Key Club: First one in Sri Lanka

As of today, February 24, 2011 the Overseas School of Colombo has officially joined the Service program called the Key Club.  The Key Club "is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization whose goal is to teach leadership through serving others. Key Club International is a part of the Kiwanis International group. Each local Key Club is, in turn, sponsored by a local Kiwanis club." We were joined by Trevor Rajaratnam, Daya Ratnayake, Mrs Williams, Mr Coles and Ms Shameela in order to carry out the ceremony.
 

 It is Ms Shameela who has encouraged all of us (CAS leaders) to join the club. Some of us have also been nominated as either President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Editor or Directors. Below are the people who got voted for the positions:

President: Damien Martin
Vice President: Harini Liyanage
Secretary: Annie Gillstedt (me)
Treasurer: Terunaga Tamura
Directors: Hee Soo, Maheshi, Sandushi, Avin, Keisha and Alex.

 I thought that the installation ceremony went really well. We were all told our individual duties and responsibilities in the Key Club which will help us personally become better leaders and youths. The installation was done by Daya Ratnayake which was the nation representative. The President, Vice President, Treasurer and the Secretary were all given small badges with their position written on them.


My responsibilities as a secretary are as follow: 

• Prepare and distribute at least three newsletters to club secretaries and at least 10 monthly newsletters to the district board. Cover important topics in a timely manner, including:
  o Role of club secretary
  o Club roster collection
  o Upcoming district events
  o Other responsibilities/duties
• Develop materials for and conduct a club secretary’s workshop at the district convention at the end of his/her term of office.
• Distribute copies of all district board minutes to district board officers and the Kiwanis International Office, preferably within 15 days of the board meeting.
• Attend the following gatherings:
  o District convention at the beginning and end of term
  o Secretary’s forum at the international convention
  o All district board meetings
• Present a secretary’s report at all official board meetings.
• Submit a district convention report (including contest winners and election results) to the Kiwanis International Office, preferably within 30 days of the convention.
• Produce and distribute a club officer directory to clubs and district officers within specified time limits, and produce addendums to the club officer directory as needed.
• Demonstrate a strong relationship with the board liaison by sending all copies of the district secretary’s board newsletter to the liaison and communicating at least once per month with him/her.
• Strive to make all communications timely, well written, free of mistakes and follow the Key Club graphics standards. 

I think this will be a great opportunity for me to become a better leader, which is one of my goals for joining the Key Club.  I am also willing to put a lot of effort into this and keep everything organized and up to date as a secretary.

Track and Field

Track and Field started on the 15th of February and since then I have attended 2 of the practices. The goal of track and field is to improve an athletes skills, endurance, and personal bests. Before I started track I thought about some goals that I want to achieve during the season which are as follows:
1) Beat my personal records in high jump, long jump, 100 and 200 meter sprint
2) Encourage others if they are struggling with something
3) Become a better athlete
4) Focus on techniques
5) Try my best through out the season
6) Make the team

From the 2 practices I have attended I know that I have to build up my stamina since I haven't done that much sports since the football season except for motocross. I also need to practice my high jump and long jump techniques since I have forgotten some of them. However I believe this will be achieved during the 6 weeks of training.Overall I hope this will be a great season and I will keep the blogging about my achievements!

Week Without Walls

From January 24th to 28th my grade (11) went down south to Hambantota located about 6 hours away from Colombo. Our reason for going was to have have community service in some of the rural schools there. The grade was split into two groups: the shi group and sha group, in other words 11.1 and 11.2. Week Without Walls is a chance for students to learn outside the class room and to help the community around them. It is a great activity that enhances the following things from a student:

1. Leadership skills
2. Work Cooperatively and productively
3. Stick to an Activity
4. Understanding of the community around us
5. Organizacion
6. Time management
7. Discipline

Before we went we were asked to come up with some goals that we wanted to achieve. I thought about my goals for a long time and in the end they became the following:

1. Become a better leader.
2. Work cooperatively and productively with other students.
3. Bond with the children at the school.
4. Enhance my creativity skills in the mural activity.

From all the goals that I have listed I think i was able to achieve all of them. I became a better leader by helping out with the painting of the mural and taking part in our concert that we had to perform to the children on the last day. I worked cooperatively and productively the whole time we were at the school and helped out when needed. The children at the school were really shy at first but then as I got to play with them, for example draw with them i thought it was really nice and enjoyable. This way I was able to achieve my goal to bond with the children at the school. My creativity skills were improved since we had a theme which was outer space and because of this I was able to practice my painting skills and contribute to the mural group and the school.

I really enjoyed the whole week in Hambantota with the whole class and the teachers which attended our trip. The teachers inluded Ms Flynn, Ms Shameela, Ms Fernando, Mrs Williams, Mr De Silva and Mr Lockwood. They all helped us with the planning and the organizacion before we went.