Articles & Visuals
November
On Friday, October 22nd and Monday, October 25th, Pearl City Key Club gathered in our advisor’s classroom and got to work on decorations for our trick-or-treat booth. Ranging from cute Among Us cutouts to festive jack-o’-lanterns, you name it it was going on our table. Creativity was flowing and lots of progress was made in such little time. On Friday, October 29th all of our club’s hard work was finally revealed as the actual trick-or-treat drive-thru commenced. Many laughs were shared as little red riding hoods, Hogwarts students, and prehistoric dinosaurs passed candy out to people of the community who decided to get into the Halloween spirit and pay us a visit. Seeing the huge smiles, from trick-or-treaters and key club members alike, was the greatest Halloween treat one could have received this holiday season.
On October 7 we invited a representative from the non-profit organization, Sustainable Coastlines to showcase an informational presentation. During the presentation, the representative talked about the importance of reducing our plastic waste and helping clean our beaches. He also quizzed us on the presentation with Kahoot to ensure the audience were paying attention. We also scheduled a beach clean up with Sustainable Coastlines on October 24.
On Wednesday, October 27th from 3:15-4:15 PM in the club’s faculty advisor’s classroom, the Kapolei Key Club members participated in a project called “Crafting Paper Flowers.” For this project they crafted paper flowers using napkins and paper with instructions from a YouTube video. The intention behind these flowers was to brighten the day of whoever they were given to. The flowers were intended to be given to teachers, who at Kapolei High School have especially been stressed with the return to in person learning. Members shared materials while creating the flowers, and helped each other out when another person seemed confused. Overall, this project was a fun experience for members who got to work together to create these beautiful crafts for the school’s staff.
On October 16th, 2021, Damien Key Club was scheduled to go to the Honolulu Zoo to help with the gardening. However, around one week before the scheduled date, the organizer pushed it back one week. Hastily, our hardworking board members came up with a backup plan: cleaning up the regional park next to the Zoo. From 10am to 12pm, around 20-30 Key Club members met up at the parking lot, split up into groups, and started cleaning the park. The amount of participants that showed up allowed us to split up the whole park and clean it efficiently. Although the park was standardly clean, there were many cigarette butts, napkins, takeout containers, etc. mainly on the tables. However, the grassy areas were mostly clean. It was a nice, sunny day for us to clean up. The heat wasn’t unbearable, however, it was still prevalent. Overall, the park clean up allowed Key Club members to socialize and take care of our ‘aina. For the 2 hours we were there, we were able to pick up trash bags almost filled with trash. Everyone was quite satisfied with their work and once our President said her final words, we all went our own ways.
On Saturday, October 23rd, members of Castle Key Club gathered in the library of Castle High School from 10am -1pm to create Halloween kits for preschoolers. The committee of this project bought paper bags and stickers, and printed Halloween themed shapes. Members participated in cutting out the shapes from the printed papers and putting them in bags, along with the stickers and instructions. The Halloween craft kits contained the items necessary for making a trick or treat buddy, which the preschoolers would glue together and add extra designs with crayons and stickers. At the end of the day, the project was a success and the Halloween kits were distributed to a nearby preschool for a fun Halloween.
October
On September 26th at 8:00 am, members went to Kailua Beach Park to collect trash and sift through the sand for microplastics. This was a joint project with Castle’s National Honor Society members. During this project, members split into two groups and walked in separate directions along the beach. Home-made metal sifters were used to separate and gather microplastics from the sand. Other litter such as bandaids and food trash were also collected and disposed of. After spending time on the beach, members also walked in the park area and collected trash. Due to the many attendees from both Key Club and NHS, a large amount of trash was collected, resulting in a successful project.
Kinesthetic learning can improve the way a person takes in information, especially young ones who have been learning the fundamental basics through the internet with recent circumstances. Therefore, Damien Key Club has created an alphabet coloring book, filled with engaging drawings and doodles! Each letter page is created by a different member, encircled by unique objects that begin with the same letter. We hope that our captivating coloring book will assist young ones to learn to their best ability. Thank you to those who signed up and participated!
