CKI 3 Tenets

Serv

ice

 

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others

I first joined Circle K at the beginning of my sophomore year here at Queens

College. Upon entering the club I never realized all that the club would give

back to me: security, confidence, an awesome opportunity for networking,

incredible friendship, and all the materials needed to begin to spark change

within our world.

Being able to serve as President gives me the opportunity to give back to the

club/family that has given so much to me. My greatest goal is to make sure

that causes members care for are addressed, and that members have the tools

they need in order to spark this change, using Circle K as a vehicle.

I hope to achieve this by keeping communication as open as possible,

ensuring space for members to express their opinions and concerns, and also

by developing a suggestion box for members to use. The club’s growth and

impact is fueled by each member’s individual growth.

This year the club’s focus will be Environmental Awareness, to make both Queens

College and our community more environmentally friendly. There are many projects

already in the works, such as intorducing ink recyclying to the school, helping the QC

Child Daycare Center build a vegetable garden, working with the Alley Pond

Environmental Center and the QC Environmental Club, and much more. Additionally

within a recent issue of Kiwanis Magazine was an article entitled “Waste Not, Want

Not”, which spoke about food waste within our world, and how detrimental it is. Not

only does food so many others need go to waste, there are also many negative

environmental effects. I also hope that our club will be able to help this cause as well.

This is only the beginning, and just a small piece of all we will be a part of. Just from the

few years that I have been a part of Circle K and the Kiwanis family, it is easy to see

that when becoming part of Kiwanis, we are becoming part of an army of people full of

great strength and dedication. I greatly look forward to all this year holds, the

friendships to be made, all that there is to learn, and all that we will be able to help

change. I am positive that this weill be a year like every other in Circle K, filled with

teamwork, incredible growth, and serving our world.

Glendale Memorial Day Parade with our sponsor club

Glendale Kiwanis

Happy Summer QCCKI and friends!

I’m sure we all share the excitement that the semester is over and summer

is here. However, I would like to highlight not just only the end of the

semester, but the end of the 2012-2013 service year within the Empire

Division. On March 29th, Empire held its last divisional meeting at

Sentosa’s Malaysian Cuisine in Flushing. About 25 of us joined together

for a very informal and relaxed dinner to celebrate our accomplishments

throughout the year and the new bonds we’ve formed. This was an

exceptionally gratifying night for me because it was my final farewell to a division I spent the

year dedicated to serving. I was able to reflect on everything that Empire accomplished. In just

one year, we were able to hold 8 divisional meetings, an ice skating fundraiser, a Dine-to-

Donate event, Empire Body, Mind and Service, as well as reactivate the Circle K club at St. John’s

University.

The greatest part of these

accomplishments is not the work that

was put into it but in fact, the ease

that this was accomplished with. The

year went by so quickly and it felt like

nothing because of how well we

worked together this past year. The

dinner reminded us of all the

memories we created. I felt so content knowing that everyone definitely had a good night

simply by being in each other’s company. I got the chance to thank everyone individually and

to recognize all to his or her’s hard work. Food, ice cream cake, reflections and friends- what

more is there to say? This night was one of those extra special nights where I am reminded

how much I love Circle K.

Kelly Chan New York District

Governor

Attack on Circle K Off icers! K-Fam Picnic 2013

A I D S W A L K ! ! C i r c l e K ’ e r s f r o m a l l o v e r !

World’s Tallest Sandycastle at Point Pleasant Admissions for viewing for Hurricane Sandy

relief efforts

This garden cleanup was truly amazing!! It only ended up that three people,

including myself, would be volunteering that morning and upon our arrival

we were stacking bricks for a small mini-garden. After doing this for a little

while, suddenly, Kelly Chan, our Governor, and her District Board came to

help!! It was such a pleasant surprise. The group was divided further to take

on other gardening tasks. One group laid carried bags of dirt, ripped the bags

open, and put them into little boxed gardens. Another group leveled out the dirt with plows (and

boy were those assigned such pros!) Other members were assigned to making a makeshift area out

of planks of wood to place garbage and weeds. And on top of that, others

were assigned to weed out the garden.

