Hello Sunrise Toastmasters Members and guests!
Rewind from April 1
This meeting was held at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in the North Tower (room NT102A) with 10 members and one guest present.
Secretary Jenna Willingham opened our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance before quickly turning the meeting over to Summer Murphy to lead as Toastmaster for the morning. She chose to weave a ‘Spring cleaning’ theme throughout the meeting. This seasonal ritual is important for all accumulators-of-stuff, not just for clearing up physical space, but also for other domains of life. Uncluttering our spaces and lives brings greater appreciation the items that matter most, items that ‘spark joy’, as Summer’s source describes it, and items that will live on with someone new. To that end, the Word of the Day was weightless, which three clever members used in their responses during the meeting.
Today’s club meeting was a special one for Rita Sturdivant, who completed her Icebreaker speech! In short, Rita explained how her six years in the Army influenced her outlook on life. Motivated to find her voice in front of a crowd, she committed to Sunrise Toastmasters after a prominent speaking opportunity passed her by. After her speech, it was clear to all audience members that she has exactly what it takes to take a second such opportunity head-on. Finally, in keeping with club customs, Rita received a standing ovation for a first speech well done and a silver Toastmasters pin to mark the beginning of good things to come. Congratulations, Rita!
The second speaker, Dave Burr, delighted the club with a speech titled “WASP – The Fastest Flyer.” WASP, standing for “Women Airforce Service Pilots” played a significant role in World War II by learning how to shuttle wartime fighter jets and other aircraft from factories to their various destinations. According to Dave, these aviatrix teams collectively logged over six million nautical miles within two short years, only to be adequately rewarded for their service to their country decades later. As he usually does, Dave successfully lent depth, intrigue, and humor to this topic in a well-organized, seven-minute speech.
Topicsmaster Phil Monroe led the group in table topics by challenging respondents to take on a new job for a day. Eight participants did well to describe a day in the life of this new job, all with varying levels of creativity and good humor. A special thanks to Jenna Willingham for evaluating the meeting in general, to Tim Murphy for serving as Timer/Grammarian, and to speaker evaluators Angela Marsh and Steve Stephens – who gave possibly the most miserable, scathing review of poor Dave’s speech… and the best April Fools prank in recent club history!
Fast-Forward to April 8
Please see the slated roles below:
| Toastmaster | Steve Stephens | |
| Speaker 1 | Walt Abele | |
| Speaker 2 | Tim Murphy | |
| Speaker 3 | Bryan Alston | |
| Table Topics | Joe Stack | |
| General Evaluator | Jenna Willingham | |
| Evaluator 1 | Open | |
| Evaluator 2 | Rita Sturdivant | |
| Evaluator 3 | Dave Burr | |
| Timer/Grammarian | Pam Ku |
