S hinterest

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2

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Greetings and Table of Contents

Salutations Division 17! A lot has happened since

the last issue of Shinterest was released; things

like RTCs! This picture was taken at North Spring

RTCs. Find more about it and other important up-

dates in issue 2 of my newsletter!

Kk

Key Club

Page 2

Key VoCLUBulary

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Club Spotlight!

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District Project Steering Page 5

District Programs

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RTC Recap

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Save the Date! Page 8

Important Contacts

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KEY voCLUBulary Some of you may be cramming vocabulary words in preparation for the SATs, but why don’t you take a break with a little KEY voCLUBulary! Throughout the service year, you will be hearing all these differ-ent terms and you may not know what they mean. This article briefly defines and explains most of words you will need to know and I hope it will prove to be a useful reference whenever you get con-fused.

Standing Committees

The NJ District Board is divided into stand-ing committees which are responsible for organizing and promoting district events and fundraisers. There are four standing commit-tees: District Programs, District Project Steer-ing, Public Relations and International Pro-grams.

Special Event Committees Every big district event can’t happen success-fully without a behind-the-scenes crew. As of now, the NJ District Board is split up between the RTC and Fall Rally Committee. Up to the

event, a lot of preparation is put into it; from reserving locations to finding host clubs to creating the agenda!

Fall Rally Every October, Key Clubbers from all over NJ gather at 6Flags Great Adventure to kick off another school year of service and participate in the Tools for Schools Drive! All members are welcome to attend with a cheap price of $36 that pays for early admission into the park and Fright Fest .

Officer Training Conference (OTC) At an OTC, each officer receives one-on-one training with their LTG. This is your chance to fully be aware of the responsibilities of your position, ask any questions you may have, and officially sign your life away to Key Club. Just kidding. But you are required to sign a form promising you’ll fulfill your duties.

District (Executive) Board When you hear District Executive Board, the term refers to the District Governor, District Secretary, District Treasurer, District Editor and District Webmaster. When you hear Dis-trict Board, the term refers to all the Lt. Gov-ernors and the District Executives.

Divisional Council Meeting (DCM) DCMs are a great way for LTGs to maintain face-to-face contact with the clubs and a great way for everyone to be updated on what’s going on within the division and within the district. They are held at least 5 times in a service year and are mandatory for at least one officer per club to attend. Members are wel-come. while grabbing a little treat for yourself!

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Club Spotlight!

Salutations to High Tech Key Club! They were established this year and they have been wonderful additions to the Divi-sion 17 family! Check out the article written by the High Tech Officers and find out what they have been doing! Despite being in the green, they certainly haven’t been using it as an excuse. They have been working hard and I look forward to working with them, watching their club grow stronger and stronger!

2014 has been a momentous year for High Tech High School’s Key Club. 2014 marks the year that we officially be-came a recognized , national Key Club, thanks to the efforts of the club presidents; Joyce Elias, Elizabeth Sheridan, and Karina Colotl. Our accomplishments this year resulted from the efforts of our dedicated members. In the begin-ning of the school year, the club sponsored its first official event, which was the Thanksgiving Food Drive. This year marked the most successful year for the Drive, with students collecting over 200 pounds of canned and nonperish-able items. Continuing throughout the months of October to December, the Key Club raised money for Breast Can-cer Awareness, Suicide Prevention, Multiple Sclerosis, and for the Make a Wish Foundation by holding many success-ful bake sales as well as selling bracelets in support. Students also participated in a series of walks throughout the year. In the month of December, the club put up its annual Angel Tree in the main area, and the whole school partici-pated by buying gifts for children in need. This year marked the most successful year for the Angel Tree, with High Tech High School collecting over 150 gifts. Continuing with years of tradition, the Key Club also held 3 successful blood drives, collecting about 45 units of blood each time, saving almost 110 lives per drive. The last blood drive for the year is scheduled to take place in June and will involve the entire community. In April the club held its initiation ceremony, where it officially inducted 100 plus people, and celebrated with food, music, and friendship. Overall this year has been incredibly successful due to the hard work of the club’s dedicated students as well as the support from our moderators Elektra Sipars and Stephanie Zwolinski. It has been our honor serving as High Tech High School Key Club presidents and we wish good luck to the future president as we pass on the torch from one volunteer to another.

