Picture of the Month!

Important Key Club Information!

The Cabinet

Richard Huang (President)

Sue Yee Chen (Vice President)

Anthony Choi (Secretary)

Olivia Hu (Treasurer)

Ashley Cheng (Editor)

Official Stuy Key Club E-mail

stuykc@yahoo.com

The Board

Jane Yang & Shadia Kim

(Advocacy)

Cissy Lin & Connie Liu

(Art)

Anne Tsay & Irene Kho (Fundraising)

Send articles and pictures to locksmith@stuykc.org

Visit our website

stuykc.org

The Locksmith

Caring—Our Way of Life

November 2007

Volume 3, Issue 2

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Upcoming Events

• Joe K 10K Walk Dec. 9

• JCC Wrap It Up Dec. 12

• Holiday 4 Miler-Dec. 15

• Bake Sale Dec. 18

• MORE TO COME!

Stuyvesant

High School’s

Key Club

Joanna Chen & Pei Xiong Liu

(Locksmith)

Rachel Dekhterman & Judith Chow

(New Projects)

Jing W. Xiao & Snigdha Das

(Public Relations)

Gavin Huang & Victor Ma

(Web)

ACS Flyer Dis-

tribution 2-3

ACS Health Fair 4 It’s My Park Day 5

MSABC 6 Scared Silly Walk 7

UNICEF Boxes 8

In Reflection... 9

Race to Deliver 10

Bowl-O-Rama 11

Crossword 12

Word Search 134

VOLUME 3 , ISSUE 2 Page 2

ACS FLYER DISTRIBUTION It was nine o’ clock on a Saturday morning. Normally, at this time, I’d be struggling to get up. But today, I found myself quite distant from my bed. I was at the Brooklyn Chinese Baptist Church on 8th Avenue, ready to help out with the American Cancer Society (ACS) flyer distribution.

One by one, other Key Clubbers arrived. Before we went to distribute flyers, however, we were asked to set up the third floor of the church for an American Cancer Society Health Fair that was about to take place. Moving the chairs and tables was easy, but blowing up balloons turned out to be a trickier task than I had expected. We quickly faced our first problem as we couldn’t figure out how to work those three gigantic helium-filled tanks. We tried turning the knob on the tank as many times as we could, but nothing happened. Just when we were about to give up, someone accidentally squeezed the nozzle and the red balloon that we had slipped on to it magically inflated. Hooray!

But then there were more problems. Some of our balloons suffered from lack of helium while others looked like they were ready to explode at any moment. Fortunately, as we be-came more and more experienced, our balloons looked more and more like decorations. We quickly found out that the white ACS balloons were much more forgiving than the colored balloons. Though the ACS balloons were thicker and harder to tie up, they were also less likely to give “popping” surprises. Tying the ribbons to balloons was also challenging. One second of mindlessness and the balloon drifts to the ceiling, waiting for one of us to climb onto a chair and escort it down. Who knew blowing up balloons would be so hard?

Finally, after working cautiously for more than one hour and popping 12 balloons in the process, we managed to decorate the room with colorful balloons. Relieved, we all raced downstairs, where piles of flyers and bags of cute little pack of tissues awaited us. We de-cide to split up and spread out on 8th Avenue. As I soon discovered distributing the flyers minutes later, most people were more interested in the tissues than the flyers. I was out-raged by people who grabbed the stuff I handed to them and threw away the flyer right in front of me, keeping only the tissues. There was also a lady who came strolling down the street, collecting the flyers and tissues from each of us. Even more amusing was an old man who asked me if he could get only the tissue but not the flyer. I decided to grant his wish, but I didn’t forget to tell him to go check out the health fair back at the church.

As the tissues began to run out, so did my luck. My frustration grew as more and more people passed by without even looking at me, which made me feel extremely guilty since I am often one of those people who use the ignorance method against flyer distributors. Still, I kept my composure and gave a cheerful “Thank you!” to anyone who accepted the flyers. I was thrilled every time I successfully gave away a flyer, especially to someone who said “Thank you” to me.

