Ohio Key Club DIstrict Convention 2012

This past April, I traveled with some of my fellow Key Clubbers from Avon Lake to the Ohio Key Club District Convention in Columbus. I was not excited about going. The convention seemed to be boring and I felt that I wouldn't talk to anyone there. I had never been to a Key Club convention before. The only reason I decided to go was because I was nominated for Most Outstanding Key Club Member in the state of Ohio.

I got up at five o'clock in the morning on Saturday, April 21, and made my way to the buses that were taking several different Northeast Ohio Key Clubs to the convention. The ride took about two and a half hours. Once there, we dropped our bags off in a side room of the convention center, and immediately went to a meeting. The meeting was for host clubs, who look out for violations of the Code of Conduct set by the Ohio District Key Club. After the meeting, my fellow Key Clubbers and I walked to the kick-off session with a band by the name of Pout. The band did an awesome job. Next up on deck was the one mile walk for our ELIMINATE project, which is aimed to eliminate materanl and neonatal tetnus. A well-deseved lunch followed.

After lunch, our chaperones gave us the keys to our hotel rooms and we walked 10+ flights of stairs since the elevators were crowded. That was a delightful experience I would enjoy for the rest of the weekend. I digress.

During the afternoon, forums are held for attendees of the convention. I atteneded forums on officer positions of Key Club, hypnosis, and my favorite of the three forums, a session on expressing your feelings through art, with the main foucs on the feelings associated with bullying. The two artists both had experience with bullying, and they created a website for victims of bullying.

Dinner came and went, and then my friends and I went to play board game in our hotel rooms.

The awards ceremony followed breakfast, and I was quite nervous. My award was one of the last ones announced, so I sat through the whole program nervous . And then, the governor of the district read my answers to the application qquestions for the award. At that moment, I was so happy to be the best Key Clubber in the state!

The convention turned out to be a great experience. I joined Key Club in Spetember, and became the best member in Ohio in April. This complete rise to the top in only seven months opened my eyes to the fact that this is true: anything is possible. If someone strives for a goal, and devotes his/her time and effort to the goal, they will achieve it. There is no doubt I will participate in Key Club next year. I have made many lasting relationships with my advisors and members.