Carol Smith (2020-2021)

Thank You For A Great Year

September 2021

Aloha, this shall be the last letter from Pearl Harbor current President, Carol. At midnight on September 30, 2021 the gavel shall be the responsibility of incoming President Aladdin. I am sure those of you who have read my blabbering during this last year will be much happier to read our incoming presidentʻs words of wisdom in the future Kiwanis year of 2021-2022,

This has been another challenging year for all of Kiwanis, not just Div 22. We can only hope that all the lessons learned will be helpful in our furture AND we will not have to relive any of the ʻnot so good timesʻ, but still can cherish all the good times.

Pearl Harbor did have some wonderful times and continued to do what we could, when we were able:

  • Held our first virtual installation, during which we attempted a chinese auction. The best part was that we could still laugh about it in the end!

  • The Club was honored with three (3) new members.

  • We were able to continue distributing Kiwans Therapy Dolls to Shriners Children’s Hospital - Pali Momi Children’s Ward - Children’s Justice Center.

  • When the USS Missouri allowed us to return to continue our monthly work day at the Missouri, we went back and are hoping to bring back our Key Clubs to help when their schools and parents appove.

  • There were several times when we had the opportunities to help with food distributuions with various programs.

  • In the spring, we began holding our General Monthly Meetings in-person, while offering virtual at the same time AND we did the same for the Installation of the Incoming Officers and BOD and guests.

Mahalo nui loa for all the support given to me by the members of the Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor throughout the entire Kiwanis Year 2020-2021. You are all awesome and please know I really appreciate everything.

~ Carol L. Smith

President of the Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor

Reflection ...

August 2021

Aloha to members and friends,

As we approach the end of the Kiwanis Year 2020-2021, I am looking back at all of our club’s accomplishments. Of course, it has not been smooth going, but we are still here! As I look back to date, there have been many WHOOPS and times of confusion by me. Fortunately, we are still in the go-forward mode, and I know we shall stay in that lane as long as the Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor exists.

One of the tasks of the president of Pearl Harbor Kiwanis is to write a monthly newsletter article. I do not look forward to writing these messages. I have groaned and moaned about it often. Kay never forgets to remind me of the end of month deadline! Now as much as I moan and groan, I look way back to the beginning of this century, when I was a fairly new Kiwanian elected president for the first time at Pearl Harbor. I opened my mouth and said “there should be a message from the president in our newsletter each month!”

~ Carol L. Smith

President of the Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor

CONGRATS to our wonderful six SLP clubs!

July 2021

You are going back to in-person learning. There has been a big pothole in life this last entire school year. You have survived! You have figured out how to make it all work. You showed strength and resilience. You learned to handle the last year - doing whatever was allowed by your individual schools. You stepped up and did the very best you could during all the time of uncertainty and confusion. You learned to ZOOM meetings and then went over and above often training yourselves on more of the technical aspects. You were creative and I

know you did your best – that is what KEY Club is all about.

Now your next challenge will be to go back to school in-person, while continuing to stay safe. I am pretty confident things will be different than last year, but I know you will succeed. You shall work it out and there is a plus coming for you – back with your Key Club friends and school mates.

Thank You – Thank You – Thank You for what you have done and what you will accomplish in your future. Each and everyone of you are awesome and I look forward to seeing you in person as soon as allowed. Please never forget YOU ARE TERRIFIC!

Aloha and I thank each of you for being a part of Kiwanis and KEY CLUB.

“The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving with passion and compassion and humor and style and generosity and kindness.” — Maya Angelou

~ Carol L. Smith

President of the Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor

Welcome Summer 2021!

June 2021

ALOHA to All: I don’t know about you but it has been a long time coming to this place we are in at this point in time! It is finally easier to see that little pin point light at the end of your own tunnels (squint if you must to find it). How wonderful it is to only have a mask for “just in case” times. We now usually have a choice to wear or not wear a mask. Gee, I can smell the flowers once again and I don’t even care what kind of flowers. They are all wonderful!

P.S. There is one “down note” to no need for masking. I became very lazy during all the mask wearing months. No one could see under it right? So a new habit of no make-up became the norm for me. Now I forget to cover up this old face of mine with that goopy stuff!!! Not good at all!!!

My last thought for this issue is – did the men also enjoy their freedom from a razor on a daily basis and do they forget, too?

Mahalo nui loa to all, make up and/or fuzzy face or not!

~ Carol L. Smith

Proud President of the Kiwanis Club of Pearl Harbor

Total Well-being

January 2021

During our transition into distance learning, I learned about the importance of both students and teachers to maintain their physical and mental well-being. When we go through college to get our degrees and when we are in the act of teaching, it is often forgotten that our health, both mental and physical, impact our daily lives. I was always focused on getting the job done. In college, I would pull many all-nighters to study for exams. When I first started teaching, I would constantly be bringing home work to do overnight or over the weekend. Especially as teachers, I think that we feel it is our responsibility to do this to ensure the success of our students. But, this was not balanced for me. I remember being completely drained by the end of my first semester.

Now that we have been teaching online for almost a year now, I am always thinking about the amount of stress that I have as an adult and think that our students must be feeling it ten times worse. I now realize (more than I did when we were teaching in-person), the importance of providing the opportunity for our students to develop a healthy physical and mental well-being. Yes, teaching my content is important, but there are ways to do it where the students won’t feel so overwhelmed. As a teacher who is only teaching one subject, it is easy to forget how I felt taking six different classes and having homework and projects for all of those classes.

Aladdin Roque-Dangaran

Vice-President

(serving as interim President as Carol takes a short respite)