>>Engelken Editorial<<Volume 1 Issue 2

Official Publication of Division 9 of the New Jersey District of Key Club International

Club Monthly Report Forms are due the 10th of each month!

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How/What were RTCs?

RTCs? Say What? Why, RTC stands for Regional Training Conference of course! But what are RTCs you may ask? Well, RTCs are conferences where you get to learn anything and everything about Key Club! Who can go to RTCs? EVERYONE! Whether you are a new officer, old officer, or a general member, RTCs are for everybody! RTC workshops have three different sessions this year, ranging from officer/general member ones to advocacy and public speaking. The district officers and lieutenant governors of the district run the RTC workshops, so you can trust that all the information that you are receiving is premium. What is the theme of RTCs? Greek Mythology! Our three sessions of workshops are titled “Session Alpha”, “Session Mu”, and “Session Omega”. Everything at spring RTCs and everything at fall RTCs was/is related to greek mythology.

Cedar Creek High School

May 10, 2014 9:00AM—1:00PM

NJ KEY CLUB

Southern REGIONAL TRAINING

Conference

Mount Service: FROM Zero To Hero

Mount Service: FROM Zero To Hero

Roxbury High School

May 4, 2014 9:00AM—1:00PM

NJ KEY CLUB

Northern REGIONAL TRAINING

Conference

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In this issue! !RTCs…….…….…….1 ICON…………….…4 Meet Governor Levisay………….….5 April/May Board Meeting……..……..6 ELIMINATE………..…7 Hunger in the US….8

leadership ! inclusiveness !caring ! character building

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This spring, the northern RTC was held on May 4th at Roxbury High School from 9am to 1pm. This RTC went extremely well for a first RTC! The turn out was great and everyone was enthusiastic. We had icebreakers built into the morning agenda that way everyone got to know each other right away! We had four rounds in which people had to come up with different words for Greek-themed topics, A winner was announced during lunch and prizes were given out. During the morning agenda, many things were discussed. We covered everything possible, starting with the ELIMINATE project and advocacy. We spoke about DCON, ICON, Fally Rally, and Key Leader. RTCs and the theme were explained as well by the chairpersons LTG of Division 13 Nate Silberman and District Secretary Jackie Dragon. The sessions each ran 35 minutes and everyone came into the classrooms ready to learn. Each session started with an icebreaker, followed by a presentation by district board members and then time for questions. Everyone that attended the sessions took notes, asked questions, and was really dedicated to Key Club; it was fabulous! People exchanged contact information (I know I got more instagram followers!) and new friends were definitely made.

For the Southern RTC, the same thing definitely happened. It was held from 9am to 1pm at Cedar Creek High School, a high school only 5 years old! It is the home school to our very own LTG of Division 2, Diana Torres! The host club was so warm and welcome and they provided breakfast and lunch, just like the Northern RTC host club! The morning agenda and sessions were run the same as well. The Southern RTC was just as great as the Northern RTC, and we had a raffle during lunch at both RTCs in which Key Clubbers could win awesome prizes! So if you want to make new friends, learn all about Key Club, have fun, and win prizes, then you should come to our fall RTCs!

District Governor Levisay at Southern RTCs in Greek-

themed headwear.

We will be having three fall Regional

Training Conferences!

!Northern Central

Southern

Regional Training Conferences

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International Convention, ah! How exciting! International Convention is fast approaching and what better place to hold the 71st annual Key Club International Convention than

Anaheim California?! This year, ICON runs from July 2nd to July 6th. People often ask what ICON actually is, besides a bunch of Key Clubbers in one place at the same time. Well, ICON is the

biggest event of the service year! More than 1,600 Key Clubbers attend from the United States, the Caribbean, and Canada. !

ICON is just like DCON, but amplified! There are many awards given out, workshops, information on the ELIMINATE Project, and caucusing. At DCON the district board is elected but at ICON the international board is elected, and everyone gets to be in the House of Delegates

to elect the new board! The international board consists of nine international trustees, an international vice president, and an international president. Countless candidates run for the

international board, and as part of the New Jersey District of Key Club International, we get to go through the process! !

Even though ICON is from July 2nd to the 6th, we shall be there for longer! On June 30th, NJ Key Clubbers going to ICON will meet at the Newark Airport for a 7:00am flight to LAX,

landing at 9:55am western time. We shall be staying at the Anaheim Marriott for the entire trip. That night we will go to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. On July 1st, we will go to

Disney California Adventure for the day where we will take a workshop called “Designing your Disney Story” and in the evening we will watch the Fourth of July Fireworks Show. On July 2nd, we will tour Los Angeles starting at 8am and ending at 6pm. We will visit places like Hollywood and Venice Beach. That night we will attend the ICON Meet and Greet and pin trade with Key

Clubbers from around the world! July 3rd-5th is the actual convention, where we will attend workshops and such! Then on July 6th, we will attend Disneyland for the day and take an

11:50pm flight home and land at the Newark airport at 8am eastern time.

