The Month of September

Aaand we're back!

You probably noticed that there was no post for August--that was due to the fact that there were so little events in August, it wasn't worth a separate post 😅

Both the Portland and Tacoma Area Rallies had very few Kentlake Key Clubbers attend for two reasons; they were fairly far away and were essentially the same as SAR but with different clubs!

The one community service event in August was Kidsfest on the 12th. We helped teach kids about water safety!

Fun Fact: Even your dog needs a life jacket when on a boat

Now that the August recap is over, on to the main event!

September really made up for the lack of activity in August--it was really productive and fun!

The first Key Club event of the new school year was a Green Kent event on September 9th! We helped remove blackberries and other invasive plants as well as mulched at North Meridian Park.

Also, congratulations to RuthAnne, Ben, and Ashley for becoming stewards!

The big event of this month was on the 21st; the first meeting of the year! It was super enjoyable and the freshman attendance was beyond our expectations! We played icebreakers like The Name Game, Yours, Your Neighbor and musical chairs. And, of course, we discussed all the upcoming community service events and informed all the new members about our club and organization. We really hope to see everyone at all the upcoming meetings because the more the merrier 😄 

Fun, fun, fun!

The following two Saturdays, the 23rd and 30th, we had two more Green Kent service events! Many new members attended, so we couldn't be happier :,) With all the work we put in, both parks ended up much cleaner and healthier. Thank you to everyone that went, we really appreciate it!

Love seeing our members being so service oriented

Happy Public Lands Day!

 The final event of the month was the September DCM on the 30th! Tera did a wonderful job with this one; it was tons of fun! We got a rundown of Key Club 101, played a cool Kahoot, and participated in icebreakers with lots of new people! Another amazing thing we did was decorating "dragon scales" for the Spirit Stick; each scale was unique like the members of our division :')

It was a kaHOOT

This post was a day late, I know and apologize! My home wifi has been awful lately so I had to drive to Starbucks to even get this out to y'all! Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you later this month!

The Month of July

Hello everyone! I hope your summer has been fantastic so far!

Now, you may be wondering, what kind of activities has KL's Key Club done during the summer?

Read this to find out! :-)

Our first event of July was volunteering at the Covington Days Parade for Cascade Regional Blood Services! The volunteers walked alongside (and occasionally behind because we moved slower than expected, whoops!) the Bloodmobile; our job was to give candy and toys to the people watching the parade. The overall purpose was to promote donating blood to help those in need and it was very enjoyable and successful :-D

(Visit www.crbs.net to find a blood drive near you)

We got free shirts too!

The second event of July was the annual Seattle Area Rally at Bellevue High School! It went from 9am to 3pm, and boy were those 6 hours packed full of fun! Key clubbers from divisions all around the Seattle area (and even some from Oregon and Canada) attended this huge, fantastic event. First was the opening session where there were great puns, a few words from our district governor, a successful Miracle Minute, and tons of divisional spirit! We then got three workshop sessions that had specific activities/topics that we could experience and learn about (with lunch in between session 2 and 3 of course). Finally, there was the closing session, where we were informed of how much money we raised in the Miracle Minute, watched a wonderful talent show, and found out who won the Lieutenant Governor raffle (in which they got to put beautiful makeup on Lt.Gs). Overall, it was very enjoyable and I can't wait until next year!

Very warm but very fun :,)

The third and final event of July was a club potluck at Lake Meridian! We ate the delicious food brought by those who attended, chatted, and took cute pictures-- so all in all, it was a very chill and nice event :-)   

Are we key-ute or what?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, hope you enjoyed!

The Month of June

Oof it's been a wild ride, but the school year is finally over! 

The end of school also means no more meetings until next school year :-( However, there'll still be events during the summer, so no need to be discouraged!

Now, to review all the events in June! 

First, we had Relay for Life--it went from June 2nd to June 3rd! This yearly event is always amazing, especially if you stay overnight! At Relay, we got to spend time with members of different teams, meet new people, play games like soccer and football, and, most importantly, pay tribute to and support those who have passed away from, are experiencing, or have beat cancer. There were really touching moments such as the luminaria ceremony and survivor's lap as well as fun moments like the Amazing Race and square dancing. I highly recommend you sign up and attend next year!

