This year’s District Convention (DCON) occurred in Portland, Oregon, from March 8-10. Students and officers from all over the PNW in Key Club, a popular leadership and community service-oriented club, participated in this annual event.
The point of the convention is to train incoming Key Club officers for their upcoming responsibilities. The conference sufficiently trains future leaders, allows attendees to vote, and provides opportunities for students to socialize and meet other members from the region.
Aside from the elections and training, participants at DCON participate in varying workshops like “How to Get Key Club Famous” and “How to Lead a Big Service Project”.
This year, senior Elissa Hong, president of LSHS’s Key Club, was in charge of deciding who attended DCON this year. The club could afford to take twenty students. People who were interested applied, and then the club’s officers read over the application to choose the best candidates.
“There’s a lot of factors in deciding who gets to go because we went out of state, so it’s important we picked the right people who would stay with us,” Hong said.
LSHS’s Key Club chapter selects two delegates to vote for the higher offices at DCON. The incoming president and vice president were this year’s delegates. Junior Rylee Aguinaldo, next year’s vice president, and one of the two delegates, attended the annual event this year. While there, she went through vice president training to prepare for next year while participating in various workshops.
“My favorite part of DCON was going there with the seniors to bond with them and just to put myself out there,” Aguinaldo said.
The convention is fundamentally an educational and social gathering to help students become strong and responsible leaders like Aguinaldo.
Senior Amir Oumarou, secretary for LSHS’s Key Club, celebrated his hard work as an officer, networked with other students and attended workshops.
“I got to meet new people, and I got to participate in workshops like ‘How To Get a Date’,” Oumarou said.
At this workshop, students were able to socialize and meet new people – even make new friends.
Oumarou’s responsibilities as the secretary are to give reports at the end of each month, type up meeting minutes, and keep track of who attends events and who participates.
Key Club teaches students and leaders the responsibility of leadership and how to work together and be outgoing. DCON’s annual event is a beneficial opportunity for students to enhance these skills.