On September 15 from 3:40-4:40 PM, Kapolei Key Club held the “Handmade Cards for Navian Hawai’i” service project. Seven members attended this project. For this project, the members of the club wrote letters for the elderly, caretakers, and/or donors at Navian Hawai’i. There were requirements for each type of letter including what kind of message should be written and which part of the letter should be left blank. As for the design, the members were able to let their creativity run wild. The pandemic has impacted many people, and one of those groups of people is the elderly. So, being able to provide support to them and the people around them made this project a fulfilling experience.
Friday, September 10th was one of many Fridays Pearl City Key Club participated in cleaning up our school’s farm. Clad in appropriate work attire, we made our way from our general meeting location to a semi-tarped area that other members worked on the week prior. After a briefing on the correct way to remove California grass, we put on our gloves, secured our protective eyewear, and grabbed our pickaxes & hoes. For efficiency, around half of the members were in charge of cutting the top part of the California grass while the other half dealt with the roots. By the end of our session, we had gotten a considerable amount of grass removed. Rolling the tarp over such a big space was satisfying to say the least.
In the month of September, the Junior BOD of Waipahu High School Key Club, Jude F. planned and hosted a service activity. In that activity, members and officers would gather on Zoom to make paper Cranes that would be later donated to the Peace Memorial Park located in Hiroshima, Japan. Unfortunately, the turn out to that event did not go as planned so, this service project will now be extended until more cranes are gathered. To spread the word about this ongoing project, Jude will continue to advertise it on GroupMe and Google Classroom.
September
After much preparation, the day of Pearl City High School’s Club Rush finally arrived on Friday, August 13th. In the moments leading up to the start of the event, we set up signs containing club information and fidgeted around with sign-up sheets. What we hadn’t expected was the hoard of students that rushed towards our booth as soon as the bell rang. Within minutes the sign-up sheets were going like hotcakes. Our posters and other forms of advertisement had worked and had sparked interest in many. We were in awe and smiles never left our faces. In the end, we were able to recruit a whopping 90 members and we couldn’t be prouder.
Kapolei Key Club had its first in-person service project at school on August 25, 2021 from 3:35pm to 4:45pm. Mostly everyone was present except for one member. The service project was called, “The Kindness Rocks” inspired by The Kindness Rocks Project. We painted a bunch of rocks with positive images/quotes and placed it around the school to promote and uplift the students. One of the challenges we had creating the rocks was getting the right paint. We had watercolors and a few acrylics but only the acrylics really stayed on the rocks; this didn’t stop our creativity though. Also, we had to wait for the paint to add on the layers. Aside from those, everything went well and everyone had fun. This project is something we as a club can do again as it was so enjoyable.
With school back in session and almost every student back in real-life classrooms, came in-person service project events. Because the vast majority of our projects last year consisted of card making and isolated service projects, we thought a good way to open up our school year is by doing an in person project! Since we live on an island, beaches aren’t uncommon. We chose to clean up Ala Moana Beach for it’s notorious status of trash on its grounds. We held it on Saturday, August 21st from 10am to 11am. When we arrived, we immediately split into groups, taking on sections of the beach park. The work was strenuous due to the humidity, rain, and lack of wind, however, we were still able to pick up lots of garbage. Most of the garbage consisted of cigarette butts, small pieces of paper/napkins, etc. Once the hour hit, everyone was quite satisfied with the garbage they collected and how much nicer our section of the beach park was. Afterward, we took our group picture and we were done.
On Saturday, August 21, 2021, Castle Key Club joined Representative Matayoshi’s service project to clear the stream located in Castle’s Agriculture Farm. From 8:00 a.m. to noon Castle Key Club members cut out invasive plants blocking the stream and transported them to be properly discarded. This connects to the Kawa Stream, which runs next to community homes and centers. Castle’s stream sees little attention throughout the school year. The majority of the maintenance is left with the school’s students and staff. Therefore, this was the perfect project to aid the fish, frogs, and other inhabitants in traveling up and downstream. Fortunately, there were many hands contributing to this event, which allowed for many wheelbarrows and containers of weeds to be filled. With lots of mud to clean up after its completion, our members definitely experienced a hands-on project!
