This past week, West Chester University’s Circle K Interntional club had the honor of being recognized at the Council of Trustees Student Affairs Committee meeting. That’s a complicated name for a meeting, but what it means is that Circle K was allowed to give a ten minute presentation at the Student Affairs Commitee meeting this past Thursday. Then, our information was passed along by the Student Trustee at the official Council of Trustees meeting.
I attended the meeting as the Vice President of Circle K, along with the President, Amanda Sloan. It was an interesting experience, because I wasn’t aware such meetings take place.
As the spotlight organization, we were able to explain our plans for Circle K, what our last year was like, and what our plans for the future are.
First, we explained to them what Circle K actually is. We are the largest student-led collegiate service organization in the world. That’s a very fancy way of saying that we are an interntional community service organization, and our leaders are also all students.
We are also a member of the Kiwanis Family. Kiwanis is an adult community service organization that sponsors other clubs. There is K-Kids for elementary school students, Builder’s Club for middle school students, Key Club for high school students, Circle K for college students, and Aktion Club for adults with disabilities. Oftentimes, the groups do projects together. Together, we can make a huge difference in the world.
WCU Circle K does different community service in the greater West Chester area. We do Adopt-a-Blocks, volunteer at the YMCA, go to charity walks in Philly, volunteer at the Hickman, and much more.
Next, we explained to them what our bigget project of the year is. Every year, Circle K has a charity volleyball tournament in Hollinger gym. This is a huge fundraiser. Last year, we had around 25 teams compete. The money all goes to the Eliminate Project.
The Eliminate Project is run by Kiwanis Interntional and UNICEF. It is an initative to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus from the world. For only $1.80, a mother and her future babies can be vaccinated against MNT. In develpoing countires around the world, mny people die of this disease. 60,000 babies die every year from MNT; that’s a baby every nine minutes on average. They generally die within two weeks of being born. For those two weeks, they have light, touch, and sound sensitivity. They suffer from seizures.
MNT is completely preventable. Since The Eliminate Project began, Kiwanis and UNICEF have eliminated MNT is over twenty countries and raised over 65 million dollars. In the past two years, WCU Circle K’s volleyball tournament has raised $2000 towards this cause. That is over 1000 lives saved.
Next, we explained our success in the past year to the commitee. WCU Circle K is actually an award-winning club. Last year, we won 23 awards at the Pa. District Convention. This past summer, we also won two awards at the interntiaonl convention.
Our volleyball tournament won first place for the Single Service Award at district convention, and it won second place at the interntional level.
The commitee also asked us what our plans for the upcoming year are. We explained our “fall fundraiser” to them. Any money that Circle K raises this semester will benefit Bringing Hope Home. We will be assigned a “holiday family” that has someone suffering from cancer. We will be buying their Christmas presents for them.
We plan to, of course, continue doing other community service in the area. New members are always welcome.
After the commitee meeting, Amanda and I were able to observe the official Council of Trustees meeting. Many trustees gave reports, on everything from finances to upcoming university commercials. The President spoke for quite a while as well on plans for the upcoming year.
Afterwards, the Council of Trustees had an official dinner in Phillips Memorial Library. We were able to talk to the various trustees and enjoy dinner.
Overall, it was a great experience for us. I am also glad that it got the word out about Circle K and our various fundraisers.
Theresa Kelly is a third-year student majoring in English literature secondary education. She can be reached at TK780615@wcupa.edu.