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We asked, and you clicked! Anyone who joined the Circle K International Alumni Association before April 1 was entered into a drawing for a US$100 gift card. The winner is Rich Thigpen, a 1990 graduate of Auburn University.

Rich’s experiences with Auburn’s CKI club shaped his priorities as a young adult. He enjoyed service activities such as counseling at Camp ASCCA, a summer camp for children living with disabilities, and visiting the pediatric ward of the East Alabama Medical Center while wearing a dragon costume.

“It definitely helped me continue on with community service after college,” he says. “When I got into the workforce, it was at the back of my mind to find a job that allowed me to take time off to do charity work. It wasn’t all about career advancement for me.”

Now a computer service support manager at the University of California, Los Angeles, Rich says he joined the association to reconnect with other CKI alumni from his time as international trustee to the Missouri-Arkansas, Texas-Oklahoma and Western Canada districts in 1989-90.

He remains connected to the Kiwanis family by serving as UCLA’s CKI club advisor.

“It’s fun to see [club members] grow and mature during the time they’re in CKI,” Rich says. “I’ve been faculty advisor long enough now to see them come in as freshmen and then graduate. One graduate this year wrote me a nice thank-you letter and said he wanted to be an advisor to a CKI club too.”