Capital Courier Volume 52 Issue 1

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Official Newsletter of the Capital District of CKI VOLUME 52 ISSUE 1 May 2013

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Official Newsletter of the Capital District of Circle K International. This issue is about the introduction of the new 2013-2014 District Board, and various news around the Capital District from February until May 2013.

Transcript of Capital Courier Volume 52 Issue 1

Page 1: Capital Courier Volume 52 Issue 1

Official Newsletter of the Capital District of CKI

VOLUME 52 ISSUE 1 May 2013

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Table of Contents

2013-2014 District Board……..3-5

Greetings CKI outside Capital…...9

Greetings from Kiwanis…..10-12

Key Club to CKI and ICON….13

ELIMINATE Spotlight……..14

Service Projects…...15-23

Committee Chairs……..24

Member Spotlight…...25

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Hey Capital District! My name is Ben Durham and I am the 2013-2014 Capital District Circle K International Governor, and a rising senior English major at Hampden-Sydney College. I have been a member of the Kiwanis Fami-ly for three years now. Before serving as your gov-ernor I served as your District Secretary-Treasurer, and I am very excited about continuing to serve with you this upcoming year! Most of my job as district governor is to facilitate the growth and development of the entire district, and to serve as the ambassa-dor of the district to the other branches of the Kiwa-nis Family. I'd also like to give you a brief update about our

goals for this service year. We plan to increase the

total number of service hours for Capital to 20,000

hours. As the branch of the Kiwanis Family with the

highest number of hours per member, I think work-

ing together we can achieve this goal. We also plan

to raise $5,400 for the ELIMINATE Project, which we

have once again set as our district project-- it is also

the Kiwanis International service initiative. For this

service initiative we partner with UNICEF to elimi-

nate maternal and neonatal tetanus in lesser devel-

oped nations. It only takes $1.80 to save a mother

and all her future children from this preventable and

deadly disease, which means that our goal is to save

the lives of 3,000 mothers and their future children.

Gubernatorial Greetings

Any questions?

Email Governor

Durham:

[email protected]

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Introducing your District Board

Secretary Treasurer Ben Romano

Hey Capital District! My name is Ben Romano, and I’m going to be serving as your District Secretary Treasurer for this year. A little bit about myself. I’m a member of the Circle K at Virginia Tech, and am a freshman double majoring in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry. As District Secretary-Treasurer, I am responsible for work-ing with the Secretaries and Treasurers of your clubs to help make sure that all of your dues are paid, and your hours are accurately recorded. One of the new things that I’m going to be working with the district on is the recording of “Kiwanis Hours”, which are similar to ser-vice hours, but instead measure how many hours you

spend working with other members of the Kiwanis Family. A quick update on some of the goals that your District Board has set for the coming year. By April 1st, 2014, our district hopes to have 7 new clubs. Across all of the clubs in the district, we are hoping to have 1,000 members, and have these 1,000 members com-plete a total of 20,000 service hours by the April 1st deadline. Your District Officers are ex-cited to be working with you to reach these goals, and I look forward to a great CKI year!

Del-Mar LTG Richard Gallo

My name is Richard Gallo and I am a member of CKI at the University of Dela-

ware. I am planning to be a Communications and Spanish major in the class

of 2016. I joined CKI because I did Key Club throughout high school, served

on my club board and the Capital District board, and it left me wanting me

more. I plan to be with the Kiwanis family my whole life. As lieutenant gover-

nor this year, I would like to see more clubs chartered in our division, do

more service projects with different branches of our Kiwanis family and in turn

see the service hours rise. I will also work with my clubs to continue to raise

money towards Eliminate as we have been actively doing. In my free time, I

like to do yoga, watch films, and go to concerts. I hope to live in the city one day working

for a public relations firm and of course continuing to serve my community!

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Acting Battlefield LTG Mandi Feinberg

Hello Capital!! My name is Mandi Feinberg and I am the acting Lieutenant Gover-nor for Battlefield Division this service year! The Battlefield Division currently consists of the Circle K clubs of Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Towson University, and newly chartered Anne Arundel Community College! The Battlefield Division covers all of Maryland that is west of the Chesapeake Bay. The Kiwanis Family has been a huge part of my life for the past 6 years! I am member of the CKI club at Virginia Commonwealth University, and though I may be attending college in Virginia, I grew up in Maryland and was an active Key Clubber! I want to send a big Capital District welcome to Anne Arundel! Thank you to everyone who had a hand in helping to make this chartering happen! Wel-come to the CKI family AACC! Thank you to all the graduating CKI members for all you have done! Best of luck with your future endeavors —you will be missed!

I look forward to an amazing year as the acting Battlefield LTG! Keep serving on!