I could not be more excited for ICON, it is so rare and lucky that one gets to go to Disney!4

International CONvention

Hello New Jersey District,

My main goals for this year are to have better district events, improve communication, and build K Families. Each of my goals is extremely important and it is club members such as ourselves that make Key Club possible. I hope to hear from you soon with any comments questions or concerns you may have. My email is NJGovernorLevisay@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to just chat about Key Club or send you my newsletter.

With this new year upon us the New Jersey District Board has been working fervently to keep the District up to date. From ELIMINATE week to RTCs we have been very busy making sure you are informed.

To this date I have personally accomplished the following:

• Obtained Governor files from the Immediate-Past Governor Ryan Clarkin

• Kept in contact with district board members in order to ensure all committees and clubs are in good contact

• Kept in very close contact with District Administrator Ms.McCann

• Sent out my Letter of Introduction to the New Jersey District Board of Trustees, Kiwanis Committee of Key Club, International President, and anyone who requested it

• Reviewed committee preference sheets and formed both the standing committees and special event committees for the 2014/2015 service year

• Modified all committee directives and emailed them to the appropriate recipients

• Sent out committee final reports to all chairs

• Modified all Officers’ Training Manuals to be handed out to Lieutenant Governors at the April board meeting

• Signed up for the Governors-Administrators Training Conference held in Indianapolis

• Created the agendas and prepared for the April Executive and District Board Meetings

• Kept in contact with the District Board, Kiwanis Committee, International Council and various Key Clubbers

• Submitted my Governor Monthly Report for March/April

• Attended the SLP reporting call for New Jersey to talk about New Jersey's progress with the ELIMINATE Project

• Sent out the current dues report and informed LTGs of non dues paid clubs

• Registered for ICON 2014!

• Contacted every LTG and Executive member at least once

Governor Levisay

If you did not attend District Convention, then you probably have not had the great pleasure of meeting our District Governor Sam Levisay. She has done an astounding job her first month of her term as

governor and I must say that when she gave her Governor’s Report during the April Board Meeting, I was immensely impressed. Here’s her

governor’s welcome:

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April-May Board Meeting

Ever wonder what’s accomplished at the New Jersey District Board Meetings? Well wonder no longer! Board business is not just for the district officers and lieutenant governors, it’s your district too! So whenever there’s a board meeting expect to find out what happened in my newsletters! ! On April 26th, the NJDB gathered for the first official board meeting of the New Jersey District of Key Club International. All the lieutenant governors gave their reports of what’s happening in their division and the status of all their clubs. The district officers also gave their reports about what they have accomplished so far in their term — which was definitely a lot! We broke up into our standing committees (district programs, international programs, and district steering) and got a start on our yearly directives. The District Programs Committee chose this year’s advocacy project which is hunger in the United States and we will be supporting organizations such as Students Change Hunger. The District Project Steering Committee chose the ELIMINATE fundraising goal as $109,325.15. We also broke into special committees (fall rally program, fall rally registration, and regional training conferences) and started our work. On Sunday we finished up our reports and such and had a lunch-in. All the parents were invited to come for a meet and greet. We unveiled the ELIMINATE goal and talked about International Convention. Also, our parents were able to learn what we do as Key Clubbers and what our positions are about. It was an extremely successful first board meeting!

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Aleena Kazmi and Farwa Shakeel

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 after 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 projects, like bake sales and Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF are all great ways to benefit the Eliminate Project. Every donation matters! To find more information on fundraising ideas, visit keyclub.org. Happy fundraising!

The ELIMINATE Project

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Contact Information !Tara Engelken LTG of Division 9 tengelken.ltg.div9@gmail.com !Sam Levisay District Governor njgovernorlevisay@gmail.com !Jackie Dragon District Secretary njdsecretarydragon@gmail.com !Daniel McCormack District Treasurer njtreasurermccormack@gmail.com !Patrick Quinn District Editor njeditorpatquinn@gmail.com !Srikar Gudipati District Webmaster srikarvgudipati@gmail.com

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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 States, the statistics of hunger increase every year and it has gotten out of hand. It is time for us to turn our attention to our 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 America face hunger. More than 50 million people in America 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 service and fundraising projects, and be on the look-out for new information!

Hunger in the United States

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