By the time I ran out of flyers and made my way back to the church, where I rejoined other Key Clubbers, the third floor was already stuffed with people. As tiring as it had been trying to give out all those flyers, I felt satisfied seeing all the people who had showed up at the health fair. Furthermore, I definitely learned something valuable today – a simple “Thank you!” can really lighten up a desperate flyer distributor!

- Zoe Wu

THE LOCKSMITH Page 3

It was late morning when I stepped off the train at the bustling 8th Avenue stop. Clumsily, I pushed my way through the massive crowd of people. A small group of fellow Key Clubbers were already gathered on the street, and I approached them with a loud “Boomba!” cheer. While I signed the attendance sheet, the project captain explained to me that we would be starting in a short while, as soon as Richard arrived with the flyers. We played “numbers” to pass the time, and after a few intense rounds, Richard finally ap-peared with a large cardboard box full of flyers.

Each of us took a batch of the colorful flyers and made our way onto the streets. Considering the flyers were written in Chinese, I could not decipher anything that was written. However, I knew that they were pro-moting the upcoming American Cancer Society Brook-lyn Family Health Day. Sponsored by the famous American Cancer Society, this event was going to be very important. People could come and be tested for various types of cancer, because one of the strongest weapons against cancer is early detection.

All around me, many Key Clubbers placed flyers in the windows of cars or on the doors of local busi-nesses. I, however, chose to give mine out directly to the people on the streets. Due to the frustrat-ing language barrier that I faced in this pre-dominantly Asian neighborhood, I could not verbally convince anybody to come to the event. Instead, I flashed a big smile at every person that walked by and handed him or her a flyer. Hopefully, that was enough to convince at least some of them to attend the American Cancer Brooklyn Family Health Day and learn about early detection. -Loren Oumarova

ACS FlyerFlyerFlyerFlyer Distribution

Page 4

“Good Morning! Please take a flier…” If you were walking along the streets of Eighth Avenue on Saturday, October 13, 2007, you may have noticed many colorful fliers lying on the ground, or flying in the wind, or in the hands of volunteers with very col-orful and pretty nametags. What’s the meaning of this? It’s the annual health fair of course!

On this day, the American Cancer Society Asian Initiatives hosted a health fair in a nearby church where many sponsors gathered to offer their services to the local residents. These services ranged from free nicotine patches for those seeking to quit smoking, to free mammo-grams for women, to health insurance plans for those who needed them, and more. To insure the success of this health fair, the volunteers and I had a fairly simple mission: to roam the streets of Eighth Avenue and to distribute fliers to everyone. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Not so much.

We headed out at 10 AM aimed and ready. We targeted everyone in sight—shoppers, smokers, drivers, husbands, wives, and even children—no one was spared. We surrounded people to insure that they would take a flier, and we secretly made a pact with the children to give them balloons in exchange for them to persuade their parents to attend the fair. We chased after shoppers and placed fliers in their bags; we went up to drivers in their cars and slipped fliers through their windows; we ambushed smokers to tell them about the benefits of quitting; we won over smokers’ wives who later forced their husbands to get free nicotine patches; we pursued everyone down until our ammunition was used up, and in the end, It was only 11 o’clock.

We headed back to the church and what’s this? The church was jammed-packed! Everyone was taking advantage of the free services, not to mention the children “taking advantage” of the “free” balloons we worked so hard to set up. We saw wives heading to the free nicotine patch table while holding their husbands by the ear, and we saw many people whom we gave out fliers to on the street thanking us for telling them about the fair. As we were just about to take a break, we were in-formed that a thousand more copies of the fliers were made. Awesome! Reload for round two!

If you didn’t go to the fair, you missed out on your one-in-a-lifetime chance to receive a free, stuffed, Fidelity dinosaur. You know you want the dinosaur. It’s green… -Kenny Yu

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VOLUME 3 , ISSUE 2

THE LOCKSMITH Page 5

Among the sea of ways I could have spent my summer, I chose a relatively humble option: toiling

for six hours in Flushing everyday for the local councilman. I did not sit in an office chair, I did not do

any mindless typing, nor did I answer phone calls. Instead, I was sent to work outside to do commu-

nity service, to pick up trash, to paint over graffiti, and to clean up local parks. The councilman, John

Liu, would not stop telling us that politicians were public servants, that he had started his political ca-

reer doing the exact same things we did, doing the exact same grueling hard work we were doing. I

never forgot what he wouldn’t stop telling us, and I still keep in touch with him and his office for

community service opportunities.