Acting Potomac LTG Rachel Villaroel

Why hello there Capital Crabs! Random facts about me: I love penguins, I’m a junior at VCU and the little things make my day, like corny jokes! I’ve been in CKI for 3 years and now I am excited and honored to serve as the acting LTG for Potomac which includes Howard University, St. Mary's Col-lege of Maryland and The George Washington University. Along with being an LTG, I am an international committee member for Membership and Market-ing. We hosted a recruiting & retention webinar last fall and we’re working on updating the resources on the CKI website. In 2011-2012, I was awarded CDCKI's Distinguished President, because I helped rebuild my club from 3 initial members to over 25, which is very difficult to do at a community col-

lege. In 2012-2013, I was awarded CDCKI's Distinguished Board Member because I re-vamped the curriculum/power points that were used at Fall Membership Rally & District Con-vention when I was Membership Development & Education Committee Chair. I've been on pretty much all levels of CKI so I can give you different perspectives on whatever you may need help in! A few updates on our division, The George Washington University hosted Lost in DC last month with CKI members from Capital, New Jersey and Tennessee Districts had participat-ed. Their Club President, Peter Sacco, also received Carthage Pullman-Society award. Great job GWUCK! Howard University hosted their end of the year meeting and participated in a local Relay for Life. Keep it up Howard! Go Potomac!

District Board

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Introducing your District Board

NoVA LTG Kelly Griffith

Hey Capital District! My name is Kelly Griffith, and I am the Lieutenant Governor for the NoVA Division this year. I am very excited for a new CKI year! I am from the University of Mary Washington and I will be a senior this year. I am majoring in psychology and elementary education. This year, we are hoping to charter a new CKI club at a NVCC cam-pus. If you know anyone who is interested in helping out, please let us know. I hope the semester ended nicely for everyone, and I will see everyone at FMR in the fall! year!

Presidential LTG Caitlin Francis

Hey there Capital Crabs! My name is Caitlin Francis and I will be serving as the Lt. Governor for the Presidential Division for the upcoming year. I’m extremely excited to serve on the District Board and get to know the other clubs, both within my division and throughout the district. This will be my fourth year in the K Family, and I have previously served as Fundraising Chair and Kiwanis Family Liaison for my home club at James Madison University. I am a rising senior there and I am studying English and Secondary Education. I’m originally from Tappa-hannock, Virginia, and in my free time, I like to read, write, cook, and spend time with my family. In terms of my goals as LTG for this year, I really want to bring my di-

vision closer with more interclub events. We have four great clubs in the Presidential Di-vision, and I would love to see more communication among the clubs. As I said before, I am looking forward to serving my division and my district on the Board as Lt. Governor, and please don’t hesitate to contact me or any of the board if you ever have any ques-tions or concerns. The Board is not here to tell all of the clubs what to do; we are here to serve all of you awesome members of the Capital District. Have a great summer!

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Metro-Richmond LTG Sana Vohra

Hey yall, My name is Sana Vohra and I am the new Metro-Richmond LTG. I am a sopho-

more and will graduate in the summer of 2015. Currently I am Biology major

and a Chemistry minor with the pre-health track. But I will be changing my

major to Science in Professional Health Prep with a minor in Chemistry, Psy-

chology, Biology and Art. My career goal is to become a Cardiac Surgeon. As

far as this service year is concerned I want to charter Virginia State and reacti-

vate UofR. Also I want to increase membership and retention. With this won-

derful opportunity of being the LTG I want to apply all the leadership experi-

ence that ive gained so far and be the most helpful and awesome resource for

my division and anyone that turns to me for help. I look forward to an awe-

some service year.

Foothills LTG Matthew Johnson

Hi, I’m Matthew Johnson—your Foothills Lt. Gov. for the 2013-2014 CKI year. I’m a sophomore at Virginia Tech majoring in English and mathemat-ics. I enjoy oxford commas, books, and differentiation. As Foothills Lt. Gov., I act as a liaison between the clubs in the Foothills Di-vision and the District Board. Currently, the clubs at Hampden-Sydney Col-lege, Liberty University, Lynchburg College, Randolph College, and Virginia Tech are in the Foothills Division, and UVA at Wise is in the process of char-tering.

I look forward to working with you all this year, and I hope it will be a great one. Let me know if there are any big events happening in your clubs, so I can advertise them to the di-vision. I’m always happy to answer questions and address concerns, so feel free to email me anytime.

District Board

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Tidewater LTG Daniel Sutherland

Hello, Capital District! I’m Dan, the Tidewater Lieutenant Governor (LTG)! I am a rising soph-omore at The College of William & Mary who will potentially major in International Relations. In addition to CKI, I am involved with student government at the College. As the Tidewater LTG, I am essentially a liaison between this division and the Capital District. When the club secretaries submit their Month-ly Report Forms (MRFs), I take that information and fill out a separate MRF which I submit to the district. Basically, I keep the district in-formed of the activities, health, and service hours of each club within the Tidewater division so that the district can update the folks on the

international level. It is also my responsibility to help charter new clubs. Currently, Tidewater Community College (TCC) of Portsmouth is in the process of being chartered. When this process is complete, TCC will join W&M and Christopher Newport University in the division. My goals for my term as LTG are to strengthen the clubs within my division, to build lasting relationships between them, and to work with my fellow officers on the district board to improve the Capital District, particularly by increasing membership. I’m looking forward to a fantastic year!

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International

Vice President Daniel

Tsang

GREETINGS FROM CKI OUTSIDE THE

CAPITAL DISTRICT!

