personal mission of mine to make sure all the clubs keep in constant contact. Other goals this year are having more members sign up and keeping more members interested on top of making our clubs more involved in all Key Club related activities. I want this to be the best year our division has had yet and make the most of it, savoring every moment and creating memories that will last a lifetime.Favorite Color: Would have to be between purple, blue, and green... probably green.Languages Spoken: Spanish was actually my first language because I had a nanny when I was a baby, but unfortunately I don't really speak it anymore. I took French for four years, but I'm not that fluent. I do speak Mandarin Chinese pretty fluently, and English, of course.

Sandia LtG- Serena FangHi, Southwest District Key Clubs! I’m 15 years old, and currently a 10th grader at La Cueva HighSchool in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’m a pretty interesting person. I was born in Oregon butmoved to New Mexico when I was very young, and I love it here. Recently, I performed in CarnegieHall in New York after practicing piano for 7 years. I’m friendly, helpful, and I have a great sense ofhumor. My main goal for Key Club this year is to get more students involved in and excited by com-munity service. Community service is a wonderful thing, and the more kids we can get involved,the better we can serve our homes, schools, communities, and our nation. Let’s have an amazing year, my fellow Key Clubbers! Favorite Colors: Any shade of blue, ranging from a light baby blue to a dark navyLanguages Spoken: I’m fluent in English and Chinese.

Board Member Mini-Biographies (Cont.)

Sangre de Cristo LtG- Eliana Otero-BellHey, Key Clubbers! I am a junior at Santa Fe High School. I’m an enormous sports fan; I play soc-cer, run cross country, track and swim. I LOVE KEY CLUB, how about you? This is my third yearin Key Club and I can’t believe the last two years have gone by so quickly! This year, I would liketo charter a few clubs in my division as well as building relationships and keeping communicationstrong. A random fact about me is that I skipped 6th grade. Even if you’re not in my division, feelfree to E-mail, text or call me if you have ANY questions whatsoever!Favorite Color: YellowLanguages Spoken: English, Spanish, and my dad has been trying to teach me Portuguese, although I haven’t caught on to it yet!

7

South Mountain LtG- Alexis ParedesMy name is Alexis Paredes, but my friends call me Alex for short. I'm 17 years old and I’m currentlya student, at Tempe High School. I live in Arizona with my family; I have two sisters and a brother.My favorite food is lasagna. I enjoy listening to music, particularly rock, techno, and dubstep. Onmy free time I like to play video games, chess, and hang out with friends. I also play the guitar and Ilove to skate. My favorite subjects in school are Math, Science, and French. Although most peoplewould describe me as boring, quiet, uninteresting, and introverted, I'm the complete opposite; youjust have to get to know me. Once you do, you'll soon realize that I am very competitive person and I don't like to lose, also, that I have a very very bad fear of spiders. There are many goals I have this year but one of the biggest ones is that I hope to make many friends during my time as the Southwest District, South Mountain Division Lieutenant Governor.Favorite Color: RedLanguages Spoken: Apart from English, Spanish and French.

Superstitions LtG- Makani Tatsuo Segawa-Gonzales This year I plan to do the best I can do as Lt. and keep my clubs involved in Kiwanis and hopefullyinterest some schools in my division to restart a club. An interesting thing about me is that I canplay five instruments, baritone horn, the French horn, the trumpet, the ukulele, and the guitar.Favorite Color: Light Blue Languages Spoken: English and some Spanish.

International Convention “Where Dreams Come True”By Matthew Thompson, Lake Havasu High School

The day before ICON, it dawned on me that I was going to be leaving my home for a week that I would have little to no contact with my parents (mostly due to poor cell service), and worst of all, I barely knew anyone. It was the first time in a long while I had felt truly alone.But it wasn't until I arrived in Florida that I realized I was going to be a part of something amazing, something that would change my life and who I am forever. Within the first few days, I had grown close to people from our amazing Southwest District and had shared fantastic experiences with people I had been paralyzed with fear to even talk to the day before. Whether we were having our minds blown by Justin Willman, getting temporarily lost at a water park only to be reunited by the Lazy River, or running to find shelter from the spontaneous Florida rain, I had some of the best times of my life.In the Opening Ceremony, I heard an inspirational speech from Eden Sher about being yourself and trying your hardest in life. In the workshops, I learned to make service projects on a budget, how to organize a March for Babies in my town, and how to properly format and re-size the Key Club logo; all the while, meeting new and interesting Key Clubbers. I witnessed the new International Board get officially put into office at the Closing Ceremony and knew that this year's board would be phenomenal.In the end, I came out of my shell and met hundreds of people from all around the globe. But, most importantly, I got to know people from my own club, people who I awkwardly said “hi” to in the hallways on occasion. They became my family who I shared everything with. And I have Key Club to thank for it all, because no matter where I go, I know I'll never feel alone again. I can't wait to see all of my new friends next year in D.C.!