Got like 2 hours of sleep but it was totally worth it!

The next big event was the final meeting of the school year on the 15th. It was full of enjoyment and, best of all, food! People really came through on the potluck aspect of it, so there was plenty of delicious goods to eat. We played fun games and went over the events for the next couple of weeks including ones throughout the summer. Man, I'm going miss going to these until September :")
(FYI, there will be club 2 club meetups during summer)

Playing a good game of Name the Song

Two days later, on the 17th, there was the Teddy Bear Clinic at Kent Fire Station 75! At this event, the volunteers helped patch up kid's teddy bears and gave them first aid kits for their fluffy friends. It was a very cute and fun event (that also had free hats)! So of course, thank you to everyone that went!

It's so cute, I can hardly bear it!

On the following Monday, there was the June Installation Banquet at Hazen High School! We got to hang with all the officers and some members of Division 32, eat good food, be given awards in an award ceremony, listen to an amazing violin trio, retire and install the old and new officers, and, sadly, say goodbye to all the seniors. It was very bittersweet, but overall enjoyable as well--I know it made my Monday quite a bit better :-)

Good luck to all the installed officers!

The final Key Club occasion of June was a joint divisional bonding event at Newcastle Beach Park on the 27th! Although I couldn't go, the members that did said it was a blast! Key Clubbers from both Division 27 and 32 attended; they swam, ate, and just had a great time chilling together! The weather was perfect for swimming and the fact that it was the last day of school (for KSD) made it all the better!

Body of water + sun = perfect aesthetic photos

Thank you for reading this month's post ! Hope to see you in July :-D

The Month of May

Hey y'all! We finally made it through this month full of testing; I'm so proud of us!

Now, it's about time I updated you on what Kentlake's Key Club has been up to :-)

We, of course, had our regular Green Kent events on May 6th and 20th. The one on the 6th was at Clark Lake Park and the 4 members/officers that attended had a good time as usual! The one on the 20th was at Morrill Meadows Park and had only 1 member attend (huge shoutout to Ben), so again, I 100% encourage and recommend going to these because you can represent Key Club in a good way :-)

Wow, helping the environment sure is fun!

On the following Friday, May 12th, we held a Teacher Appreciation breakfast at our school! Even though we had to wake up really early to get to the school by 5:15 AM, it was completely worth it to show how much we appreciate Kentlake's staff! We provided the perfect breakfast foods: pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, bagels, fruit, and fruit juices. Making breakfast with everyone was truly an enjoyable time :-)

We may be smiling but we were all dead tired--true meaning of  "do it for Key Club"

The next Saturday, May 27th, was an extremely exciting day--there were 3 events! 

One event was the monthly Northwest where they packaged lots of corn--6,400 lbs to be exact! Northwest Harvests are always very pleasant as we get to know how many families we are helping with just 2 hours of work :-)

It was 'amaizeingly' fun!

Another event we had that day was volunteering at the Timberlane Block Party! We helped move boxes, set up the tents, and made snow cones. The warm weather was perfect for making snow cones, and seeing all the happy children and adults was great!

I may have stained my shirt with syrup, but at least I got the kids to laugh 

The final event that day was the May Joint DCM! Key Clubbers from 7 divisions were invited, so there were tons of people to meet and see! We took over Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park playing ice breakers, having a Miracle Minute, making friendship bracelets for ourselves and cards for kids at Seattle Children's Hospital, having divisional time, and eating food! The Miracle Minute was very successful--we raised $193.73 for KCCP! This was enough to meet our $150 goal, so we got to see the Lieutenant Governors get pied! Overall, it was extremely fun and totally worth driving through the traffic :-)

After playing ice breakers in 85 degree weather, we really needed to Coul-off

*Credit to Sheila and RJ for the top and bottom left pictures :,)

That's it for May! Next time you see a post, school will (finally) be out! See you in June 
:-D

The Month of April

Howdy! It's that time again--here's a recap of all our events in April!

