the cirkulation december 2013

THE CIRKULATIONTCNJ Circle K’s Official PublicationVolume 1 | Issue 5 | December 2013

THE END OF A GREAT SEMESTERFOR CIRCLE K

THE CIRKULATIONTCNJ Circle K’s Official Publication

Volume 1 | Issue 5 | December 2013

Hey all! Well, it’s way too late in the year for our first Circle K newsletter, and for that, I apologize. But why is it late, you ask? BECAUSE TCNJ CIRCLE K HAS BEEN WAY TOO BUSY DOING AWESOME THINGS! Am I right? What a good year we’ve had so far. Let me walk you through some of the high-lights:

• Our club has the highest membership in the whole NJ district! That equals more friends to make, and more amazing people to do great service

• We have had FOUR awesomely fun socials (thanks to our social committee chair, Mary Kennedy)

• Our service hours are through the roof as our many members work hard volunteering through our various weekly service projects, including TASK, the Ewing Animal Shelter, Hedgepath tutoring, and Eickhoff cleanups

• We had a Zumbathon, raised awareness, trick-or-treated, and sold chocolates all for the Eliminate Project!

• We are hosting winter social this year, with a 1920s theme, and it’s going to be the cat’s pajamas

So get excited Circle K, because you’re awesome, and in the semester to follow the awesome’s just gonna keep on coming!

I hope you’re all surviving the end of the semester. Take a break and enjoy the newsletter! - Kerrin McLaughlin (editor)

Letter from the editor

http://circlekattcnj.weebly.com @tcnjcircleK find us on facebook


The Committees

They’re a vital part of our organization. Like cogs in a machine, TCNJ Circle K’s committees keep our club active and filled with new ideas. Have you joined a committee yet? Part of the Circle K experience is getting to know fellow members and work together towards a cause you believe in. What better way to help the club and meet people than by joining a commit-tee?

Perhaps you missed our Round Robin day where each of the committee chairs presented their what there commit-tees entailed. Maybe you forgot about what each committee has to offer. Whatever the case, read on to learn what each committee is about! If you are interested in joining a committee, just email the chair.

K-Family Gianna Pastena ([email protected]) Being part of the K-Family committee really means building relations with

the other K-Family organizations of the surrounding communities (Kiwanis, Key Club,

other Circle K groups, etc). I serve as the liaison between the adult branches of the

Ewing and Bordentown Kiwanis clubs. I try to keep in touch with them and share what

TCNJ Circle K has been up to and also hear the events that they are planning in the

community. I also would like to maintain relations with Rider Circle K. Since they are so

close it would be easy to work together on service projects. The ultimate goal is to build

a better sense of camaraderie between us and our extended K family.

Social Mary Kennedy ([email protected]) & Jayde Pang ([email protected])

The TCNJ Circle K Social Committee is an important part of the club because it is responsible for club bonding and fellowship events outside of the weekly meet-ings. I, Mary Kennedy, am one of the Social Committee Co-chairs along with Jayde Pang, who is studying abroad during the fall semester but will be back in the spring. In the past, we have had many socials that have brought the club together. Over the summer, we took a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure. We also had a camping themed “Welcome Back” social to welcome new members as well as old mem-bers to TCNJ Circle K. Plus, we even went apple picking in October at a nearby orchard and took a tractor ride. Overall, socials are a great way to promote bonding outside of the weekly meetings and to help develop friendships in Circle K. The committee and I have many more ideas for events later this semester and we are really excited to share them with everyone!

In-Meeting Service Kelly Sciora ([email protected]) & Dana Disarno ([email protected])

With this committee, we are responsible for thinking of ways to help better the community in the hour or so long meetings we have each week. For example, past activities have included making PB&J sandwiches for TASK and crafting cards for our Eick employees. If you want to join, please do because the best kind of work is team-work!



The Committees (continuted)

Historian Andrew Ryan ([email protected]) As our club’s Historian, it’s my job to document as many of our events and service projects as possible with pictures. I am also responsible for compiling these pictures in a scrapbook for District Convention during the spring semester. I don’t have a committee, but I welcome all of you to take additional pictures at our various events and projects whether I’m there or not; the more pictures we have, the better! If you could just e-mail them to me or post them to the Facebook group so I can use them for the cube bulletin board/scrapbook, that would be awesome.