July
On July 24th from 10AM-3PM the Kapolei and Damien Key Club attended an in person project run by our sponsoring Kiwanis club of Alaka’i Young Professionals. For the project we would be helping to assemble and decorate hand sanitizer pump stands that would later be used at schools. We started off by sanding wood pieces for the pump stands while the Kiwanis began to assemble them. Later, we applied layers of white paint to the finished stands and waited for them to dry. Our sponsoring club fed us a delicious lunch of pizza while we waited for the paint to dry, and during this time members gathered in groups and talked. After lunch we continued painting until 3PM, at which point the project end time came around and members had to leave.
This being the beginning of the year, we had many new members who had never met before due to the pandemic. Through this project members got to meet each other for the first time and got to know each other better, making this project much more meaningful to us. This project was a huge success, not just in the service but through the interactions we had and relationships we cultivated through it. We are so thankful to have been invited, and had such a great time!
On July 17, 2021 at 8:00am, members went to Kailua Beach Park to collect trash. During this service project, members walked along the beach and walked around a small area of the park. When collecting trash on the beach, home-made metal sifters were used to separate and pick up microplastics from the sand. Other litter such as old masks, band aids, and food trash were also collected and eventually disposed of. Despite only five individuals participating, fair amounts of trash were collected, making this project successful.
On Saturday, July 24, Damien Memorial Key Club worked with our sponsors, Alaka’i Young Professionals, and our sister club, Kapolei Key Club, in order to design and build hand sanitizer dispensers for public elementary schools around the islands. This project occurred at the Buddhist Study Center on University Avenue, and it lasted from 10 AM to 3 PM. These dispensers were made out of PVC pipes cut by the adults, and they operated by using a lever-type system to apportion the liquid when stepped on. While the KIWANIANS completed the harder tasks such as cutting the PVC pipes and nailing the pieces together, the Damien Memorial and Kapolei Key Club members painted and sanded the finished products. During this service opportunity, the three clubs were able to bond more and get to know each other one-on-one while still maintaining reinforcement to the island’s COVID-19 guidelines. It was extremely fun and engaging for everyone involved and it gave all of our clubs the opportunity to help out our local community. Being able to help build safer communities in elementary schools was the reward in itself. Thankfully throughout the event, we didn’t run into any complications. As the event came to an end, everyone was satisfied with the finished product.
Cranes are a symbol of hope. In gifting one with an origami crane, one is gifting another with hope. Our key club, along with other key clubs, was fortunate enough to be able to participate in a virtual service project doing just that on Friday, July 30th. This project was unique. We didn’t need origami paper; we just needed a device that would load the website cranes4cancer.org. The website did the folding for us, giving us time to write messages that will instill others with happiness and decorate the cranes in ways that would put a smile on one’s face. These cranes along with the messages attached to them will make their way to cancer patients at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. I personally hope we can do this again in the future to help meet Cranes For Cancer’s goal of 200,000 cranes.
Over the course of the year, we had found that the majority of our projects consisted of writing or digital activities. With the lighter pandemic restrictions and the starting up of the school year, we felt it was the perfect time to try something new together, as it’d be a bit more manageable with a smaller number of members.
So on Saturday, July 24th, we dedicated 10 AM to 1 PM to learning how to crochet a blanket with the assistance of our own advisor, Ms. Gail Kumakura. We plan to donate the blankets to the Humane Society. The process was honestly more of a struggle than previously expected, even with the guidance of a Youtube tutorial and our experienced advisor. Despite that, our members persevered through the struggle. Even though we were unable to complete the blankets, we have gotten a great start thanks. We plan to keep this project ongoing for at least the next 2 months, in order to provide our members with ample time to finish, and hopefully get more members to join this project.
