Key Club

Greetings from the New York District Key Club. Please allow me to update you on what has been going on.
We had to cancel our live Leadership Training Conference back in March, but we did hold one on Zoom. We held the awards session via Zoom with more than 300 in attendance. We also held our House of Delegates on Zoom, with the elections of all district officers being done online. All of the candidates were able to give speeches and answer questions. We had more than 160 delegates doing the voting online as opposed around 300 if we had been able to meet in person. We also posted almost all of the workshops online via our website so the students could view them.
We would not have been able to do the online Leadership Training Conference and House of Delegates without my two assistants, Michael Berthel and Jason Steiner. They really put together all of the technology for these events. I also want to recognize our Immediate Past Distinguished Gov. Camille Brock. Camille worked with Jason and Michael to put together the program for the awards session and she ran the online House of Delegates. Camille also helped put together the board training with the new Governor Mariam Makar. Camille and Mariam then ran via Zoom our new board training. I cannot say enough about Camille and her dedication to Key Club and her position as governor.
July 3 was the closing session for the online version of ICON, Summer Leadership Conference. We had 3 students running for International offices. We had one student running for International Vice President and 2 running for International Trustee. We worked with all three candidates to develop their platforms, posters and speeches as we always do. I can tell you that we were proud to present all of these students. However, the International Bylaws only allow the current International Council to vote in the House of Delegates. The International Council consists of the International Board (13) and the 33 newly elected District Governors. We were very disappointed that none of our students won.
I would like to give you the good news about the awards that we received at the Summer Leadership Conference. All of our district officers were distinguished and they are, Camille Brock, Governor; Linna Cheung, Secretary; Anthony Lim, Treasurer; and Angelo Lontok, Editor.
We also had the following clubs earn Diamond Level Distinguished: New Hyde Park HS, Ogdensburg Free Academy, Norwood-Norfolk HS and North Shore HS.
We also had the following lieutenant governors receive the Robert F. Lucas Award: Julia Segal, Katie Furrugia, David DeRienzo, Max Coppola and Hailey Weber. Congratulations to all!
Finally, I am asking you to please keep in touch with your Key Club this summer. Please have officer planning conferences to try to get next year going. This is so important in this pandemic environment, where we really have no idea what going back to school will look like, but we are pretty sure it will not be school as usual. Our Key Clubs will be depending on you as the very existence of Key Club and Kiwanis could be tested in this period of turmoil. Thanks for your continued support.

Column Posted on Web Site July 20, 2020