Features6 7Tongva Times April 30, 2015

CELEBRATING THE VOLUNTEER CLUBS OF GABRIELINOBy Amanda TzocStaff Writer

According to club advisor, Thomas Velekei, Gabri-elino High Schools Red Cross Club was created four years ago as the brain child of a core group of stu-dents, who spent a year fi guring out how to get a new club approved by the school administration and how to set it up. Red Crosss fi rst offi cial year started in the fall of 2012. Soon after the club had a good vision, and had turned in all the right paperwork, Velekei was asked to be the advisor. It made a lot of sense to have an advisor in sciences for a club like that and I knew all of the students, stat-ed Velekei. They had a really solid plan and a solid vison of the club which I really liked so that made me want to be involved. Joanna Chang, senior, is the current president of Red Cross and has been involved in the club for three years. She states that, the whole club isnt about doing it for yourself, but everything you do in this club is for other people. Changs hopes for Red Cross in the future are to fi nd more creative ways of raising awareness as well as fundraising or doing services and for the members to understand that its not just for service hours but for others.

By Philip CastilloStaff Writer

Living up to its name, the Gabrielino Optimist Club brings positivity and joy to the youth of the San Ga-briel community. Consisting of fi fteen active members, the club has been at Gabrielino since the early 2000s and works together with the local adult Optimist Club as part of the Junior Optimist Octagon International organiza-tion. The small group provides many service oppor-tunities to its members, such as working closely with facilities within the community to help children who are underprivileged. They usually work alongside groups such as Kid-space Childrens Museum where they host events and bond with the youth through fun and educational ac-tivities. They also volunteer at Junior Blind of America where they make crafts with the kids and attend the Junior Blind Olympics at the end of the year, serving as escorts during activities such as rock climbing, ar-chery, and a fi fty-meter dash. A group they collaborate with frequently is Hillsides, a provider in Pasadena that is devoted to improving the overall well-being of youth and their families. At Hillsides, the Optimists host activities in accordance

By Cynthia SorFeatures Editor

With their motto of placing Service Above Self, the Interact service club strives to be the most selfl ess service club as well as one of the most active and in-volved clubs on Gabrielinos campus. Boasting over 200 active members, Interacts great-ness lies in its open-ended motto, according to Presi-dent Tiffany Huynh. While it means something differ-ent for each person, she stated that to her, it signifi ed putting others before yourself in order to better the community. New to the club this year was the implementation of a monthly project. In years past, Interact has always

By Taylor ThamesStaff Writer

Unlocking spirit, teamwork, and the will to help oth-ers, Key Club is the worlds oldest and largest service club, with over 250,000 members. Key Club has man-aged to spread its helping hand to campuses across the nation, including Gabrielino High School. Gabrielino welcomed Key Club into its nest in 2009, As a new organization, Key Club aimed to introduce students to the idea of giving back to their community, while also encouraging its members to take pride in their school--including pushing them to come up with new ways to display spirit. Our spirit at events where we rally up, paired with our enthusiasm to service not only in our community, but throughout the Southern California region is amaz-ing, stated Ivy Bai, treasurer. What makes Key Club so great [is that] were not limited to our schools cam-pus when it comes to serving and at the same time we push to make sure we maintain great spirit. Unlike other clubs on Gabrielinos campus, Key Club does not provide a mandatory amount of hours its members must serve, which Bai sees as a demonstra-toin of Key Clubbers true passion. Everything we do is based on the will of our mem-bers and how committed they are to serving their com-munity, stated Bai. When asked about the participation of students and

the overall involvement of members in the club, Airin Wu, president, responded, Overall its great, the dif-ference is that these kids want to volunteer, theyre not being forced or pushed to reach a certain amount of hours. Key Club prides itself in not only serving communi-ties and giving back, but creating memories and rela-tions between multiple schools in many areas. One of the best memories I take from Key Club is the Fall Rally, seeing the sea of heads and the differ-ent colors of schools was incredible, stated Christy Pham, vice president. It didnt matter that we didnt know each other we were all like a family, we were all part of the same club, Key Club.