Dear Members of the Capital District of Circle K Interna-tional, My name is Daniel Tsang and I am your 2012-2013 International Vice President. For

those who I didn’t get the privilege of meeting yet, I am a recent graduate at Loyola University of Chicago where I majored in biology. As many colleges/universities start wrapping up and fin-ishing off the academic year, I just wanted to take this opportunity to en-courage club officers to utilize the sum-mer wisely and start planning accord-ingly. Throughout the year Circle K In-ternational and Kiwanis International Foundation provide clubs with grant op-portunities they could apply for. All they need is a simple proposal. Please be on the lookout for applications. As a mem-ber of the International Board, I also seek feedback and ideas from you to help our International Board develop benefits that you want and provide re-sources that your clubs need to grow and flourish. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] about anything. I would love to hear from you! If you would like to receive my Monday re-minders called the CKI Weekly, please click [HERE]. Serving one day at a time,

Daniel Tsang

International Vice President

Circle K International

April Ford from Kentucky

Tennessee District

Hey y’all!

I am April Ford the

immediate past

Circle K Governor

for the Kentucky

Tennessee Dis-

trict.

This past April, I was invited to attend the

Lost in DC event hosted by the great Cap-

ital District. At first I was a bit unsure to

be coming to a club event from another

district, but I quickly found the host of

the event very hospitable and welcom-

ing. Saturday was an action packed day,

as the early morning found this past gov-

ernor wandering around some of old

Georgetown and admiring the sites. Later

that afternoon we began the scavenger

hunt, where we had clues about different

sites in DC. Several Metro stops later we

arrived near the White House and we

took in several historical sites including

the American History Museum. After sev-

eral more stops and walking we arrived

back at the starting point, although my

feet begged to differ I had a great time

and I am so glad I came. I can say with

confidence that it was one of the best

club events I have ever been to and I am

looking forward to next year!

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Greetings from Capital District Kiwanis! I hope this message finds you enjoying the end of spring, the end of the school year and the ways you and your club are changing the world! With the end of the semester, summer brings new opportunities and challenges. I hope to see many of you at the CKI Interna-tional Convention in Vancouver later this month. Capital District CKI had many achievements in the 12/13 year - and I hope to celebrate the recognition that these achievements will bring to

you! I also look forward to supporting Mikail as he runs for CKI International Pres-ident. Summer also means club members may be scattered throughout the district - or event throughout the world. Please take advantage of this time to visit the Kiwa-nis club nearby to your summer setting. Kiwanis clubs are active throughout the year - and we would love to have you join us in at a service project or club meet-ing! If you don't have a Kiwanis club in your home, please let me know so we can start work to get one started. If you are a graduating senior - then please keep your K-Family connection strong! There is a CKI Alumni Association that I hope you will join. There are Ki-wanis clubs throughout our district - and throughout the world where you are al-ways welcome!! Please stay in the K-Family and join Kiwanis. I look forward to seeing you soon! Carolyn Richar, Governor 12/13 Capital District Kiwanis

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Greetings from your District Administrator Hi Capital! I’m Jen Wolff, your District Administrator, and my job is to be your link to Kiwanis and the Circle K International office! I first began my journey with the Kiwanis Family in CKI at Towson University (GO TI-GERS!). I graduated from Towson with a degree in Communications with a specialization in Graphic Design. After college I relocated to Northern Virginia, where I live with my husband Jeff and our daughters Charlotte and Audrey. Jeff and I are both members of the Kiwanis Club of Tysons

Corner/McLean, VA. I look forward to working with all you this year! If you have any questions or need any help, please contact me at [email protected]. Your Partnership with Kiwanis

Advanced Budget Planning and Kiwanis District Convention • Make life easier on you and your Kiwanis Club--ask for funding for this year’s up-coming events in advance… BEFORE your Kiwanis Club approves their budget for the year. If they have a heads up of funding you need, you may be more likely to get it. Most Kiwanis Clubs plan their budgets in August. Events that you may need assistance with: Fall Membership Rally (September 27-28, 2013 – Front Royal, VA) Last year’s cost: $35/member* (includes room and meals) Capital District CKI District Convention (February 21-23, 2014 – Fairfax, VA) Last year’s cost: $135/member* (registration includes meals); $99++/night* (hotel room sleeps 4) Spring Officer Training Conference (March 21-22, 2014 – Fredericksburg, VA) Last year’s cost: $50* (includes room and meals) 2013 CKI International Convention (June 25-28, 2014 – Nashville, TN) Last year’s cost: $185/member* (registration); $189++/night* (hotel room sleeps 4) *The costs above are from last year, and are subject to change. Prices do not change dramatically year to year. • Come join Capital District Kiwanis Family members at the Annual Capital District Ki-wanis Convention! This convention will be held August 16-18, 2013 at the Williams-burg Hotel and Conference Center for CKI members is FREE! Stop by and mingle, take a look at the exhibit tables and participate in workshops. Learn more about the convention by visiting http://www.kiwanispathways2013.com/.

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Greetings CDCKI, I’m excited to serve with you again as your Assistant District Administrator this year. As a member of the Kiwanis District Committee for CKI, I serve as a resource for club Faculty and Kiwanis Advisors as well as acting as an advisor to the Dis-trict Board of Officers. As a member of the Kiwanis Club of Ashland, I am proud to serve as the Kiwanis Advisor for the newly chartered Randolph Macon College CKI Club.

