SHS I K E Y C L U BOfficial Newsletter of Mansfield Summit Key Club November 2012 T­O District

Hello everyone! It is us here Elizabeth Hang, and Melanie Louv! We areyour new editors now that our wonderful former editor, Miss Grace Liu,is now your District Editor for our Texas­Oklahoma Key Club District!!!Congratulations to you Grace and we know you will do a fantastic job!!!I am very honored to be one of your new editors and I will do my verybest to make the best of the newsletters as possible! I am looking forwardto working with you guys and feel free to put in any suggestions!

­Elizabeth Hang (:It is a great honor to be serving to be able to serve Summit Key Club. Ilove all of you. Well, most of you. Thank you. (:

­Melanie Louv (:

A Few Words from Your Editors…

Bingo Night

On the 8th of November, Summit Keyclubbers went out to volunteerand help the elderly at the Mansfield Nursing Home to play a few games ofbingo. The members sat next to them and were there for support,encouragement, and extra help when it was necessary. We were there tokeep them company, which the elderly who live there don't receive veryoften, and catch any numbers that they might have missed. The adultvolunteers at the nursing home and the elderly people there were verygrateful for our service. The lady that I helped out had Parkinson’s, and shewas very sweet. I remember her thanking me multiple times just for catchinga number that she missed. I remember a lady telling Sarthak that she reallyliked his hair. He said it meant a lot to him and that it almost made him tearup! It made me very happy knowing that we were capable of making theseelderly people smile, and just in time for Thanksgiving, too!After the event was over, one of the adult volunteer told us a little bitabout herself. She said that she was here voluntarily a couple times a week.She talked about giving back to the community and how important it was todo so. She encouraged us to reach out and help the community. She talkedabout a volunteer program she helped out with that donated books tochildren that couldn’t get access to them. She explained that in the end,the program had a great impact and provided books for so many children.She also had a son that had a very successful career. She urged us to seekthe path to success as well. She really inspired me to reach out andvolunteer. I also felt very motivated to carefully consider the options myfuture has for me and grasp the opportunities that are not only beneficial tome, but to my community as well.Even though it was just for an hour, I felt like I did something beneficialto my community. It was a voluntary event, but just the fact that I didsomething to help my community was a reward in itself. I felt warm inside. Itwas something small, but I know that it could become something more­­something bigger. It felt nice to do volunteer work to help others in mycommunity. After all, it is my community. It is my responsibility and others inmy community, to help the elderly and less fortunate.

­Junior SanchezUPCOMING EVENTS!!!

Theatre Club Set­Up - Thursday, January 3rd (12­4)

America Recycles Day 2012 ­ November 15th

November 15th was America Recycles Day. America Recycles day is an amazingday in which all Americans are pushed to recycle all their recyclables! The point is so thatwe get more people to recycle because recycling is a very important thing. Many peopledo not even know the importance of recycling. People view it as overrated andsomething that they don't need to do, but we, the children of America who care aboutthe world, need to push for more recycling everywhere we go! We can create a “surge”for recycling if we all work together to become more and more greener by the day.Summit Key Club recycles every week; we are a very green club that cares aboutwhat we do. Every Wednesday, we ask our members to gather all the paper and plasticin the school, put them in cans, and go out to the big recycling bins near the tennis courtsso that they dump the contents of the can in and recycle them. We love what we do; werecycled on America Recycles Day and we loved doing it! I suggest to all the clubs in theT­O district to recycle on a weekly basis because it is good for the world and it's somethingwe can all benefit from in our hearts and our lives. Recycling is an integral part in our KeyClub. At Summit High School, we recycle every single week and put forward about eightyhours a month on recycling. We do all of this because we think it's important to recyclesimply because it is great for the environment and it eliminates waste.As Key Clubbers, we know it’s always in our best interest to do that. We gain friends,laughs, embarrassing stories, the feeling of self­gratitude from being helping theenvironment and a lot more from recycling. That's why we do it every week!So go out, and recycle! Whether it’s America Recycles day or not, we all need to do ourpart and give back to the environment. Go save the planet!

­Usman Hyder

Every Wednesday afternoon, Mansfield Summit High School Key Club recycles. NowI know what you're thinking, "Recycling? Ew, that doesn't sounds fun!" Actually, this was myinitial thought when my past Key Club President asked me if I wanted to recycle. After myfirst time recycling, it didn't turn out so bad. I actually had a whole lot of fun recycling! Notonly am I helping the environment, but I'm also actually having fun while doing it!From recycling, I have met and got to know a lot of Key Club members. Whenrecycling with someone for about 30 minutes, you get to know them a lot. Some peopleare actually very funny! They have interesting lives, too. I have made a lot of friends in KeyClub through recycling. Some have become very close friends and we always have funrecycling together. Every Wednesday, my only motivation for getting up and going toschool is for Key Club and to recycle.The whole process to recycle is neither hard nor long. For each hall in the school, weassign groups of about 3­5 members and they each recycle their given hall. Afterward,each officer checks their assigned hall to make sure everything is recycled. Recyclingtakes about 15 to 20 minutes, which is not very long. Especially when you’re doing it withyour friends, it is very exciting. In total, we have about 20 members recycling everyWednesday.Not only is recycling fun, but it also helps Mother Nature. Think of how theenvironment will be like if it wasn't for the people like us! Disastrous, I would say! To help ourhome, school, and community, recycling can be the first small step we take towardmaking this big goal. At Mansfield Summit High School, Key Club encourages everyone,students, teachers, assistant principals, and even counselors, to recycle. Every classroomyou walk in, or the office, you can see big green recycling bins. As a key club member,we all encourage each others to recycle. Recycling saves the environment, money,lessens garbage, and many more reasons. In conclusion, recycling is very important. Soremember, recycle to help out your home, school, and community.