By: the High Tech Key Club Officers

Want your club to be featured on the Club Spotlight? There’s a chance!

You don’t need to be a new club to be recognized! Just keep being ac-

tive and show your dedication through service! Remember! I mainly find

out about your club activities via CMRFs and DCMS.

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District Project Steering Committee

Salutations Key Clubbers!

This year, the New Jersey District has once again chosen the Eliminate Project as the District Project! The Eliminate Project is a global effort to eradicate maternal and neonatal tetanus, a life-threatening disease that takes the life of one baby every 9 minutes, from this world. A baby that is infected with tetanus only lives between 3 and 7 days, dying af-ter suffering excruciating pain and sensitivity to light and touch. In 2010, Kiwanis International teamed up with the Eliminate Project to help in the effort to rid the world of tetanus. With 25 countries remaining still afflicted with the disease, and one more year left in the Eliminate Project campaign, Kiwanis and Key Club International are making their best efforts to help the Project reach its goal.

This year, the New Jersey District of Key Club has set a fundraising goal of: $109,325.15, representing the following:

• 10: For 2010, the year Kiwanis and the Eliminate Project joined forces to eradicate tetanus.

• 9: For the one baby that dies of tetanus every 9 minutes.

• 3: For the series of 3 vaccinations needed to immunize a mother and her future babies.

• 25: For the 25 countries that remain affected by MNT

• 15: For 2015, the year the Eliminate Project campaign ends.

The only way to achieve this goal is with the help of all of you! Do what you can to benefit the Eliminate Project. Throw some of your biggest events yet, like sports tournaments, pie-eating contests, or Penny Wars; even small pro-jects, like bake sales and Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF are all great ways to benefit the Eliminate Project. Every dona-tion matters! To find more information on fundraising ideas, visit keyclub.org.

Happy fundraising!

by: Farwa Shakeel and Aleena Kazmi

The District Project Steering Committee mainly focuses on the fundraisers of the NJ District. There will be major fund-raisers that take place throughout the year. Have your club hold fundraisers for the Eliminate Project! This year, the Dis-trict has a goal to completely eradicate maternal and neonatal tetanus ALL AROUND THE GLOBE. Find out more information in the article below written by the chairs of the committee, LTG Farwa Shakeel and LTG Aleena Kazmi!

INSERT PHOTO.

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District Programs Committee

The District Programs Committee is responsible for picking the advocacy service every service year. Advocacy is the public support of a particular cause and this year, the New Jersey District will be combating hunger in the United States. Many service projects and fundraisers can be based off the advocacy focus on hunger, so here’s some food for thought! Helping out at soup kitchens, holding food/can drives and even just fundraising for particular charities will all help combat against the many grumbling stomachs within the states.

Here is an article written by one of the chairs of the District Programs Committee, LTG Tara Engelken. Read it and find out more information about the Advocacy Focus for the 2014-2015 service year!

This year, the District Programs Committee (chaired by LTG of Division 10 Brooke WIllemstyn and myself) has decided that the 2014-2015 service year advocacy project in the New Jersey District will be hunger in the United States. As important as it is to aid third-world countries, we felt that too much focus on them can make us forget about problems back home. In the United Statues, the statistics of hunger increase every year and it has gotten out of hand. It is time for us to turn our attention to out own back yard and help our neighbors and friends. People do not always notice how bad a problem is until it is put into numbers, so here’s some statistics. 1 in 6 Americans suffer from hunger, that is more than 1 in 5 children. Nearly 13 MILLION families in American face hunger. More than 50 million people in American struggle from hunger. The national hunger statistics are higher than the ones from the 2000-2012 national average. See the problem yet? We can’t help others unless we help ourselves first. We’re not saying we should turn ALL of our attention to the United States - of course we’re still patterning with projects for other countries such as the ELIMINATE Project! However, at least some of our aid needs to go to the people we spend our everyday lives with. If 1 in 6 Americans face hunger everyday, how many people do you know that deal with hunger That’s something mind-blowing to think about. Support this year’s advocacy project; spread the word, do ser-vice and fundraising projects, and be on the lookout for new information!

