UCLA’s chapter of Circle K International (CKI) attended the 63rdAnnual Circle K International California-Nevada-Hawaii District Convention in Riverside, California on March 17-19, where the club was recognized in outstanding achievements, placing in nine competitive categories with a total of 16 award acknowledgements and two scholarship recipients. With 282 members, the chapter raised almost $23,000 for various charities and volunteered over 10,000 service hours this past year.
The UCLA Chapter was awarded Distinguished Club, First Place in Total Funds Per Member for Independent Charities, Second Place in Outstanding Total Achievement in the Gold Division (chapters with more than 90 members), Second Place in Growth Enhances Membership in the Diamond Division (chapters with more than 60 members), and Third Place in Outstanding Mei Po Wong Overall Service in the Gold Division (chapters with more than 90 members). UCLA has been recognized in club achievement at the district and international levels in previous years as well.
In addition to the club’s overall achievements, the following committee-related awards were presented: Distinguished Member Development & Education to Justin Duong, Michele Wong, Kevin Neung, Carrie Huang, Andrew Ly, and Alejandra Diaz de Leon and Distinguished Kiwanis Family Relations to Sharlene Lim and Andrew Ly.
The chapter’s elected board was awarded with Distinguished Awards for President (Albert Truong), Administrative Vice President (Katherine Pham), and Secretary (Calvin Ly). Ly also received an award for his punctual submission of club Monthly Report Forms. Matthew Lin received Second Place in Outstanding Website Design and Jone Bacinskaite received Second Place in Outstanding Single Service Project for her work as the Large-Scale Service Chair. In addition, Josef Madrigal and Lisa Chong were awarded the Kiwanis Cal-Nev-Ha Foundation Scholarship.
“DCON has always been my favorite event as a Circle K member,” said Albert Truong, 2016-2017 UCLA CKI President. “It is a time for celebration not only for the UCLA CKI, but the entire district of California-Nevada-Hawaii Circle K. This year at District Convention, UCLA was able to take home 16 awards. This achievement would not have been possible without the dedication of my fellow UCLA CKI members. As President, it brings me great joy to see my fellow members being recognized for their hard work. However, at the end of the day, an award is simply a piece of paper and does not define the dedication and passion I see in my members every day. Regardless of whether or not an award was received for any particular category, DCON was a great time for us to reflect and bond as a club.”