Overall, my goals as the Historian are to consistently update the bulletin board in the cube with pictures throughout the year, to fill our scrapbook for District Convention with memorable pictures, and to not creep any of you out too much by awkwardly taking pictures of you. Not too optimistic about that last one though. Thanks in advance for your support!

March of Dimes Sabhya Gupta ([email protected]) The March of Dimes works to prevent premature birth, infant mortality and birth defects. Two large aspects of their work focus on (1) spreading awareness and (2) fundraising. The Circle K March of Dimes Committee takes these two goals and implements them in various ways on campus. We participate in Prematurity Awareness Month (November!) and the March for Babies walk held in the spring, as well as little events throughout the year - such as Halloween pumpkins! Join us to spread the March of Dimes mission and hopefully reach a day when all babies are born healthy!

Publicty Kerrin McLaughlin ([email protected]) Yes, I’m a jack-of-all Circle K occupations. The publicity committee is respon-sible for the getting the word out on all Circle K happenings, through print and social media. If you’re into graphic design and like making posters, or are always tweeting away and know how to create a catchy headline in under 250 characters, then the pub-licity committee is great for you!



Fundrasing Kelly Krickus ([email protected]) With a focus on creativity, the fundraising committee’s goals mainly include coming up with and running fundraisers for Circle K. These fundraisers are essential to Circle K, raising money for both charities that the club supports and the club itself, so that more opportunities can be financed and offered to club members. Anyone interested in business, marketing or who has creative ideas would be a great fit for the fundraising committee. So far this semester, the fundraising commit-tee has worked hard to run the Gertrude Hawke chocolate fundraiser and collaborated with the president to organize the Zumbathon. Future ideas include having a Hunger Games/ice cream social and organizing either a musical or second exercise fundraiser.

The Committees (continuted)

Our committee’s goal is to brainstorm and organize various service projects for Circle K members to participate in. We collaborate with organizations in the commu-nity to give back to the community through service projects. For example, one of our projects is baking holiday cookies to create goody bags for TASK! We want Circle K members to get together and have fun creating service projects that will benefit our college and the community around it. Most of these projects will be made on campus and donated to various organizations, such as TASK, Homefront, hospitals, and many more high-need locations. Members of this commit-tee will help brainstorm and organize fun and purposeful service projects:)

Service Diana Tenenbaum ([email protected]) & Nicole Adams ([email protected])

The Eliminate Project, organized through Kiwanis International and UNICEF, aims to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus from the world. According to UNICEF, “this deadly disease steals the lives of nearly 60,000 innocent babies and a significant number of women each year. The effects of the disease are excruciating - tiny new-borns suffer repeated, painful convulsions and extreme sensitivity to light and touch.” It cost just $1.80 to protect a mother and all of her future children from this terrible disease. The Eliminate Committee at Circle K will be fundraising for the Project. We aim to raise $1,000 this year to donate to the Project; members of this committee will be involved in helping develop, plan, and carry out fundraising events.

Eliminate Elsa Leistikow ([email protected])



An Insight-ful experience Every year, the NJ District holds Insight, a fall leadership retreat for all Circle K members to attend. The purpose of the weekend is to help members (new and old) feel more integrated into the great K-Family that they are a part of! This is done by participating in a number of team-build-ing activities, such as field games, a low ropes course, and more! Members are broken up into teams so that they are able to meet people from other schools, and a district board member or two helps lead the group. I was lucky enough to co-lead my team of District 1, the luxury district in The Hunger Games. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that the entire weekend was Hunger Games themed? All teams were put through multiple challenges that helped them earn tools to assist them in the final battle of “The Service Games,” and one district was crowned the victor and received limited edition Circle K pins for their efforts.

Besides running around the camp for hours, there is a more sentimental side to this weekend that members experience through our candlelight ceremony on Saturday night. It is here that members reflect on the experiences they have had throughout the weekend and how they will take these lessons and use them to become better leaders in the future. I think that it is at this time that you really are able to realize just how much trust you can have in members of Circle K, even if you were strangers just a day or two before.

Insight is truly an unforgettable experi-ence, and I hope that you will think about attend-ing next year - I know I will definitely be there :)

By Dawn Kreder

Daw

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sw

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Bonfire time!