by: Tara Engelken

Spring RTC Recap

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by: Kiana Lim I Tenafly Key Club Treasurer

Spring RTCs was an unforgettable experience! I had a very little idea of what my job as an officer was. At the same time I got to meet up with my friends that I had met at DCON in a pretty short amount of time. With the ice break-ers I also had the chance to even meet more new people that weren't at DCON that I'm hoping to see next year! It was really cool seeing and having a chance to meet the new district board, I was able to get a feel of how well those people worked with each other and with club level key clubbers. It was kind of like going to a family reunion and meeting family members you've never met before. It was informative and a whole lot of fun. I absolutely cannot wait for another district event!

Kiana Lim attended the North RTCs at Roxbury High School and by the looks of her Shinterest post, she seems to really have enjoyed it! Like she mentioned, Regional Training Conferences are a great way to meet friends you made from previous district events and to make new ones! Of course, it’s not all diddle-daddle; the main purpose of RTCs is for officers to get trained and for Key Clubbers to get educated! RTCs didn’t just happen in the northern region of NJ, they took place in the South as well! If you divert your eyes to the photo on the right, you will see a workshop taking place at South RTCs in Cedar Creek High School. Wasn’t able to attend Spring RTCs? Have no fear, for Fall RTCs are near! (kind of). In the Fall, North, Central and South RTCs will be taking place at locations TBD. So stay updated with the Shinterest and your LTG!

Spring South Regional Training Con-ference at Cedar Creek High School. Everyone’s smiling and having a blast in the photo. Looks like fun, doesn’t it?

Save the Date!

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June

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June

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Service never sleeps nor does it rest. Aside from major District events such as Fall Rally and Regional Training Conferences, there will be Divisional events as well! As often as necessary, there will be a Save the Date article in this newsletter to help all of you keep track of what’s going on. I told you my newsletters would contain valuable information!

The school year is ending, finals are around the corner, and the summer is al-ways tough to keep up the Key Club vibe. By the end of June, I would like to have trained all of you so you’re already for the upcoming service year. Varying on your summer vacation schedules, I will be plan-ning another Divisional Council Meeting in August to update you on all the crazy things happening in the Fall and give you tips on how to recruit Freshmen and new members!

If you would like to advertise an event in-volving your Key Club and would like other members of our division to attend or help out, please contact me and I will put it up on this page!

Here’s to the hectic month of June!

Yours in Caring and Service,

Club Monthly Report Forms are due! Secretaries! Make sure you email it to me, the District Secretary, the Kiwanis Advisor and sponsoring Kiwanis Club. (If you don’t have one, that’s okay!)

Officer Training Conference—North Bergen and High Tech

It will be after school at the park in front of the library. If it rains or is too hot, the OTC will be held in the library.

Officer Training Conference—Emerson

I will meet the officers outside of the high school and then we can head towards another location.

June

13 Divisional Council Meeting

By this time, all of you should be done with school and ideally not on vacation yet. The time and place is to be announced but it will work around all of your sched-ules!

June

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Save the Date in your calendars!

Whether it be on your phone, com-

puter, or old school paper copy!

Important Contacts

District Governor

Sam Levisay

njgovernorlevisay@gmail.com

District Webmaster

Srikar Gudipati

njwebmastersrikar@gmail.com

District Secretary

Jacqueline Dragon

njdsecretarydragon@gmail.com

District Editor

Patrick Quinn

njeditorpatquinn@gmail.com

District Treasurer

Daniel McCormack

njtreasurermccormack@gmail.com

Division 17 Lt. Governor

Jae Shin

ltgjshin@gmail.com

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