I graduated from Virginia Tech in 2004 where I was active with the VTCKI Club. I joined Kiwanis and volunteered as a Kiwanis Advisor and Zone Administrator for Key Clubs in the Northern Virginia area before moving back to Richmond to work at Kings Dominion where I joined the Kiwanis Club of Ashland. I’m looking forward to all the great things CDCKI will accomplish this year with re-gard to service, leadership, and fellowship. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance. Sincerely, Derek

Anne Arundel Community College Circle K

By Julia Shah, AACC Our club was just recently chartered! We have worked most of the school year working towards becoming an official Kiwanis club. This Circle K club being at a two year school has its challenges. We are al-ways constantly looking for members. And being a new club we still have a lot more to accomplish. For ELIMINATE a few of our member took part in the Severna Park Kiwanis Bowling the event proceeds al-so went to Hopkins Children’s Center. Circle K has also helped a fel-low Kiwanis club the Severna Park High School’s Key Club with The Seeing Eye Dog walkathon event four of Circle K members donated $5 to $10 each. Circle K has also supported the Severna Park Kiwa-nis by 9 members and three non members attending Ledo’s night. At

the beginning of the spring semester Chris Harris and I went to DCON in February 2013. We learned a lot and was inspired by are fellow Kiwanis family members of our district [Battle field]. Chris Harris founded the club in the 2011-2012 school year solely on his own and was the President of the club this past school year. Chris will be transferring to Towson University next year. Taylor Peterson was the Club’s Treasurer from this past school year and will be transferring to Houston University or will return to AACC. I was the Vice President from this past school year and will re-turn next year to AACC as the new President of Circle K. I look forward to working with the new officers Allen Bui as our new Vice President and Josh Carson as our new Treasurer for the 2013-2014 school year!

Assistant Administrator Greetings and new CKI Club!

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SPECIAL EDITION: FROM KEY CLUB TO CKI!

Hello Capital Crabs! My name is Grace Bampton and I am the IP Lt. Governor of Division 10A, and past KCI President and Secretary of Forest Park High School. When asked, "What are you most looking forward to in college?" As a Key Club fanatic, I proudly reply, "I am excited to join CKI!" With all the changes and significant decisions coming up, there are two things that remain important to Key Clubbers; their love of service and the bonds we have started building within our K-Family. I remember meeting my first CKI members my sophomore year, when they hosted the first officer training I ever attended. Since then I have had the privilege to

meet some amazing CKI members and I can not wait to serve along side them. Can any of you imagine never joining CKI? Please make sure to reach out to the new freshmen and make them apart of our wonderful K-Family. Yours in service, Grace Bampton Future CKI Member

Greetings Capital!

I’m Mikail Clark, Immediate Past CDCKI Governor and your cur-

rent On-to-International Chair. I hope you are having a wonderful sum-

mer break thus far! Speaking of summer, CKI International Convention

(ICON) and Large Scale Service Project (LSSP) are just around the cor-

ner. At LSSP, CKI members from around the world will have the oppor-

tunity to unite for three days of service and fun in beautiful Vancouver,

British Columbia. Immediately following LSSP, ICON allows CKI members to come together

to celebrate another great year of service while learning more about the organization

and electing new leaders.

It’s still not too late to register for either event! Registration is $250 for ICON and

$180 for LSSP. Register HERE for ICON and HERE for LSSP! Don’t miss this chance to be a

part of an awesome experience and witness history. Hope to see you there!

ICON UPDATE FROM ON-TO-INTERNATIONAL

CHAIR: MIKAIL CLARK

MIKAIL CLARK IS UNANI-MOUSLY ENDORSED FOR CKI INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT!

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Spotlight on ELIMINATE

As of 5/26/13 Total funds raised Per-member average

Key Club International US$1,403,615.51 US$5.25

Circle K International US$141,184.16 US$10.25

Builders Club US$94,210.94 US$2.05

K-Kids US$76,631.50 US$2.13

Aktion Club US$40,526.85 US$3.64

TOTAL

US$1,758,694.52 US$4.70

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF 2011 total (Included in Total)

US$611,626.07 US$1.63

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF 2012 total (Included in Total)

US$520,218.46 US$1.39

Kiwanis-family Service Leadership Program (SLP): Fundraising totals

CKI LEADS ALL SLPs in dollars do-nated per capita for ELIMINATE

Current District Total: $506.75

$5,400

District Goal: For the Capital

District of CKI to raise $5,400 for

the Kiwanis ELIMINATE Project,

saving the lives of 7,000 mothers

as well as their future babies,

through district events and club

donations by March 31, 2014.

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SERVICE PROJECTS AROUND CAPITAL!

University of Delaware

By Richard

Gallo, UD

The University

of Delaware

was awarded

the Outstand-

ing RSO Com-

munity Ser-

vice award at

the YouDee

Leadership Awards 2013 this past May

9th. Immediate past club President

Christine Corcoran accepted the award

for our organization. This past semes-

ter, our weekly service project at our

Thursday meetings included making can

tab bracelets for Eliminate, writing let-

ters to domestic abused women and

Mother’s Day cards. Other weekly

events outside of meetings including

volunteering at the Manor House play-

ing bingo with the senior citizens,

watching after the children at the YMCA

and Emmaus House as well as tutoring

at Gilpin Manor Elementary School.