Our first event this month was Skate to Cure, where part of the $10 admission went to KCCP! It was a really good time--honestly, falling constantly is a lot more fun with fellow key clubbers. I highly recommend going to the next one :-)

Then, of course, there's our Green Kent events! We had one at Park Orchard Park on the 15th--shoutout to RuthAnne and Elizabeth for going--and another on Earth Day--shoutout to RuthAnne and Ben for that one! With every one of these events, we're helping the environment and native plants, and having a good time doing it :-)

Also on Earth Day, we had a Northwest Harvest! Big thanks to Elizabeth, Tera and Ashley for going to that :-) We'd love to see more attendance at these as well, because packaging food for food banks is fun and very beneficial! 

Next, on the 27th, we had our April DCM! It was Tera's first DCM as Lieutenant Governor--and it was a great time! It was a nice opportunity to hang out with all the key clubbers from other schools and meet new people :-) I definitely suggest that you go to all the DCM's you can, as they make finding new, meaningful friendships easy! 

Finishing off the events for this month, we had yet another Green Kent event! It was held at Clark Lake Park on the 30th; huge thanks to Elizabeth for going! You should definitely try to attend these as well, because the more the merrier and getting lots of community service hours looks really good on college applications :-)

Thank you for reading the post for this month, see you at the end of May! 

PNW District Convention

Special Post: DCON 2017

With PDS (Post DCON Syndrome) hitting all of us attendees hard, here's our chance to reminisce. 

This year, 18 Kentlake Key Clubbers attended the District Convention. It was extremely fun and just overall amazing! My phone has basically no storage left, but honestly it was completely worth it. From trading pins to exchanging hug me signs, there were plenty of opportunities to meet new people from all over the Pacific Northwest :-)

Honestly, there isn't any way to accurately describe the greatness of DCON in words, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Hope you enjoy!

Friday

Saturday

Sunday (PDS and exhaustion sets in)

--there'll be a post for the whole month of April at the end of this month as well. See y'all then!

The Month of March

Kicking it off this month, we had our first ever Member of the Month! Essentially, the idea is that the members nominate one person in the club who really shined and showed dedication in the previous month. They are awarded with candy, a trophy, a certificate and the opportunity to make an entry in a 'Member of the Month' journal. Our incoming club president RuthAnne Kepler came up with this idea so that we could show our appreciation for our members that work hard and stay committed. For the month of March, I (Taryn Nourse) was chosen because I attended to every community service event in February*. Our hope is that this award system will encourage members to actively participate in events and continue to show dedication to our club :-)

*Disclaimer: I'm sorry if this sounds arrogant, I really don't mean for it to. I'm still fairly shocked that they chose me :')


On the following Saturday (March 4th), we had a divisional community service event! It was held at Clark Lake Park where we laid out a new gravel path. Kentlake had 10 members attend, which is the most we've had at a Green Kent event so far this year! Everyone worked really hard shoveling, raking and pushing wheelbarrows -- I know I was sore for a couple of days! We were also rewarded with pizza and soda afterward, so it really was a good time. Thank you to everyone that went! :-)

Later that day was another big event, Concert to Cure! Key Clubbers from the Seattle Area performed at Lynnwood High School; all the proceeds went toward our district project. Amazingly, they ended up raising $2406 for KCCP! I sadly wasn't able to go, but I heard it was really fun watching all the amazing performances! Also, shoutout to our amazing LTGs that made this event possible! We truly do appreciate everything they've done for all us Key Clubbers  :")

The next weekend, on March 11, there was a Kid's Art Day at Kent Commons. The event went from 10am to 4pm, and everyone that volunteered was at a station helping kids make art projects! From paper making to creating clay figures, this event had tons of activities that allowed kids to really let their creativity show. Thank you to everyone that went! (especially Hailey, who stayed the whole time with me :"))

Kentlake's next big event was Northwest Harvest (March 25). With the help of the other attendees, we packed 3,250 pounds of oats! These events are always fun and really give you a sense of accomplishment, because with every bag, you're helping feed a hungry family of 4. I highly recommend attending next time; the less fortunate families need all the help they can get! 

Later that day, Division 28 and 32 joint PreCON was held at Hazen High School! We played fun icebreakers, talked about DCON, recieved our divisional spirit gear, learned our divisional chants, AND had a spirit battle. This was really a blast as we got together, met new people and got hyped about the biggest Key Club event of the year! 

Thank you so much for coming back to read this month's post! See you in April! :-D