They invited me to join them in a tree planting

event at Kissena Park in October. The tree planting, It’s

My Park Day, was part of an initiative by the city gov-

ernment to plant one million trees in parks throughout

the city. Their goal was to plant a thousand trees in

Kissena park in one day, a large feat that required

many dedicated volunteers.

From my experiences at New Visions Garden, I

was more than excited to attend, even if the commute

took an hour, but I wondered how I could help fur-

ther. I decided that this could make a great Key Club

event because this was the sort of community work that members expected to do in Key Club along

with the traditional clean-ups and soup kitchens. So I called the councilman’s office and told them to

expect fifteen teenagers ready to work. They told me that we would have to represent their office at

the event instead of our own organizational entity. I felt awkward wearing a shirt that said Member of

Councilman John Liu’s office, especially when there were several other Key Clubs at the event, but

when we started working, our affiliations didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that we were from Stuy and

they were from Bayside High School Key Club or Townsend Harris High School. It didn’t even mat-

ter that we weren’t representing our own KeWe were all in the same club: the community. We had the

same goals and the same aspirations. We were all there to plant trees. We were all there to

create a better community. Even the councilman blended in with the

volunteers.

In three hours, a force of three hundred vol-

unteers transformed a massive empty lot into a

massive sea of tree sprouts. Our group was the

last to leave.

As we left, a park ranger told us, “Come back

in ten years, and see how much your tree grew.”

-Gavin Huang

It ‘s My Park Day

Page 6

Hope Starts With Me

One by one we all go up to a grab a bright green shirt.

And on that shirt is a ribbon and some words.

Words of inspiration, of someone who may have been hurt.

It clearly says hope starts with me,

But this is something I cannot believe.

How can one person change how things are just to be?

How can one person give hope to the world?

The question stays as I walk through the park

Looking at the leaves around me just twirl.

Hope is such a strong word, filled with emotion,

A word meaning to expect with confidence,

But where’s my confidence and my devotion?

So I stand and look at all the people walk,

Thinking how can hope start with me?

This must just all be foolish talk.

I count the pink items fly on by.

Does hope start with them?

Those that have cried and survived?

Because when I think about it,

Simply in black and white.

Hope can’t start with me, I would just quit.

Then I see their smiling faces and all the

hope inside,

Maybe this hope begins with all of us.

Those who have ever made a single stride.

A stride for hope, a type of decree;

To say this will not bring us down.

And in the end, hope does start with me.

-Helen Song

MAKING

STRIDES

AGAINST

BREAST

CANCER

VOLUME 3 , ISSUE 2

Page 7 THE LOCKSMITH

Halloween Scared Silly Walk I Wouldn’t Enter if I Were You…I Wouldn’t Enter if I Were You…I Wouldn’t Enter if I Were You…I Wouldn’t Enter if I Were You…

Can you recall the times of innocence,Can you recall the times of innocence,Can you recall the times of innocence,Can you recall the times of innocence,

of the Halloweens we once held dear,of the Halloweens we once held dear,of the Halloweens we once held dear,of the Halloweens we once held dear,

of trickof trickof trickof trick----orororor----treating for dentist appointments,treating for dentist appointments,treating for dentist appointments,treating for dentist appointments,

of plastic bloodof plastic bloodof plastic bloodof plastic blood----induced fear?induced fear?induced fear?induced fear?

An event that’s been run for seven years nowAn event that’s been run for seven years nowAn event that’s been run for seven years nowAn event that’s been run for seven years now

was, unfortunately, held on a rainy day.was, unfortunately, held on a rainy day.was, unfortunately, held on a rainy day.was, unfortunately, held on a rainy day.

As I realized how scarce the Key Club members were,As I realized how scarce the Key Club members were,As I realized how scarce the Key Club members were,As I realized how scarce the Key Club members were,

my balloon of enthusiasm simply floated away.my balloon of enthusiasm simply floated away.my balloon of enthusiasm simply floated away.my balloon of enthusiasm simply floated away.

