Her Campus Adelphi had the honor of interviewing both Ashley Gitlitz (president of Circle K) and Rohit Singla (president of Paws and Rewind) before their event Caroling for a Cause.
Her Campus Adelphi. What is Circle K? What is its aim?
Ashley Gitlitz. (photographed 2nd chair from the left) Circle K International is a club that isn’t formed through Adelphi. It starts with K Kids, Key Club, Circle K, and then Kiwanis—so we’re under a large scale so we do a lot of large scale service projects under the college level.
HCA. So what are some of the projects that Circle K has done here?
AG. In the past we’ve done a haunted ballroom for suicide prevention, we’re doing Caroling for a Cause tonight, and next week we’re making little care packages for Santa to give out to under-privileged children. Pretty much every event we do is dedicated to service or building leadership. We go to a lot of retreats with all the other Circle Ks in the region.
HCA.What is your goal for Caroling for a Cause?
AG. So we have adopted a family of two adults and three children so our goal is to raise enough money so we can get them some warm bedding, extra clothes, and maybe an extra toy for each child so that they’ll have a joyful holiday. Usually that’s about a goal of $500-$1,000. If that money’s not raised within the two days we’re doing it, then we’ll cover the rest of it with our budget.
HCA. Do you have any big plans for the future?
AG. Our biggest goal for next semester is to bond as a club. For our first meeting for the next semester is a mug contest so everyone’s gonna bring their cutest mug and we’re going to bond with each other. We want to get everyone to know each other and become more of a unit. So when we do more of our service projects we make more of a difference by working together.
HCA. What are some of the biggest obstacles you face as an organization?
AG. Being part of a university, some students don’t wanna come out and make the effort. So we try to make them wanna be social and do community service so we can make the biggest impact.
HCA.What made you want to bring Paws and Rewind to this project?
Rohit Singla. Well it’s the holiday season! We did it with them last year and we love it; we have a lot of fun except it wasn’t as organized and we didn’t have coverage but it was a really fun event. It’s for a great cause and we get to practice all our songs.
HCA. What goals do you have for Paws and Rewind?
RS. Well we definitely want to get our name out there more. Also we want to have fun with it and get closer as a group. Hopefully down the road we can get sponsorship from the university.
HCA. Do you have any other collaboration plans?
RS. Well this year we did an event with SASA. We’re working with the chair for Relay for Life so we can perform at that again.
HCA. What are the challenges for being president of Paws and Rewind?
RS. I think that the biggest thing for me is keeping everyone together, keeping morale up and making sure everyone is on the same page. In the past, communication’s one of the things that we’ve struggled with and we’ve worked on that and have come a long way. Like you said, there’s always room for improvement.
HCA. What personally is your favorite thing that you’ve done with Paws and Rewind?
RS. There’s two things that come to my mind. We went to this a cappella invitational at St. Joseph’s. It was basically a bunch of a cappella groups coming together to sing. We interacted and made friends with them. Then Blue Jupiter was obviously a great gig. Not only that, but they came back for a second time for a vocal training session. That was really helpful.
We joined Circle K and Paws and Rewind for some carols. They sang classics like “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Deck the Halls”. People were very responsive and eager to donate. It was great to see the holiday cheer in our local town Garden City. We wish these orgs the best of luck with their future endeavors!