16
AUGUST 2012
district events
dcon
service
Cody Stapornkul
UC Los Angeles
Why am I still a part of Circle K? Why do I
still continue going to meetings? I’ve always
asked myself this until I attended the only two
events I’ve been to (yes, I’m shamelessly admitting this): DLSSP and, most importantly,
DCON. District Convention was definitely a different experience that I didn’t expect to have.
I’ve been to Key Club DCONs, but Circle K’s
DCON was not the same at all. I pictured myself sitting there off to the side, just observing everyone as they cheered on, trying to be
louder than other schools. I didn’t think I’d
have long conversations with anyone, particularly people from other schools. Part of
this was because I hardly even knew anyone
from my own club, so how would I even get to
know people outside of UCLA if I just sat there
looking antisocial? Little did I know, things
turned out to be different.
When I stepped foot into the Marriott, I
saw groups of people interacting with each
other and thought to myself, “What did I get
myself into? This is going to be a long weekend.” Surely enough, I ended up awkwardly
standing there by myself near a couch trying
to figure out what to do. Everyone from UCLA
seemed to know each other, some were
blowing up the dinosaur balloons, and other
schools were blabbering away.
Eventually I met up with Leonna and a few
other people, and somehow glitter hairspray
ended up on the right side of my fohawk and
a dinosaur scratch was going across my face. I
guess from that point on, I got pretty pumped
up, more than I should have been. The friendly smiles I got from UCLA CKI-ers didn’t help
to tone down the mood at all. When it came
time to yell out cheers during the first general
meeting, I tried my best to spit out what I remembered from half an hour earlier (which
was when I first learned most of the cheers).