But beware, I warn you, of the frightful ghouls,But beware, I warn you, of the frightful ghouls,But beware, I warn you, of the frightful ghouls,But beware, I warn you, of the frightful ghouls,

of the werewolves that haunt the hills.of the werewolves that haunt the hills.of the werewolves that haunt the hills.of the werewolves that haunt the hills.

There would always be a witch lurking behind a treeThere would always be a witch lurking behind a treeThere would always be a witch lurking behind a treeThere would always be a witch lurking behind a tree

and vampires that would give you the chills.and vampires that would give you the chills.and vampires that would give you the chills.and vampires that would give you the chills.

Our duty was to lead groups of children,Our duty was to lead groups of children,Our duty was to lead groups of children,Our duty was to lead groups of children,

clad in their Halloween gearclad in their Halloween gearclad in their Halloween gearclad in their Halloween gear

through the winding forest of medieval horrors,through the winding forest of medieval horrors,through the winding forest of medieval horrors,through the winding forest of medieval horrors,

ensuring that they stayed near.ensuring that they stayed near.ensuring that they stayed near.ensuring that they stayed near.

Performers stayed true to their roles,Performers stayed true to their roles,Performers stayed true to their roles,Performers stayed true to their roles,

and with eerie music wafting through the air,and with eerie music wafting through the air,and with eerie music wafting through the air,and with eerie music wafting through the air,

truly, a sense of ominous dreadtruly, a sense of ominous dreadtruly, a sense of ominous dreadtruly, a sense of ominous dread

gave the whole ordeal a Halloween flair.gave the whole ordeal a Halloween flair.gave the whole ordeal a Halloween flair.gave the whole ordeal a Halloween flair.

Tour guides stayed out for the entire event,Tour guides stayed out for the entire event,Tour guides stayed out for the entire event,Tour guides stayed out for the entire event,

enduring the showers of rain.enduring the showers of rain.enduring the showers of rain.enduring the showers of rain.

Around 4 o’clock, we headed back to the rinkAround 4 o’clock, we headed back to the rinkAround 4 o’clock, we headed back to the rinkAround 4 o’clock, we headed back to the rink

where hot food greeted our pain.where hot food greeted our pain.where hot food greeted our pain.where hot food greeted our pain.

Actors washed away their makeActors washed away their makeActors washed away their makeActors washed away their make----upupupup

and tore off their costumes and rags.and tore off their costumes and rags.and tore off their costumes and rags.and tore off their costumes and rags.

Everyone enjoyed a warm, filling mealEveryone enjoyed a warm, filling mealEveryone enjoyed a warm, filling mealEveryone enjoyed a warm, filling meal

after an noon of Halloween gags.after an noon of Halloween gags.after an noon of Halloween gags.after an noon of Halloween gags.

If ever you should want to be scaredIf ever you should want to be scaredIf ever you should want to be scaredIf ever you should want to be scared

or have your toddler brother wet his pants,or have your toddler brother wet his pants,or have your toddler brother wet his pants,or have your toddler brother wet his pants,

simply come to Prospect Park’s Scared Silly Walk.simply come to Prospect Park’s Scared Silly Walk.simply come to Prospect Park’s Scared Silly Walk.simply come to Prospect Park’s Scared Silly Walk.

To those with weak stomachs: don’t take the chance.To those with weak stomachs: don’t take the chance.To those with weak stomachs: don’t take the chance.To those with weak stomachs: don’t take the chance. ----Bette HaBette HaBette HaBette Ha

Page 8

Many of you may have noticed the many people around the school that were carrying around small orange boxes, which when shaken produced the sound of jiggling coins. Those boxes were from UNICEF. Stuyvesant Key Club, like many other Key Clubs and organi-zations, has traditionally helped fundraise for UNICEF. Every year these boxes are distributed around October. This year has been no different, and the results have been very successful. From the money collected by Key Club’s dedicated members and the proceeds from the bake sale, Stuyvesant Key Club has fundraised $1,200 to-wards UNICEF.