Members also got together to volunteer

at event such as the National Brain Tu-

mor Society walk, Relay for Life, YMCA

Healthy Kids Day and Resapalooza just

to name a few of the highlights. We cel-

ebrated our award and the end of the

year with a picnic that brought all of

our members together one last time to

celebrate those graduating and as re-

minder that we Live to Serve and Love

to Serve.

University of Maryland

By Lulu Sun, UMD This year, my club at the University of Mar-yland made A Wider Circle one of our chief projects. A Wider Cir-cle is a nonprofit or-ganization devoted to

helping people out of the vicious cycle of pov-erty through providing them with furniture, clothing, and caretaking information. Annually, they provide assistance to over 23,000 individ-uals. I chose to highlight this project because it gives a pretty good insight on what we do.

We had eighteen people in attendance at this event, making it one of our largest. This came in handy, as they needed us to help move furniture from their warehouse and do-nation trucks and arrange it in a way that was pleasing to their clientele. We split up into teams and set up the furniture to look as if it was in a store like Ikea to give people the im-pression of shopping. We had people on din-nerware duty, picture duty, and even nursery duty. A lot of our members went above and beyond, making sure displays were both func-tional and aesthetically pleasing.

Our fearless leader, Kevin Lee, was in attendance at this project and was a great help and inspiration to all of us, as he has con-sistently been this past year. Though he is graduating, his memory will always be with us. Of the others who attended the project, many are now members on board, and together we hope to make our CKI family even better, stronger, and more service-oriented than be-fore! Go Terps!

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EVENTS AROUND CAPITAL!

By Rachel Villaroel, VCU CKI The Kiwanis Club of Washington, D.C. hosted their annual Kiwanis Fitness Field Day at two different schools! Staff, Community, Kiwanis and CKI members volunteered their time to provide elementary and middle school students a fun filled day with great information on health, nutrition and staying active VIA various activity stations. On May 24, 2013, DC middle schoolers started their Labor Day weekend by being separated into differ-ent colored groups by grade level and classroom. All students received free items to promote health from diverse community groups including an environmentally friendly tote bag, hand sanitizer, reusable water bottle as well as a Kiwanis Fitness Field Day T-shirt as a memento! Then their

groups were split into the fitness stations: basketball tournaments, group banners decoration and were able to show off their dance moves to the DJ’s music. CKI showed their Kiwanians support by running the very popular tug-of-war station and soccer station. Throughout the day, students had a smile on their face and it wouldn't have been possible without The Kiwa-nis Club of Washington, D.C.’s hard work especially making last minute changes because of inclement weather. Kiwanis Fitness Field Day also incorporated Kiwanis’ motto of “Serving the Children of the World” on a local level so congratulations for a successful event on behalf of the Potomac Division! I also would like to thank Howard University for sending CKI repre-sentation. Can’t wait to volunteer with y’all again!

Serving The Children of the World...One Community at a Time!

Howard University Congratulates the 2013 Graduates!

By Blair Allen, Howard University Circle K International

Howard University Circle K International would like to congratulate our 2012

-2013 President and Vice-President of Howard University Circle K Interna-

tional, Adrienne Davis and Dominique James. Both have shown outstanding

service and leadership skills. There hardwork and dedication to the Howard

University community and beyond will certainly be missed. These two beau-

tiful women have recently become alumni of the prestigious Howard Univer-

sity. We would like to bid them farewell and good luck on all their future en-

deavors. Once again congratulations and we love you ladies.

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Lost in DC! By Natalie Szemetylo, The CKI Club of The George Washington University

On Saturday, April 13th, forty CKI members and Ki-wanians from the Capital, Kentucky-Tennessee, and New Jersey Districts came to The George Washington University to “get lost.” Lost in DC is a scavenger hunt that takes place all around Washington, DC. This year’s Lost in DC event featured a Schoolhouse Rock theme where all of the clues had a Schoolhouse Rock twist. From “Conjunction Junction” to “I’m Just a Bill,” the songs of Schoolhouse Rock were alive and well. Before the scavenger hunt began, participants pic-nicked in George Washington University’s Anniversary Park with a Chipotle lunch which was included in the

registration. After participants were fed and filled with energy, they traveled from the Lincoln Memorial to Capitol Hill to even the Willard Hotel where lobbying was originated according to legend. It was a gorgeous day in our nation’s capital under the backdrop of the cherry blos-soms, the perfect way to spend a Saturday spring day. For information for next year’s event, please contact Natalie Szemetylo at [email protected].

LOST IN DC!!!!! NATALIE IS ENDORSED FOR CKI INTERNATIONAL OFFICE!

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NoVA Division News!