Now that I’m done with explaining what happened in the

technicalities, let’s move onto why this event was so beautiful. First, the

above covers the three tenets of Circle K.

The first, Service: it was great to work hard and see a beautiful garden

unfold for the Glendale Community.

Fellowship, our following tenet, was clearly portrayed by Kelly’s board, which reigns from all over

New York State, especially those from Upstate

New York; it was great to catch-up with so many

familiar and wonderful people in Queens!

And now, this leads us to our third and final

tenet of Circle K: Leadership. Being placed in

different groups and completing assigned tasks

as well as coming together as a group for this

event, in general, was truly a reflection of our

belief in being leaders. It was truly heartwarming

to have another successful Glendale Kiwanis

Garden Clean-Up.

First Clean-Up from 2012

Each fall, the New York District of Circle K International holds a

weekend of service known as District Large Scale Service Project a.k.a.

DLSSP. This year, the district decided to have a second DLSSP, one held in

the spring, which would allow opportunities to volunteer at events that cannot happen in the fall.

Considering that this was the first time a DLSSP was held in the spring semester, no one, possibly

not even Christine Retta, the District Editor from New Paltz University and the coordinator of the

event could know what would happen. To say that I had a good time is severely an

understatement. It. Was. Amazing.

The event was in the New Paltz area so when Queens College Circle K and St. John’s Circle K

arrived, we instantly thought the area was adorable already we were excited to be there. The

morning’s thrill was probably getting Starbucks at reasonable

prices. Meeting up with other Circle K clubs were great and even

though many of them could not attend, we seemed to have just

the right amount for our projects. After the hello’s, we were

given our groups and then our projects. That was the moment I

knew I was going to have an absolutely amazing day.

After I finished hyperventilating from excitement, I was able to

tell people that my group and I would first be going to an

environmental center where they were hosting a fair, and then

we would going to a dog and cat shelter.

When we went to the environmental center, we were told that

while we would be exchanging roles throughout the day, some

people would be riding on the hayride to make sure people had a safe ride, and some people would

be helping drivers into parking spots. I had the first shift of the hayride, but no children came for a

while, so I decided to go play with the animals they had there.

I GOT TO HOLD A CHICKEN. Holding a chicken was awesome, but I also got to play with

adorable baby goats and take pictures of huge pigs and other animals.

Then it was time to go do service, meaning I had to ride on a hayride,

which was so much fun too. After that was done, my partner, Sean

Coyle from New Paltz Circle K, and I switched with people and

started helping drivers to parking spots. This sounds like it would be

boring but if you find the fun in it, it is fun too. After this, we were

given lunch by the nice people who were running the event and then

it was off to the next location. I was beyond excited. When we pulled up, there was already a group

of Circle K’ers doing some gardening work, and they immediately told us to go check out the

dogs. Before we saw any canines, my group and I were playing with two horses and a pony.

Then it was time to see the dogs. I was prepared to see dogs and that was already driving me crazy.

Needless to say we were more than willing to play the puppies, especially with the woman claiming

that we were actually doing service by socializing with them. Eventually we returned to the other

group at the garden and helped them pull weeds out and put flowers in, which made the entrance

to the shelter more welcoming. Every now and then, we would take what we liked to call, “puppy

breaks.”

After having to say goodbye to the puppies, we returned to New Paltz University to make dog toys

out of old clothes and to recap on the day. After this the event was over, but we all went out for

food anyway because we love each other so much that we just did not want to leave. It was a great

way to do service and have fun with other Circle K clubs, and I would definitely want to see this

repeated in the future. Also, because I cannot disappoint those who were expecting to see this in

my article on Spring DLSSP, I must end with:

PUPPIES, PUPPIES, PUPPIES.

It was the last Monday of the semester on May 15th. Normally we

would have a general club meeting but we instead decided to use our

last free hour to host a water pong event to raise funds for the Six Cents Initiative. This

purpose of this initiative by UNICEF is to raise funds for rehydrating salts for children in

different parts of the world who suffer diseases that are caused by drinking

contaminated water.