Acronym AssistanceICON stands for International Convention. During ICON, Key Clubbers from all over the world get together to elect the new International board, participate in workshops, recognize various Key Clubbers for their achievements, and celebrate a wonderful year of service.

Our M.A.P. to Key Club InternationalHello, Southwest Key Clubbers!

I am so excited and honored to serve as your International Trustee this year! I come fromthe rainy city of Seattle, Washington, but I have to say that I loved ICON in Phoenix twoyears ago. Even though it’s gorgeous here in the summer, it must be nice to live in an areathat averages more than 71 sunny days a year! As your International Trustee, my job is to serve as a liaison between you and the Internati-onal board. Look for my email updates about once every two weeks, a mini-magazine once amonth, live video chats before I-Board meetings, and the occasional video. You’ll hear about Eliminate, the Reach Committee (the committee I serve on), other committee work, upcoming events and general Key Club on-goings. Be sure to join the KCI Sister Districts of Kansas, Southwest, KIWIN’S 2012-2013 on Facebook to meet cool Key Clubbers across the country and receive updates there as well!If you ever have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me. You can always find me on Facebook, text me, call me or email me (my contact info is below.) Any and all messages are welcome so please don’t be shy!

In caring and service,

MaryAlice [email protected](206) 778-9966

Favorite Color: Aqua Blue Languages Spoken: English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and I’m trying to learn Cantonese! Random fact: I’m a Disney maniac, especially about the parks. Let me know if you ever need a tour guide.

A First-Timer's District Convention ExperienceBy Joal Lara, Chandler Preparatory Academy

This year at DCON was very special to the members of Chandler Prep,Papago Division. This year was the first time we have been to convention and the firstyear we have been a club! Even though we did not have a lot of our members come toDCON, we had a strong number of four come to DCON from Chandler Prep. We werewalking into the unknown. Even though we had been talking about it with our advisorand each other about how excited we were, we had no idea what to expect. The wholefirst day was trying to figure out what we are doing, where to go, and seeing whatDCON is all about. The second day felt like a lifetime! Get up, eat, forum, forum,Speeches, more forums, more speeches, eat, some down time to talk to all the friendsthat you have made all morning long, then finally the dinner and dance! It really lookslike nothing on paper, but when you are running around, learning, and laughing, itmeans the world to you. Hearing all the speeches and chants made me realize how special Key Club is to these high school students. There were so many different types of people there and I felt like I was in another high school. The people were so great and the experience cannot be explained on paper but though experience alone. This gives me excitement to go to ICON and DCON next year! DCON was truly a special event that I was a part of, and changed the lives of all the members of Chandler Prep Key Club as we share all of our stories.

8

9

Rio Grande Division HighlightBy Karol Suen, Coronado High School

On May 5, 2012, Kiwanians and Key Clubbers gathered at Burges High School in El Paso, TX in the Rio Grande Division to host a Special Olympics. This annual Special Olympics provides athletes a variety of ways to get involved at the event. Hundreds of athletes attended the Special Olympics on that Saturday to show the audience what they are capable of. The athletes competed against each other to try to win first, second and third place medals that they could show off to the hundreds of family members and friends that came out to support them. Without the help of all the volunteers, this event could not have been made a reality. Volunteers were assigned groups of athletes to supervise at each activity to ensure the safety of each athlete. Volunteers from Key Clubs could be seen throughout the

campus cheering on their athletes and accompanying them to each activity – even under the relentless sun bearing down upon all the attendees. Some volunteers also helped pass out water to all the athletes and stayed busy keeping everyone hydrated. Others were at the Special Olympics site early in the morning to set up each and every activity in preparation of the incoming athletes. Sponsors stood under shady tents, providing complimentary food, water, and snacks, to all the athletes and volunteers while other volunteers called out the recipients of medals out onto the stage at the end of each activity. At the end of the day, volunteers helped clean up all the trash and left-overs at each station and packed up the equipment. It was safe to say that the 2012 Special Olympics was a success thanks to all the volunteers who were able to attend.