GMU ELIMINATE BENEFIT GALA

By Maggie Wilson, GMU CKI On March 27th George Mason’s Circle K held an ELIMINATE

Benefit Gala on campus. Our Eliminate Committee, com-

prised of seven club members, worked hard from Novem-

ber to March to work on receiving donations for the silent

auction, food, book performances, and make sure the

night ran smoothly. The event took place in the on-

campus cinema and included performances from four stu-

dent organizations and a special guest, Alvin Tan, who

performed at this year’s District Convention. Jeffrey Wolff came to Mason to speak about

the ELIMINATE project in between the performances. Following his speech we held a

miracle minute where members of CKI ran around to collect donations. From the Miracle

Minute, Silent Auction, and other donations our club raised over 500 dollars for the

ELIMINATE Project at this event! Members of our K-family including two Key Club Lieu-

tenant Governors, other CKI members from NOVA Alexandria, and multiple members

from the Tysons Corner/McLean Kiwanis Club were present.

UMW Relay of Life

By Alli Leibowitz, UMW CKI The University of Mary Washington's CKI had a great time during

Spring Semester 2013! Our biggest service project was Relay for

Life. We raised $1,403.39 for the American Cancer Society, well

over our goal of raising $1,000! Our event Sundae Sunday was

very successful for our Relay team. We also had our annual Ser-

vice Fest where we wrote letters to troops, made dog toys to do-

nate to the local ASPCA and constructed hygiene kits and blankets

for homeless shelters in the area. At Grafton Elementary School, we helped with a K-Kids

club again last semester. The students, as well as CKIers, enjoyed it very much and can-

not wait for it to start up again in the fall. Overall, UMW CKI had a great time last semes-

ter and is very excited for future service projects and events in the fall!

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NVCC-Alexandria CKI wins

Club of the Year!

NVCC-ALEXANDRIA CKI WINS AWARDS

AT CAMPUS’ ANNUAL STUDENT

LEADERSHIP LUNCHEON

By Giancarlo Calderolli,

NVCC-Alexandria

Officers, members, and faculty advisors from the student clubs and organizations at the NOVA-Alexandria Campus came together to be recog-nized for their accomplishments and contributions to the campus at the annual 2012-2013 Student

Leadership Luncheon on Friday, May 17th. After a catered lunch and slide show presen-tation highlighting events organized by student clubs, including CKI, members of the Student Government Association, Student Life Office, and Dean of Students came up to the podium to give speeches to commemorate an very active and successful school year. In addition, certificates of recognition were given to individuals and clubs for their work and achievements in helping create a fun and energetic environment for student life on campus. NVCC-Alexandria CKI was very humbled in winning the Outstanding Club of the Year Award. Criteria for this award included “commitment to academic ex-cellence and student involvement, contribut[ing] significantly to student leadership de-velopment, assist[ing] in the advancement of other clubs or organizations, provid[ing] consistent student engagement opportunities, [and the] ability to recognize a specific need and contribute change.” In the speech presenting this award, CKI’s efforts to raise money for the ELIMINATE Project was mentioned as a factor in the decision to give this award to the CKI club. The club was presented a plaque stating our club’s name and the name of the award. In addition, my club’s faculty advisor, Dr. Afsaneh Chamlou, won the Advisor of the Year Award. Criteria for this award included “extend[ing] above and beyond paid duties in order to serve a student organization/club, provid[ing] guid-ance and support of students’ co-curricular involvement, mentor[ing] students and seek[ing] to expand students’ skills and value systems, [and] support[ing] student’s aca-demic and co-curricular growth.” During the presentation of this award, it was stated that “as faculty advisor [Dr. Chamlou] has attended over 90% of our club’s meetings, offer[ed] good suggestions to the club’s board of officers, and has helped organized sev-eral community service events. Since CKI is a community service organization, [CKI] is very grateful of Dr. Chamlou’s assistance in helping us find new projects and events that help the local community and non-profit organizations.” Dr. Chamlou was presented a plaque with her name and the name of the award. I would like to thank all the CKI of-ficers and members and their efforts in making our club successful for the school year. I would also like to especially thank Dr. Chamlou for continuing to be an amazing faculty advisor.

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More Capital News!

JMU 5k ELIMINATE RUN

By Emily Benusa, JMU CKI The air was brisk and cold but we waited outside anxiously for our runners to appear. Sure enough, one by one, people with tennis shoes and ear buds registered and collected their free water bottle. Katie Benusa, JMU CKI president, paced to keep warm as she welcomed the runners to the 5 K. With many helpful hands (including current gover-nor Mikail Clarke and future governor Ben Durham) we set up all the signs to signal the runners in the right direction. Before we let the bouncing runners start the run Katie and Mikail spoke about where their donations were going and how excited they were to see all the people come out to donate to

the Eliminate Project. Off the runners went and Katie and other volunteers stood excit-edly to cheer for the runners for doing such a good job running such a distance. With a quick bagel and banana the runners enjoyed after the race, it was over in flash and JMU CKI was able to raise funds for our favorite project.

More JMU Update!

By Kaylie Etheridge, JMU CKI Based upon the second half of spring semester, JMU CKIers participated in numerous social, service, and fundraising pro-jects. Whether working sports concessions, running in an Elim-inate 5K race, or eating a tasty treat at the local ice cream shop, every opportunity was always lived to the fullest by our club members. Overall, Circle K was very successful at James Madison University this year. Every member is worthy of ac-knowledging for their hard work and dedication, but I want to

give special recognition to Katie Benusa, our 2012-2013 President. It’s sad to know Katie has recently graduated and will no longer be leading our organization, but I know her younger sister, Emily Benusa, will do a great job fulfilling her roles for the upcoming school year. We lived and we learned as a club on what worked and what didn’t work; I know we will continue to grow the knowledge and skills necessary to better serve our community and make this life-changing organization the best it can possibly be.

