Lt. Governor Training Meeting: April 29-May 1

Representing Div. 14 at DCON 2011

     So I'm still pretty new to this Key Club thing.  Who am I kidding?  I have no idea what I am doing in Key Club.  I have just been lucky enough to meet great people who DID know what they were doing who were willing to help me run a Key Club.  Now that I'm a Lt. Governor, there is no faking it anymore.  I can't just pretend that I know what I am doing like I have for the last year as President of my school's Key Club.  There are a far greater number of responsibilities in the Lt. Governor position than there are as President.  I wanted to take not only my club, but my entire Division's participation in Key Club to the next level, so I thought that being a Lt. Governor would be a great way for me to do that.  So naturally, I was very excited for my first official Capital District Board meeting.  I was going to be officially trained so that I can be the best Lt. Governor that I could possibly be, and help all the clubs in my Division reach their fullest potential.  I was absolutely unprepared for all that I would learn about being a Lt. Governor, Key Club, and even myself.

     Thanks to my always punctual zone administrator, I arrived in Leesburg, Virginia about 10 minutes before the meeting was to begin.  I was quickly reunited with many of the people I had met at DCON (District Convention) and it was nice to see everyone again.  The evening consisted of a series of "ice-breaker activities", the purpose of which was for us to get to know each other, and learn a valuable aspect of leadership.

District Board doing the stupid jump rope icebreaker.

     The first one was a classic: the name circle.  We all stood in a circle and introduced ourselves with an adjective that starts with the same letter as our first name.  For example, I introduced myself as "Cute Chris".  I know what you're thinking, it describes me perfectly.  They all felt so too.  This was a fun way to get to know everyone a little better, and it was amusing to see the adjectives that people thought of.  We also did an activity where we used a tablecloth to get ping pong balls into a cup on the ground, an activity where we had to run through a jump rope as a group (that we never figured out how to do), and an activity where we had to get inside a rope circle when we couldn't let go of the circle.

     So why am I telling you these things?  I want to show the people that read that Key Club isn't all business, meetings, and "saving the world".  We can have fun too.  Spending that evening, just hanging out with everybody, figuring out these ice-breakers, was a really stress-free way to begin the weekend.  In order for us to work together, we all have to like each other.  The more we love and respect each other as friends and family, the greater work we will be able to accomplish as colleagues and workers.

Getting down to business.

     Then the real work got started.  An entire day filled with meetings and training.  I was both excited and extremely nervous.   On one hand, I was finally going to learn about the inner workings of Key Club, and get all the information I needed to be an effective Lt. Governor.  On the other hand, what if it turned out to be too much for a new kid like me?  What if I had no business being on the District Board, and was in over my head?  Well, I still don't know the answer to this question, but I promise that I will do the best I can do, and I can only hope that that is enough.

     Did I mention being in over my head?  It's one thing to be told about your responsibilities, it's quite another to be shown them.  Workshops and presentations on newsletters, monthly reports, club evaluations and the like filled the day, and I can honestly say that I felt overwhelmed.  Not that the presentations weren't informative and clear, they were done very well.  I just had no idea how much responsibility was entrusted to me as a Lt. Governor.  The Lt. Governor position isn't just something to put on my college resume; it's an important component of the Key Club International power structure.  It's my job to gather information on all the clubs in my division and encourage cooperation among them.  When this doesn't happen, the clubs suffer, and the impact is weakened.  I have to make sure I do my job so that all the clubs can do as much as they can for their community.  Here's hoping I get it done.

Div. 14 Zone Admin. Yeah, he's like that.

     We went bowling later that night, and had a blast.  Whoever thought to combine club music and a bowling alley was a genius.  That was the first time that weekend where none of the activities had an ulterior motive; the sole purpose was having fun.  We all began to bond as a family, and I have a feeling that I will be friends with many of my fellow Board members for a long time.

    So what happened at that meeting that applies to regular Key Club members?  Here are the important things to know:

1. The Capital District Key Club has been changed.  It used to be the Capital Building with the words "Capital District" over it.  It has now been changed to a crab holding up the Key Club logo over top the words "Capital District".  This was done to reflect a similar change among Capital District Kiwanis and Circle K.  They both have already changed their logos to crabs, and we want to be consistent with our Kiwanis family.  For the record, it took us close to 20 minutes to decide to capitalize all the letters in Capital District.  There was a lot of heated debate on this topic/
2. The Governor's Project will be the Red Cross.  We can contribute to this cause by organizing blood drives at your school, raising money for the organization, or raising awareness on a certain health issue.
3. The District Project will be the ELIMINATE project.  This took about 5 minutes of deliberation, since everyone was inspired by the presentations on ELIMINATE at DCON, and want to contribute to this worthy cause.  To learn more about ELIMINATE, visit http://sites.kiwanis.org/Kiwanis/en/theELIMINATEproject/home.aspx
4. The Capital District Fall Rally will be held on October 22 at Kings Dominion.  Stay tuned for more information.

   I would like to end this blog with a quote by one of my fellow Lt. Governors.  In another one of our ice-breaker activities, we were each given a pack of index cards.  On each index card a certain trait was written, such as "PASSION", "FAMILY", or "FITNESS".  We had to narrow down the 30 or so cards down to our top 10, then our top 5, then our top 3, and then finally the number 1 trait.  While it was really hard for me to narrow down the choices, my number one choice was a no-brainer.  "VOLUNTEERING/SERVICE".  This attribute defines my life, and it's the trait I hold most dear.  One of the other Lt. Governors chose "FAMILY" as her most important characteristic.  When she told us why she chose it, she said something that really made an impression on me: 

     "I used to think of family as the people that I live with, but now I think of it as the people that I live for."

     I am very glad that she said this, because I feel the exact same way.  People often ask me why HOBY and Key Club are so important to me.  It is hard to describe the loving and caring atmosphere I feel at HOBY and within Key Club.  While I am not related to any of these people, they are more my family than any one I am related to.  I am very grateful for all the people that I have met in HOBY and Key Club this far, and I am really excited to get to know everyone on the Capital District Board and make a real difference this year.

     I'm really excited to be Lt. Governor this year.  I really hope I do a good job, and make a difference in the lives of someone this year.