Our goal was not only to raise funds but also to raise awareness of the

cause and remind students that clean fresh water is extremely valuable

and should never be wasted. I recently found out that the rehydrating

salts now cost seven cents and that’s more the reason why we need to

address the issues of contaminated waters.

The wind was pretty intense that day as we

gathered to set up our two tables and we

tried our best to fill the red plastic cups

with some water before they flew away.

After setting up, we started playing to

attract students to join or learn more as

they passed by going to and from the

student union. Playing in such windy

conditions was definitely a challenge

because the light water pong balls would fly in the

direction of the wind, messing our chances of getting the ball in the cup.

Nevertheless, the challenge did not stop us from having a great time and raising money!

We had visiting Circle K’ers from other schools join us like Long Island University and

Adelphi University. We really appreciated their

participation and support to our club and the six

cents initiative. Overall the event was pretty

successful and we did get to spread awareness

and we ultimately raised $67.72. I know I had a

great time and I’m pretty sure that many of our

participants enjoyed the games. The Six Cents

Initiative also puts the money raised towards water purification

tablets as well as family water kits, and so far CKI has raised an amazing $67,105.13 for

this cause, and we continue to do so! So tell a friend about this initiative and raise

awareness and donate!

Check out the link below on the Six Cents Initiative and UNICEF!

http://www.unicefusa.org/partners/ngo/six-cents-initiative.html

The Amazing “Amazing Race!”

The Amazing Race, held on April 18, 2013 at Queens

College to raise money for the American Cancer Society’s

Relay for Life event, was a ton of fun! Teams of participants were given riddles

that led them all over the Queens College campus endeavoring to solve them. As

they solved these riddles, they performed a stunt, and those manning the station

signed off to verify that they had both reached the station and completed the stunt. If you like

scavenger hunts and you are the sort of person who enjoyed the “Riddles in the Dark” chapter of

The Hobbit, then this is an epic event for you!

This was an exceptionally memorable Circle K event for me. There are several reasons behind this.

Firstly, even though I was manning one of the stops and not actually playing, I loved the Amazing

race because of the riddles. I find solving riddles, puzzles and logic games absolutely thrilling.

Second, a friend, Stephanie Torres, was visiting me from St. Joseph’s on Long Island, and she got

to experience learning about the Queens College campus in a unique way. For a student visiting a

new place, it is a ton of fun to pair them with someone who knows the campus and have them

solve riddles!

Finally, the date itself was extremely significant. April 18 would have been the birthday of my dear

friend from high school, Jenna Morris, a former Key Club Lieutenant Governor, who sadly passed

away in December 2010. The very reason Stephanie was visiting me was so we could spend the day

commemorating Jenna. Working and participating in a

K-family event to raise money to help others, Jenna’s

passion in life, while wearing entirely purple (Jenna’s

favorite color), eating her favorite foods which she

would have had for her birthday, and getting a

birthday cake and decorating it in her honor seemed

the best way to do so. She was an inspiration to many

both in my high school (Riverhead High School) and

as a Lieutenant Governor in Key Club, and I, always a

proud Circle K member, was especially passionate that day remembering Jenna.

Majoring in Elementary Education & English Minoring in Psychology

(646)-509-3567 lena25k@netzero.net

P R E S I D E N T LENA KHOURI

Majoring in Psychology& Spanish (516)-870-8833

shabadsarpal@gmail.com  

V I C E P R E S I D E N T SHABAD SARPAL

 

Majoring in Elementary Education& Anthropology (347)-216-6404

emaildora811xd@gmail.com

Majoring in Psychology & Neuroscience (718)-570-7074

kirtak2009@aol.com  

Majoring in Speech Pathology Minoring in Anthropology and Sociology

(347)-586-8276 danielpierrepierre@gmail.com

S E C R E T A R Y DORALIE ORTIZ

T R E A S U R E R DANIEL PIERRE-PIERRE

E D I T O R KIRAN TAK