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Hampden-Sydney’s

April Year of Service

By Frederick Antione, H-SC CKI Hampden-Sydney’s April of Service After returning home from the Capital Dis-trict Convention, Hampden-Sydney’s Circle K International (CKI) Club had its biggest month of service in April! Kicking things off on April 14th, the club was joined by mem-

bers of Virginia Tech’s Circle K and a member of the prospective CKI club of Longwood University for the March for Babies in Farmville. Hampden-Sydney’s CKI has committed fundraising to the March of Dimes charity since re-chartering in 2010 and has raised over five thousand dollars for the charity since that time. Frederick Antoine, the club’s President is dedicated to the March of Dimes because he lost his brother to Sudden In-fant Death Syndrome years ago and would like more initiatives to help parents have healthy newborns. Other members of the club enjoy the March of Dimes service project each year because the club has established a reputation across the district and nation for its efforts on behalf of all children. Following the March of Dimes, Hampden-Sydney’s CKI kicked off its second April service project on April 20nd via the Big Event—a day of service in the community involving clubs and organizations from Hampden-Sydney College. This year, Hampden-Sydney was assigned to work with the Clean Virginia Waterways organization to create fifty rain barrels which will be used in an educational workshop. Rain barrels are installed to catch water from a rooftop, which can then be used for watering lawns and other non-drinking purposes. This saves precious drinking water from being depleted, and also prevents excessive runoff during storms (which can overload water treatment plants in cities). This is the second time Hampden-Sydney’s CKI partnered with Clean Virginia Waterways this academic year. In September, over twenty members of the Circle K International Club of Hampden-Sydney College deployed to survey and clean the Sandy River Reser-voir. Finally on April 30th Hampden-Sydney’s CKI celebrated Prince Edward County Elemen-tary School students with its annual Bring Up Grades (BUGS) celebration. The BUGS program celebrates students who have made academic improvements over the year. Hampden-Sydney has had a BUGS program for two years, despite having some difficul-ties continuing the program this year. The club owes a great deal of credit to its Interim BUGS Chairman, Sam Robinson ’15 who revitalized the program because he believes strongly in Kiwanis’s mission to encourage the world’s children. Robinson planned all of the activities for the day including a field day and a party with fresh, healthy food op-tions. Hampden-Sydney’s Circle K Club was chartered sometime around 1967 and was re-

chartered in 2010 after briefly disbanding. The Club is very proud of its achievements

this year working with the March of Dimes, Clean Virginia Waterways, the Big Event,

and BUGS. Members of the Hampden-Sydney’s CKI can’t wait to begin next year’s ser-

vice projects.

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Service Projects down

south...

Operation Christmas Child

By Sarah Rowland, CNU CKI Every year Samari-tan’s Purse, a humani-tarian or-

ganization, collects hundreds of thousands of shoe boxes filled with toys and toilet-ries to give to children in need all over the world as part of their Operation Christmas Child. This year our CKI at Christopher Newport University had a service social where members, officers, and Kiwanians came together to pack shoe boxes. We contacted a local Payless to ask them to donate boxes for us to pack our supplies in. We also ordered a “party pack” from the website that included stickers and sheets that we could color and write on to send with the shoe boxes. The social was our last meeting before winter break and was a good opportunity for members to get to help others as well as hang out and meet some of the members from one of our local Kiwanis clubs. We also used the social as an chance to thank our Kiwanis clubs for all that they do for us by making them cards and buying cake to celebrate Kiwanis Appreciation Month. Our Opera-tion Christmas Child was a great success that we are hoping to expand upon next year by also inviting our local Key Club members to.

VA Tech: Relay of Life

By Rob Kuczmarski, VA Tech CKI Relay for Life at Virginia

Tech is a huge event in

the Blacksburg commu-

nity and has been the

largest collegiate Relay

for Life for three years

in a row now. The Circle K at Virginia Tech team

set up a booth on the track around 7pm on April

19th and, despite heavy winds for much of the

night, managed to keep sales going until early

the next morning. Many people from the club

came out to help with the booth and support the

fight against cancer, as well as many people

from the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg commu-

nities who came out and purchased from our

booth as well as all the others around us and

walked the track throughout the night. Our CKI

stand sold grilled cheese and had several raffles

going on included one for a Virginia Tech theme

painted pair of TOMS shoes. This year, VT’s CKI

team won the annual Lady of the Night competi-

tion, where all the teams chose one male mem-

ber to dress up in drag and send to Downtown

Blacksburg to try to raise money, with the top

fundraising “Lady” getting to put all the money

raised from the competition towards their

team’s total. In total, our team raised over

$3700 for the American Cancer Society, far sur-

passing our goal of $3000. Special thanks to our

event chairs Meghan Miko (also our Service VP)

and Kyle Gentry, and to Ash Elmelik who was

the winning “Lady” of the Night. This was the

most successful CKI Relay team in recent years

due to their efforts and the efforts of the entire

club!