June
This project was put together in order to be able to give back to senior care homes in the Kaneohe area. We were able to use paper cranes from a previous service project from the previous year in order to combine with the new cranes in order to string them together and hang them up on a wall. We needed to measure the string in order to determine the correct amount of cranes we would need. We plan to ask one of the senior care homes in the area if we can donate it to them. We still have a few more cranes to finish but we plan to complete it the next time we are able to meet.
Phred has been our longest ongoing project so far this year, and I’m happy to say it’s almost complete. During June we painted Phred on campus on June 11th. We spray painted sections of the sculpture silver, making it much more shiny and pristine than before. Now that the sculpture has been refurbished with bright yellow and shiny silver, we’re so close to being done. All that’s left to do is another coat of silver paint to finish Phred off. Unfortunately, we used up all our spray cans, so until we get more we’ll be putting Phred on hold.
An inspired guy named Jerry Harris began the non profitable organization, ‘Color A Smile,’ in the early 1980’s when he noticed the colorful artwork on his friend’s refrigerator door. This had reminded him of his son, who he imagined would create a plethora of cheerful drawings. Thus, both him and his wife, Susanne, thought that the idea of collecting drawings from kids and sending them to senior citizens would bring joy to them and began sending artwork to local nursing homes. 30 years later, the organization has flourished, distributing more than a million drawings to this day, from all ages to all places. Members are able to commit more than 10 minutes of their day in hopes of putting a huge smile on someone’s face!
On Saturday, June 19th, our Key Club VP of Service hosted a pet supply donation drive. This donation drive took place at Waikele Community Park from 1 to 4:30 P.M. Any one who wanted to partake in this pet supply drive was asked to bring items that were on the Hawaiian Humane Society Wish List. Since donations don’t count towards service hours, no hours were provided to those who participated. I asked Ria to say a few words on the event she hosted, here’s what she had to say “On June 19th, 2021, I was able to host a pet supply donation drive for the Hawaiian Humane Society. It was a success! However, the process of getting to these amazing results weren’t as great. I had many doubts and little to no confidence that this drive would collect a good amount of items. But with the support of my family, friends and fellow Key Club officers, I was able to do what I hadn’t expected.”
Kapolei Key Club had its first synchronous service project, Cranes for Cancer, on Thursday, June 16, 2021 at 4:05 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. via zoom. Cranes for Cancer is an organization that donates digital origami cranes with messages to cancer patients, specifically at Intermountains Children’s Hospital. Every member of Kapolei Key Club came to do the service project and earned 1 service hour. We listened to music picked by our President, Caitlin, while making the origami cranes to battle the silence. No one complained about her music taste, the songs were great if I do say so myself. After the activity reached its 1 hour mark, all members were required to submit a monthly service project submission form to gain credit for their work.
We had a second session of this same service project on Thursday, June 23, 2021 at 4:05 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. via zoom. Like the last one, it was another success. For both days of Cranes For Cancer, Kapolei Key Club has earned 14 service hours in total, having 2 service hours per member. We learned a lot from hosting our first service project for Kapolei Key Club. Caitlin and I were worried that the participation was going to be low with this service project being synchronous, but we were proved wrong. The responses were positive, and we are looking forward to doing this service project again in the future.
For one of our service projects in the month of June we decided on spreading awareness about the importance of the day. We presented the Juneteenth service project on June 21 to our key club members. For the service project we were to research about Juneteenth and its significance. After this we are to transfer the information from our research and relay it on an infographic using Canva. Lastly, we post and share our infographics through social media or friends to spread awareness.