Helping out in Eickhoff If you’re a TCNJ student, chances are you’ve spent

a good amount of time in Eickhoff. Each day thousands

of students bustle in and out of our dining hall, but do

you think much about who’s serving your food, cleaning

your table, and washing your plate? Eickhoff’s workers are

integral to the efficiency of The College of New Jersey as a

whole. They are the omelets that motivate you to get up in

the morning and the Wok that fills your bellies in the eve-

ning after class. And they do it all with smiling faces. I love

being greeted by Eick workers I’ve become familiar with,

and I’m always grateful that they care.

Wouldn’t it be nice to give back?

Well, you can. And Circle K does. Every Monday

night and 8:45 we meet at the salad bar as Eick begins to

close for the night. For the students, that is. Because as

Eddie, an assistant manager at Eickhoff says, the average

worker, who already works a 6-8 hour shift each day, some-

times gets caught in a few extra hours of work just to clean

up. So Circle K aims to get the workers of Eickhoff home a

little early some nights. We help by wiping down tables,

cleaning windows and the granite countertops, filling salt

and pepper shakers, and restocking napkin dispensers. It’s

not much compared to the work an Eick employee does

each day, but Eddie says that the volunteer work is much

appreciated. “You all help us out tremendously”.

One of my favorite Eick workers, William, is always

happy to see Circle K students helping out. You probably

know Will, he works primarily at The Wok and is always very

friendly with the students. Every time I see him in Eick, he

is always sure to give me a wave and ask if Circle K will be

helping out that night. It makes me very glad to know that

our visits and a chance to go home early is looked forward

to by Eick’s hardworking employees.

It usually takes us only about an hour to help

clean up Eick, and the work is enjoyable, even therapeutic.

Co-vice President Danny Kaplan remarked that it’s nice to

get away from work for a while and come out to help. “Eick

cleanups are an incredible opportunity for our members to

see the amount of effort that goes into keeping our dining

firing on all cylinders. Eick cleanups allow us to give back

to the workers that have provided us with so many scrump-

tious meals throughout the years - plus its a short five

minute walk from where we live!”

One of the gems of Eickhoff cleanups is the “af-

ter-party”. Each night after we’re done, Eick employees are

kind enough to give us a little treat. Pizza and cookies!! I am

telling you know, there is no greater joy in life than a huge

stack of warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies and fresh

pizza waiting for you after a long day of classes, work, and

service.

By Kerrin McLaughlin



Member Spotlight: The “Falcon” of Circle K

Our member spotlight this month features a girl who certainly doesn’t hog the spotlight, but she deserves it. Some say she’s a myth. A legend. How is it possible for a single human to do so much good for humanity, while balancing the hectic schedule of a college student? And all the while she is battling a severe case of...chronic hic-cups! She is Briana “Falcon of Circle K” Falconer.

Briana is the textbook example of how no matter what role you play in Circle K, you can still make a huge difference. Briana, an Early Child-hood Education and Psychology double major in her junior year, has a lot on her academic plate, yet she attends every CKI event she can. She’s is one of TCNJ Circle K’s most active members, and she is a general member.

General members are by far the most important people in the CKI hierarchy, because they are the heart and soul behind our organi-zation. They are the ones who aren’t obligated by any means to make it to events, or meetings, yet they do, because they care. Co-Vice President Nicole Bolognini says, “Briana is our club’s unsung

hero. She is always there when you need her, and she’s so dedicated. Our club wouldn’t be the same without her.”

Briana runs weekly service at the Ewing Animal Shelter, is a weekly volunteer at Hedge-path Williams tutoring, and can be found at basi-cally every general meeting and service project she can attend. She is an extraordinary girl and we’re grateful she’s a part of our club.

Falcon of Circle K, we salute you.

By Kerrin McLaughlin



Odds & EndsWell, I hope you enjoyed my first newsletter as your editor! I hope to have many more this service year! If you are interested in writing an article or starting a new section for our next issue, feel free to contact me at [email protected] (I bet joining our publication would look great on a resume!)`

Inspiring Quotes

“There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.”

- Han Suyin

“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”

- Ronald Reagan

“Anyone who takes the time to be kind is beautiful.”

- Richelle E. Goodrich

What to look forward to

Tuesday, December 3rd - TCNJ New Member InductionSaturday, January 25th - TCNJ hosted “Roaring 20s” District Winter Social

the cirkulation december 2013

Documents

excited circle

rider circle

family committee

committee chairs

social committee chair

tcnj circle ks committees

social committee cochairs

social mary kennedy