On April 21, Cypress Woods Key Club embarked through the floods on a four-hour journey to Dallas, Texas where the 67th annual Texas-Oklahoma Key Club District Convention (or DCON) was held. The convention is held to recognize and honor the Key Clubs throughout Texas and Oklahoma that went above and beyond in service projects, amount of hours, or any other unique way they promoted service. The club was recognized as #7 out of all Texas and Oklahoma Key Clubs while also receiving two senior scholarships for Secretary Sharon Zhou and Historian Gina Zhang. Cypress Woods Key Club President- junior Leia George- received the position of Treasurer on the Texas-Oklahoma District Board, which will require her to connect with all Key Club treasurers throughout the Texas-Oklahoma district while also attending board meetings in Dallas a twice a year.
The recognition of the club as seventh overall at DCON did not come easy according to Cypress Woods Key Club Secretary junior Ashley Kawakubo.
“This past year Cy Woods Key Club has worked very hard in completing hours, turning in reports on-time and has truly experienced the meaning of volunteering,” Kawakubo said. “Our outstanding officer team and members have allowed our Key Club to succeed in becoming number seven in the district.”
Current President Anushua Mantrala agrees with Kawakubo and believes the main reason for the club’s success came from the extensive planning that went into their activities.
“Our Key Club really tried to do as many events as possible,” Mantrala said. “We would plan activities with our Builders Club (which is our Middle School Branch), plan service projects to do in the meetings, plan socials with the other Key Clubs in the area, and so much more. We really tried to be as involved as we could and as active in service in the community.”
Immediate past Secretary Sharon Zhou played a crucial role in getting the club to be seventh out of all of Texas and Oklahoma and received the $1000 William & Ann Gay Bishop scholarship for her hard work.
“As Secretary, one of the things I personally did was try and make sure we got the maximum amount of points per month via [our] monthly report,” Zhou said. “This year, we also had a much larger number of interclubs and socials, which is something that we improved upon from previous years. Even something as insignificant as having more officer meetings per month, or reminding members to show up to their events and get their hours forms signed helped in tiny ways to help improve the club as a whole.”
When the names of clubs were being called out starting with the rank of 25 at the final convention ceremony Mantrala felt adrenaline rush through her- she was sure of the club’s top 25 ranking, but did not know what ranking they would receive beyond that.
“Whenever the countdown was in the single digits, I was getting more and more excited because that meant we placed high,” Mantrala said. “When they announced us as seventh I was so thrilled because I knew how hard our officers worked to make the year successful. It was so touching to see some of us in tears of joy because it really showed me how if you have a deep passion in something, you’re going to try your hardest to make the biggest impact and to succeed- which is what our club did.”