The club has done local services such as AIDS Walk Los Angeles and a service where members installed fi re alarms in Pasadena. They have also conducted CPR trainings on campus on certain Saturdays during which Red Cross offi cials come in and train students with CPR and fi rst aid. These trainings have instructed well over 100 students in CPR and fi rst aid at this school, smiled Velekei. Gabrielino Red Cross is also one of the fi rst fi ve clubs in California to reach Gold Status. This is awarded based on the clubs achievements in fundras-ing money, training members for CPR certifi cation, membership, and participation in school blood drives. When asked what Red Cross means to her, junior Natalie Keffer stated that Red Cross means prepara-tion, preparation for that natural disaster thats going to come unfortunately and how we could be best pre-pared for it.

themes include Health, Water Usage, Gender Equal-ity, and Children. To support these themes, Interact members participated in water bottle donations, book drives, toy drives, among many other events. Circle leader Tammy Liang described the clubs Christmas toy drive as one of Interacts biggest suc-cesses, with over 300 toys donated through the club to organizations like orphanages and local shelters. Huynh expressed an appreciation for the opportu-nity to work closely with these outside projects. Its good to actually see direct impact, she said. We get to see thankfulness because were so hands-on. [By volunteering] you actually feel like youre making a difference. Contributing to Interacts impact on Gabrielino is

to themes and holidays of the month. A relationship has been built between the staff members at Hillsides and the Optimists, as well as the kids, shared president and junior Gabriela Pacheco. I think thats one of our greatest achievements; that we built a relationship and the kids look forward to seeing us. I think its something thats really special. Pacheco stated that what makes the club different from other service clubs in Gabrielino is the drive for joining and volunteering. She revealed that she had joined the club in order to help those in need out of the goodness of her heart, not only because she need-ed the hours or because it would make her college applications look good. We dont do hours, thats not the purpose of the club, she said. Its more about doing it on your own accord and your own beliefs and what you want to do. Velekei agreed with this sentiment, stating that an additional focus is placed on doing the best for dis-advantaged youth. The members are also expected to take away feelings of accomplishment and benevo-lence from the events. That is probably the highlight of the club, Velekei admitted. Having the ability to go and do that and coming back saying, Wow! This was a great thing, this really helped me; changed me.

By Caitlyn CookStaff Writer

A few years ago, four determined juniors at Gabrieli-no decided to do something about the overwhelming number of people in need of assistance. They aimed to create a charity-based club that would focus on vol-unteering to help the homeless and orphans within the San Gabriel community. With the support of advisor and woodshop teacher, Matthew Gilmour, this idea transformed into what is now known as the H.E.L.P. club. Its altrustic name is an acronym for the mission of Hope Engaging Limit-less Philanthropy. On the third Sunday of most months, the H.E.L.P. club sets up tables at parks to serve the homeless. This year on Superbowl Sunday, the club provided food for about 200 homeless people who gathered at the Lake Ave. church in Pasadena. Member Ivy Chan, junior, recalled her experience serving the people on Superbowl Sunday and how it opened her eyes. People there were really open and they would just talk to you about anything, Chan stated. At fi rst I thought homeless people were scary but after the ser-vice I really liked [...] getting to know them. Last year, the club not only served food but helped

rebuild a house for a homeless family to live in. This was a unique project amidst the food services that the club frequently organized. One thing that makes the H.E.L.P club unique is that the club is predominantly student-run. Gilmour explained that he aims to lead but guide as the rudder of the ship as opposed to the captain. This strengthens the decision making and teamwork of the students involved in order to make services suc-cessful. Sharon Lu, junior and president of the club, shed light on the subject of becoming acquainted with the homeless and their stories. Lu remarked that even though the H.E.L.P. club puts an emphasis on those without a home, their crowd is rather diverse. After two years in the club and counting, Lu re-marked that being an active member of the club means learning the reality of homelessness and getting an opportunity to contribute to change. With more services to be determined in the future, the H.E.L.P.s Facebook page and Twitter are pending updates for events to keep an eye out for. Gilmour expressed his pride in the club by saying, Its a healthy thing to realize how fortunate we are [...] Theres a lot of good that comes from it for them and us.

SERVING WITH A SMILE

RED CROSS SELFLESSLY GIVING UNLOCKING KEY TO SPIRIT

H.E.L.P.-ING HEAVY HEARTS

INTERACT-ING WITH US

OPTIMIST CLUB: KIDSPACE

KEY: MCKINLEY MOVIE NIGHT

Photo courtesy of Gabriela Pacheco

Photo courtesy of Airin Wu

Photo courtesy of Sharon Lu

H.E.L.P. CLUB: MEMBERS AND ADVISOR

Cynthia Sor|Tongva Times

RED CROSS CLUB: AIDS WALK

Taylor Thames|Tongva Times

INTERACT: COOLIDGE CARNIVAL

selected a global issue of im-portance to center the years volunteer services around. Under the new system, each circle has a subtopic which becomes the whole clubs focus for a certain month. With each new theme comes new services, fundraisers, and educational opportuni-ties for members to learn more about the cause they are working for. Some examples of project

its passion for building leadership and initiative in its members. Ga-brielinos chapter falls under the wing of local Rotarians from the San Gabriel Rotary Club. Part of being under Rotarys guidance and mentorship is the opportunity to participate in re-gional gatherings such as the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), a leadership camp for Interact juniors, and a District 5300 Symposium.

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