A Message from Southwest District Circle KBy Elissia Julia Torres, The University of New Mexico

Greetings from the Mighty Southwest District CKI, Let me start by introducing myself; my name is Elissia and I am the 2012-2013 Southwest District CKI Bulletin Editor. I will be graduating in December from the University of New Mexico with a double major in English and mass communications. The Southwest District CKI has been hard at work, we recently had our summer district summer retreat in Phoenix, AZ where we attended a Diamondbacks game (Diamondbacks won!) and watched the Dark Night Rises. During that board meeting we picked our Fall Rally theme… Zombies! Fall Rally is one of our district events where we all meet at Kamp Kiwanis for a weekend full of service, leadership, and fellowship. We also chose Flagstaff, AZ as our DCON Location. After our district board meeting the Southwest District Treasure Kelsae and I attended the Southwest District Kiwanis DCON where we spent the weekend getting to know our Kiwanis Family including Governor Brennan, and Lieutenant Governors Eliana and Jack. We all woke up early in for the Eliminate Walk. I would like to announce on behalf of Ron Smith the SWD Eliminate Coordinator that together we raised almost $1,000 at Kiwanis DCON and because of Key Clubs participation there will be a check in the name of Southwest District Key Club for a little over $300 to the Eliminate Project! This brings SWD Key Club one step closer to your Eliminate Project Goal of $15,000. If you want to know more about Southwest District Circle K please like our Facebook page, visit our website and read our district publication the Southwest Sun! Please feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Facebook with any questions you have about CKI. I look forward to hearing about the amazing things you will accomplish this year. Keep up the good work! Live to Serve, Love to Serve, Elissia Julia Torres District Bulletin Editor Southwest District Circle K International

Youth Opportunities FundThe Youth Opportunities Fund (YOF) is a grant that is available to any Key Club in any district, given by Key Club International. The YOF provides up to $2000 for a service projects in need. Applications are due October 15th, 2012. Go to http://www.keyclub.org/service/fund/yof.aspx for more information about applying.

10

Key Leader- Yes You CanBy Banna Ocbai Tesfay, Dysart High School

Have you got it? A desire to lead? To help? To give? Do you want to do more with your life? To be the person you know you can be? Then a Key Leader weekend can show you the way! This leadership camp in Prescott is an amazing retreat where one can learn the amazing life-long leadership skills that will last a lifetime. One will discover how to be the very best one can be- the best friend, the best leader, the best citizen of the world. It’s a lot to expect from three days of workshops, campfires, and hanging out with friends. But it can happen to you.

During this three day camp, located at Camp Sky-Y, students from all over the southwest join together to embark on a mesmerizing journey of leadership and teamwork that can honestly stick with one for a lifetime. Upon arriving, one is placed in a neighborhood, for the duration of camp, using the neighborhood to guide one in the aspect of teamwork in terms of leadership. During the camp, one is given insight and knowledge on the five Key Leader leadership principles; pursuit of excellence, integrity, growth, respect, and community. Each principle is explained in depth with the help of group and individual activities, videos, and lectures. Key Leader is not school. However, one will learn a lot, but not sitting at a desk. One might be dancing, climbing, or singing songs around a campfire. And one will be getting in touch with what’s really important in life and what’s really important to each individual person. This mesmerizing experience will bring so many of one's ideas and struggles to surface, enlightening one on the chance for an opportunity of a lifetime. Not only is one given the skills of being a leader, one gets to meet and create strong friendships with students who are just as eager to become successful leaders and learn these important skills. This retreat will make its mark on all of the students that go through it.

A school, Kiwanis club, community organization, church group, family, or others can cover the fee. Find out if scholarships are available, and get registered today at www.key-leader.org. There, you will unravel everything you will need to know and do to take part in this retreat.

So, take a risk. Test your limits. Set goals. Discover who you are. Go to Key Leader.