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Sunrise Toastmaster Amelya Black will represent the Division in the District 37 Speech Competition on April 30 at 2:15 PM EST. Register here to attend the competition and cheer on Amelya!
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Our perceptive President, Kelsey Long, opened this week’s meeting by acknowledging Earth Day. She noted that Earth Day prompts more talks about the current climate crisis, and asked that we all remember that those negative climate changes, while they do affect all people, affect disadvantaged people and people of color disproportionately. Kelsey reminded us those types of disparities are at the core of what drives the Black Lives Matter movement as she led us into our usual minute of silence in support of the movement. After a quick reminder about our new club policy on flagging bias, Kelsey turned over the meeting to the Toastmaster of the day, Dave Burr.
We had 15 members in attendance. Dave, chose teamwork as his word of the day, noting that the arts specifically foster diverse, creative teams. Throughout the meeting, Dave encouraged us to promote these bastions of teamwork by supporting the arts.
The first speaker of the day was Tanuja Reddy, giving her first Icebreaker speech in her chosen pathway, Dynamic Leadership. In her speech titled “How in the World Did They Say OK??!!” Tanuja gave us a glimpse into her world, growing up as a person of Indian descent in America. Tanuja talked about her deep ties to the Indian community when she was a child in a town near Chicago. She explained how, on a trip to India for a family wedding, those ties prompted her to ask her parents if she could stay in India and go to school there. Tanuja still doesn’t know how in the world her parents gave their ok to that move, but is grateful for the rich experiences she gained as a result. Now back in the US with her own husband and family, Tanuja feels that spontaneous decision to spend time in her family’s home country has shaped her life in many positive ways. Norris Bass served as Tanuja’s evaluator, noting that, despite this being her first speech, she did not look nervous at all. Norris also complimented Tanuja on digging in and sharing something personal with the group, and observed that she had great eye contact and hand gestures. Congratulations to Tanuja for completing her Icebreaker! We are happy to have her as part of our Sunrise Toastmasters family.
Summer Murphy was the second speaker and gave an Icebreaker speech from her new pathway, Engaging Humor. Summer gave a talk titled “The Makaha Valley Chorus” in which she playfully described the various wildlife that serenade her and her husband while they are visiting Hawaii. The group heard about roosters’ conspiring to wake the sun up earlier each week, peacocks playing out a really loud episode of the Waltons, and Spot the gecko narrating their nighttime adventures. Personification of the animals’ thoughts and actions as well as some fun gecko imitations added to the humor of Summer’s speech. Summer’s evaluator, Angela Marsh, congratulated Summer on her new journey in this Humor pathway. Angela also cheered Summer’s obvious “glee and delight” as she presented her speech, noting that the audience mirrored her enthusiasm.
Kerstin Haase served as Table Topics Master, and gave the group a teamwork exercise as the members worked together to try and make their way out of a virtual escape room. Members lamented over locked doors, sputtering candles, a mysterious laundry shoot and a literal elephant in the room but were finally successful in their escape.
Alvin Powell served as the General Evaluator, and gave a thorough review of the meeting. Renuka Korlipara served as the Timer, and reported on times for the prepared speeches, Table Topics responses and speech evaluations. Savannah Murphy served as Grammarian, and noted our grammar faux pas and the word of the day usage.
The next Sunrise Toastmasters meeting will be at 7 am, April 29 EST on Zoom.
The roles for that meeting are as follows:
Toastmaster: Savannah
Speaker 1: Tim
Speaker 2: Greg
Table Topics: Anu
Gen. Evaluator: Dave
Speaker 1 Eval: Karen
Speaker 2 Eval: Renuka
Timer: Amelya
Grammarian: Alvin
Join us at Sunrise Toastmasters and see how the teamwork of this dynamic group will help you become a more confident speaker and a more effective leader!