­My Lam

RECYLING

Usman Appreciation Day ­ November 7th, 2012

There are students who try their best in everything. They make the highest grades,study the most, and always try to do what’s best for others. I feel that those are thestudents who should receive recognition. If you have your standards set, then you canaccomplish anything that you want. Usman Hyder is a great example of this.Usman is one of the most amazing people that I know. He motivates others as wellas me to become a better person. When that thought crossed my mind I knew I had toshow him just a bit of what he was worth. I planned an “Usman Appreciation Day.” Istayed afterschool for a couple of days during three weeks and made it happen. I madeposters for him and a big letter. There’s nothing better than that feeling you get whenpeople take time out of their lives to do something special for you to surprise you; and Ithink cards, letters, and notes are the best. I ended up making four posters; one jumbo sizethat said that he was appreciated, one with his name, one with his favorite saying, andone for the entrance with his slogan, “Hi everyone.” To me it wasn’t something that I hadto do, no one told me to do it. It was something that I thought I should do and somethingthat I thought he deserved.Wednesdays are Key Club days. I figured why not surprise him during a meeting?...On Wednesday, November 7, I put my plan into action. I put the posters up a while beforeour meeting started. His letter was ready with little notes in it from many of us who aregrateful for him. One of his favorite snacks is chocolate chips. I figured why not just includeit in with everything else, so I did! As soon as the bell rang to dismiss students for class thatday, many came to the meeting. I told them about my idea. We all settled down andUsman still hadn’t showed up. I have to admit, I was worried that he wasn’t coming forsome reason, but he did! We turned off the lights in the lecture hall and got quiet as soonas we saw out in the hallway that he was on his way there. He opened the door and weyelled, “SURPRISE!” At that moment I could see that he was astonished.I gave him his letter and chocolate chips! He then asked me who was behind this and Itold him that it was me. I let him know how I and so many others felt about him as aperson. He said thank you I bet over a hundred times to me that afternoon… I felt soaccomplished that I could just make his day. Usman truly is a great person!

­Maggie Cardenas

It is towards the beginning of the school year where the Key Club meetings areoverflowing and overcrowded with people. Then a couple weeks fly by and the crowdingsimmers down and then eventually less and less students come to the meetings. That is everyKey Clubs' worst nightmare. The main reason that students will stop coming to meetings is thatthey aren’t as eventful and because they are “a waste of time.” You start off the school yearcrowded, and you want to end the school year still crowded. There are many simple ways tokeep members attentive and coming.The most important thing to do is make meetings more interesting. All Key Club meetingsshould not only be run by officers and sponsors, but by the students as well. Get membersinvolved. The more useful members are, the more they will want to come and stay. Anotherthing that Mansfield Summit Key Club tries to do is make meetings feel homier. Food is theanswer to all problems, literally. More students come to the after school meetings. After school issnack time and most likely everyone is hungry. Who wants to stay for a meeting when they knowthey can go home and eat instead? So, incorporate food into the meetings. Members will stayand have their after­school snack. Now everyone is happy and satisfied! Another thing to makemeetings more interesting is to start off with a game, typically called icebreakers in the Key Clubworld! Icebreakers are such a great way to “break the ice.”Even towards the end of the year, members still may not be as comfortable with eachother. Make it a goal for Key Club members to get to know each other better and kill theawkwardness, if there is any present. Theses games are also a great way to make meetingsmuch more interesting and fun. And for an added bonus, incorporate games in which prizes willbe given out to the winners. We’re killing two birds with one stone! Members are gettinginvolved by winning prizes, and participating and meetings are much more interesting. Wait,we’re killing three! Members will also continue to attend meetings and stay for a long time.

­Elizabeth Phan

How to Make Meetings More Interesting

Contact PageUsman HyderPresidentusmanhyder96@hotmail.comElizabeth PhanVice Presidentephan6@aol.comMy LamSecretarymy_lam1156@yahoo.comDiem TranSecretarydiem.tran77@yahoo.comJunior SanchezSecretaryjuniorsanchez2015@gmail.comKristy JosephTreasurerkristyj95@gmail.comMelanie LouvEditormelanielouv@sbcglobal.netElizabeth HangEditorelizabeth99_keyclub@ymail.com

Sarthak GuptaHistoriansarthak0411@gmail.comWhitney NguyenHistorianwhitneynguyen2560@yahoo.comAshley NeaceActivities Directorasher1997@sbcglobal.netMs. GutierrezClub Sponsormelissagutierrez@misdmail.orgChristina KooLieutenant Governorchristinakoo39s@gmail.com

We hope you enjoyed the newsletter!If you have any comments, questions orconcerns, feel free to contact MelanieLouv or Elizabeth Hang.

Meet Your Officers!

Usman Hyder Elizabeth Phan My Lam Diem Tran

Junior Sanchez Kristy Joseph Melanie Louv Elizabeth Hang

Sarthak Gupta Whitney Nguyen Ashley Neace Ms. Gutierrez