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College of William and

Mary after DCON

By Kelsey Miller, CKI Club of College of William and Mary The CKI club of William and Mary has been extremely active since DCON. In addition to our usual weekly ser-vice projects, we have incorporated something new called ACKtion CKommittees. ACKtion CKommittees are composed of different groups trying to create new ser-vice projects. The groups revolve around environmen-talism/sustainability, mental health, education, and hunger/homeless. Members learn to strategize innova-tive service projects that address these causes. The education group held a campus wide screening of the

documentary called “Race to Nowhere,” which discusses the pressures and stresses stu-dents face these days. The mental health group tabled in front of one of our dining halls and handed out stress relief items and tea to students. In order to show appreciation for our service workers on campus, some of our members tabled and had students pass-ing by create personalized cards to a service worker. In mid-April we participated in Re-lay for Life and raised $1500! Also, we had a profit share at our local Sweet Frog to raise money for Sandy Hook families and made a club social out of it, as well. Another one of our club socials included playing laser tag and attending Sweet Frog afterward (can you tell our club loves frozen yogurt?). W&M CKI also had the chance to socialize with CNU’s CKI club. Some of our members were able to attend their 20th anniversary dinner and they had a lot of fun! In addition, our club was able to socialize with our Ki-wanis branch. We attended their Kiwanis One Day event, which was refurbishing a local Girl Scout Camp. Another fun Kiwanis event we got to attend was their Smokin’ Hot BBQ Fest, in which we ate yummy BBQ and helped them clean up after the event. As for the ELIMATE project, our members made paper flowers that we then used to sell on campus to raise money for the cause.

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Committee Chairs!

CON-CON CHAIR: CHELSEA STALLWORTH

"Hello Capital District! I am so excited to be a part

of the District Board again, but I am glad I get to do

something different and very fun! My name is Chel-

sea Stallworth, and I am your Conferences and Con-

ventions Chairwoman for this CKI year. I am a sen-

ior at Virginia Tech, and I am graduating this De-

cember with my degree in Spanish. I am striving to

become a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse since all of my hard work

within this amazing organization has taught me to serve to the best of

my ability. I hope y’all are super excited for Fall Membership Rally and

District Convention this year because I have some fun ideas up my sleeve

to celebrate what CKI is all about"

MD&E CHAIR: RACHEL SLOTTER

Hello Capital Crabs! My name is Rachel Slotter and I am your 2013-14 Membership Development & Educa-tion Committee Chair! Born and raised in Ocean City, MD, I now am a third year at the University of Virginia studying Psychology and Bioethics. Besides Circle K, I am also a member of Sigma Delta Tau Sorority, a Biol-ogy Department Research Assistant, and an University of Virginia Health System volunteer. I first became in-volved with the Kiwanis Family during my high school

years in Key Club where I served as both a Lieutenant Governor and the District Governor. I am looking forward to becoming involved on the District level of Circle K. During my term, I hope to share my enthusiasm for service with all of the CDCKI members and assist all of our clubs in maintaining and recruiting new members to our organization.

SERVICE CHAIR: JANELLE HOPE

"Do you live to serve? Do you love to serve?? Well, so do I! I’m Janelle

Hope, your 2013-14 Service Committee Chairperson! I’ll be working this

year to put on a fantastic District Large Scale Service Project and will hope-

fully host events to bring Capital together through service. I’m ready to

serve with you all this year and look forward to all Capital will achieve!"

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Melanie Balakit, UMD CKI Senior journalism major and Spanish minor, University of Maryland, College Park Adjusting to the large campus of the University of Mary-land, College Park can be overwhelming for a freshman. It definitely was for me! I came in during the spring se-mester, having just transferred from a small community college. I thought to myself, “How am I ever going to find my place on this huge campus?” One of the first organizations I considered joining was

Circle K International. I was interested in joining the college-level version of Kiwanis because I had been involved with Kiwanis in middle school and high school. I was super nervous the first meeting, but quickly found a home with my Circle K family. Fast-forward three years, and I can’t believe how little time I have left. I love being surrounded by people passionate about service. It’s also been a great way to escape the “bubble” of campus life by traveling to local commu-nities for service projects. So for the younger CKIers out there, enjoy your time within the organization, and take advantage of every opportunity you have!

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:

Melanie Balakit

Contact the 2013-2014 District Board

Governor Ben Durham

[email protected]

Secretary-Treasurer Ben Romano

[email protected]

Editor SanchoJacinto

[email protected]

Acting Battlefield LTG Mandi Feinberg

[email protected]

Del-Mar LTG Richard Gallo

[email protected]

Foothills LTG Matthew Johnson

[email protected]

Metro-Richmond LTG Sana Vohra

[email protected]

NoVa LTG Kelly Griffith

[email protected]

Acting Potomac LTG Rachel Villaroel

[email protected]

Presidential LTG Caitlin Francis

[email protected]

Tidewater LTG Daniel Sutherland

[email protected]

District Administrator Jennifer Wolff

[email protected]

Assistant District Administrator Derek

Dupuis

[email protected]