May
Over the course of four months and counting, one of our ongoing projects has been to refurbish and bring one of our school’s sculptures, Phred, back to life. Phred has been existing on our campus for many decades now – and over the years Phred, while gaining years of wisdom, gained rust, dirt, and a whole lot of ants. So as one could guess, our goal was to bring Phred back to their former glory. While this project took place over a few months, we were only able to work on Phred on Thursday, May 7th. We worked on repainting its lightning bolts a bright yellow hue, spraying the inside with a rust prevention spray, and cleaning the steel horseshoe to prep it for painting. We’ve only been able to work on Phred about an hour or so each time we met, luckily since summer is here we’ll be able to work on Phred more often at more hours at a time. Now until the final coat of paint and beyond, I think we can proudly call Phred Pearl City Key Club’s beloved.
For May’s service project we used two apps to raise money for a good cause. The apps are games our key club members can play to raise money. The game, Save the Trees, is only for apple users, and the goal of the app is to jump around tree stumps and survive to the end of the round. The more you progress through the game the more money you will raise. TippyTap, the company that created the game, donates their profit to Arbor Day Foundation. Arbor Day Foundation is one of the largest non-profit tree- planting organizations. Shave the Day is another game that requires you to run around obstacles and collect coins. The coins you collect throughout the game raises money. Schick Xtreme, the app company donates their profit to St. Baldrick’s Foundation. St. Baldrick’s Foundation is an organization that helps childhood cancer research.
Teachers play a major role in society, especially towards young ones, as they guide students to strive for prosperity and success. Their dedication towards shaping people to become leaders of the world may be overlooked at times… That is why these hardworking and thoughtful teachers are celebrated in the month of May. This year’s specific week dedicated to teachers began on May 3rd, 2021, and ended on May 7th, 2021. During this month, Damien students devoted their time composing letters or creating cards to represent their appreciation towards teachers. Due to COVID-19, some students are no longer in person and have the opportunity to give physical cards in person. As a result, students online emailed paragraphs to teachers, while students who attend school in-person personally gifted their cards to teachers.
Damien Key Club would like to give a huge THANK YOU to teachers all over the world and to our Damien faculty and staff. Thank you for continuously supporting students in our lifelong odyssey towards abundance. Mahalo for also providing a safe environment for us, emotionally and physically, especially during these hard times. We hope to see our Damien Ohana reunited soon!
With the current pandemic starting to ease up, we decided it would be best to try an in-person event. Due to the pandemic, it was extremely hard to meet up in-person and do service projects like we would normally do. After multiple weeks of planning the Park Clean Up to ensure it was as safe as it could possibly be, the day finally came. We chose Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park as our park to clean up. Although we normally go to Blaisdell Park, the board had decided it was time for a change of scenery. Joining us on this Park Clean Up would be the Alakai Young Professionals, the adult version of Key Club. We stayed there for about an hour, ranging from 9am to 10am. Everyone from the board showed up, however, only one member had shown up. We all came prepared
with the recommended things listed on the slide: water bottles, gloves, and trash bags. We had then split up into groups and swarmed the whole park. We picked up every piece of trash we could find throughout the park. After the hour was up, we all met up back at the designated meeting spot and signed off.
April
With all the lovely amounts of projects being offered during the month of April, comes many handmade projects. Luckily, you can drop off your cards, posters, and or cranes! The service projects requiring a drop-off include the following: Mask-Wearing Posters; Crane Making for Cancer; Love Letters for Literacy. On Saturday, May 1st at Blaisdell Park is where you can drop off your service projects from all of April specifically. You can drop off your cards between the times of 10 am to 11 am. Please note that you will not be able to count your projects for hours if you do not drop them off at this designated time and place. Also, keep in mind that this will be your ONLY opportunity to drop off your projects for the month of April. Our advisors and some of the board members—Mr. Joel, Mr. Nitta, Patricia Foronda, and Abigail Macaraeg—will be present. In order to keep us and yourself safe at all times, please be sure to wear your mask as you drop it off. All of the people who will be waiting at the drop-off will be following Covid-19 procedures and laws. I highly encourage you to participate in these service projects! Although they require a lot more work, you’ll not only be helping yourself but helping the club as well! We cannot wait to see all of your lovely service projects and we hope to see you there!