Those of you who carried the boxes around with you throughout the day, actively or passively attempting to draw bystanders to do-nate, and those of you who donated to others that were carrying boxes—your efforts will not go unforgotten. . Know that for every cent and penny fundraised or donated, an unfortunate, deserving kid in some underdeveloped country will be able to receive aid that he or she desperately needs. Thank you.

James Gu

UNICEF Collection

VOLUME 3 , ISSUE 2

**Amount raised**

$1200 !You guys are

amazing!

Page 9

Being a freshman at Stuy, I decided to join Key Club to see what it was all about. At first, I was awed by all the different things we could do in order to reach a certain goal—to serve the community. As days turned to weeks and the weeks into months, three months of school have flown by. During this time, I have come to realize how powerful Key Club is, service-wise and spirit-wise. The people that make up Key Club are not only intelligent, diligent individuals, but also kind hearted, goofy high school students. Their effort and enthusiasm made Key Club a hit during the

months of October and November.

Key club week, which took place November 11 to 17, proved to be a huge success. Key club week, which took place November 11 to 17, proved to be a huge success. Key club week, which took place November 11 to 17, proved to be a huge success. Key club week, which took place November 11 to 17, proved to be a huge success. Rainbows of different colored Key club volunteer shirts filled the halls, and the word “hey”, Rainbows of different colored Key club volunteer shirts filled the halls, and the word “hey”, Rainbows of different colored Key club volunteer shirts filled the halls, and the word “hey”, Rainbows of different colored Key club volunteer shirts filled the halls, and the word “hey”,

written in different colors and handwriting, was scrawled all over the posters put up in written in different colors and handwriting, was scrawled all over the posters put up in written in different colors and handwriting, was scrawled all over the posters put up in written in different colors and handwriting, was scrawled all over the posters put up in school. Shouts of “BOOMBA!” filled the halls, and “much love” was given to the beaver. school. Shouts of “BOOMBA!” filled the halls, and “much love” was given to the beaver. school. Shouts of “BOOMBA!” filled the halls, and “much love” was given to the beaver. school. Shouts of “BOOMBA!” filled the halls, and “much love” was given to the beaver. Key Club week helped provide a sort of shelter, where all Key Club members could feel Key Club week helped provide a sort of shelter, where all Key Club members could feel Key Club week helped provide a sort of shelter, where all Key Club members could feel Key Club week helped provide a sort of shelter, where all Key Club members could feel united through the random, yet entertaining activities.united through the random, yet entertaining activities.united through the random, yet entertaining activities.united through the random, yet entertaining activities.

Also, we cannot forget the candy sellers, those who have helped raise hun-dreds of dollars, receiving service points, of course, for their dedicated and hard core

selling. These members lug around huge boxes and just keep coming back to sell more. Their efforts have so far helped make our contributions to UNICEF

and the Brock Project possible.. They also are appreciated for another reason, ap-pearing all around the school to satisfy our candy cravings.

Finally, we simply must congratulate those who have gone out of their way on weekends Finally, we simply must congratulate those who have gone out of their way on weekends Finally, we simply must congratulate those who have gone out of their way on weekends Finally, we simply must congratulate those who have gone out of their way on weekends on freezing cold mornings to serve our community. Many Key Clubbers woke up early, giving up on freezing cold mornings to serve our community. Many Key Clubbers woke up early, giving up on freezing cold mornings to serve our community. Many Key Clubbers woke up early, giving up on freezing cold mornings to serve our community. Many Key Clubbers woke up early, giving up their Saturdays to help marathon runners and to help clean up the park, all in 30 degree weather!their Saturdays to help marathon runners and to help clean up the park, all in 30 degree weather!their Saturdays to help marathon runners and to help clean up the park, all in 30 degree weather!their Saturdays to help marathon runners and to help clean up the park, all in 30 degree weather!

So, I must congratulate all of us who have contributed to Key Club and have made it possible to keep the club thriving at Stuyvesant High School. The beginning of this year’s Key Club is proving to be a success, and much more excitement will surely fol-low. Giving our time and energy to performing community service not only benefits the community as a whole, but us as individuals as well. It reflects our kindness and generosity. All of us Key Clubbers deserve a “pat on the back” for our hard work. “BOOMBA!” -Rebecca Kim

THE LOCKSMITH

Page 10

This was the first event that I actually went to. I had set my alarm to 5:45 so that I could get to the event at 7:30 A.M. and let me tell you, it was totally worth it! Un-fortunately, this reporter was actually an hour late for the event. But not late enough to miss helping out, first at the Kid Races and then at the Adult Races! I signed in, got an orange vest, and began to help out. To see those little legs run a quarter mile was so adorable! We rooted for those babies like crazy. Then, it was time for the Adult Races.

One of the workers there asked for some volunteers so my friends and I decided to see what his assignment was. He told us that it was an extremely boring job, where we would be required to do nothing but watch the clocks for about two hours. Yet, we happily accepted! He walked us to his red truck and had us sit in the luggage area. Then we were off to our positions with our heads zooming in the biting cold as the vehicle drove us to the first mile checkpoint. My friend and I got off while our other two friends went to the last checkpoint.

The man set the clock up and told us (Amy and I) to wait for another man to start the clocks at the start of the race, which would be in an hour. So, we had an hour to kill and were stranded somewhere in Central Park. All we knew was that we were near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Our feet were getting frostbitten and we were playing tic tac toe on a gum wrapper. We began watching the first episode of Laguna Beach and were actually half way through when finally some people came and started the clock up. Then the races began! Hundreds and hundreds of people were in the freezing cold and running miles! It was a sight to see. After about twenty minutes, the races ended and we headed back to the bandshell. We returned home with a free tee, breakfast, and happiness! -Ruchi Jain

VOLUME 3 , ISSUE 2

Page 11

Bowl-O-Rama THE LOCKSMITH

Thanks to everyone who came! We hope you had a ton of fun. we’ve got a lot more fundraising events coming up, in-cluding ice-skating.

So, get pumped!!!

Page 12

Crossword

VOLUME 3 , ISSUE 2

Page 13

Word Search It’s Getting Cold!

By: Jensen Cheong

MITTENS

HOT CHOCO-

LATE

SWEATPANTS

SWEATERS

EARMUFFS

HATS

GLOVES

FIREPLACE

THANKSGIVING

RUNNY NOSES

WINTER IS NEAR

JACKETS

ROAST TURKEY

FLURRIES

SNUGGLING

BROWN LEAVES

BARE TREES

SKIING

HOCKEY

GETTING A COLD

SHORTER DAYS

D O P I S K J M Z F J N V H P L K I V D Z F N M Q

D A B T J O Y I M E V P G E T T I N G A C O L D A

B K A L H F N I E V D N X A P I E V X V W Z Y C J

J H H D N P E L Z O I V U G G I M A T B L I E A B

F P A J M E H I N L S I K Z L H A E H W N Y C B G

N O E G L I B E G R U E A A I O U Y A B G K D O O

B Z F P X A T G E D F Z Q P A T V N N N E A K A Y

R A O I L K U T B C U A E E Q C R E K T S T I F T

O H E D R N A O E L P U E H I H N S S W A N Q T T

W O M A S E U O O N I D R B E O C O G M I N G S F

N O O T W N P O T E S D U T O C H I I S T O K R O

L Y T S H H E L G A I A N N T O S S V M I I G H T

E N I D G G U P A B B E N I N L G T I H I E I Y R

A A L A I G S H O C K E Y T I A H O N N P E T E H

V A R T W A A S T T E E N C O T N S G E N S U K S

E X B M E N Q S P E N T O Y E E S O T E R D S R A

S B Y U U N D E O J R G S O I Z N G T R E E A U T

M E A N T F A W N D S W E A T P A N T S I T E T E

S E T R S O F N H J I S S I N J U R E R D A R T I

W I N T E R I S N E A R T G H M T F R O O T A S M

W I D U F T E A R S H I E C O Y U U L D B E S A I

D E E L I N R E Z I M M D F O R L A U N M I E O U

X T E Q V N E E D J M P E R I F O D A S I V A R G

U U J K E L Y R E E C A M X L L T H I E R E Q S N

O O L T O H Q I N S H O R T E R D A Y S G W O R A

THE LOCKSMITH