In the opening remarks, President Kerstin Haase recounted the tragic collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter, which resulted in the deaths of teenage figure skaters returning from a national competition, along with their mothers and coaches, and a group of union steamfitters from the Washington, D.C. area. The flight, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, collided with a Blackhawk helicopter transporting three soldiers over the Potomac River, and it appears that all on board both aircraft were killed.
In a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, the group observed a minute of silence, muting microphones and turning off cameras.
The meeting was then passed to the Toastmaster of the Day, Tina Joe. She introduced the Word of the Day (WOD), “stamina,” sharing that it refers to the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort, enabling individuals to perform tasks over time despite fatigue.
Toastmaster Dave Burr introduced the first speaker, Toastmaster Summer Murphy. In her Level 1 Presentation Mastery project titled “Focus, Racket Back, Move!” Summer shared her inspiring aspiration to become an author and illustrator of children’s books, highlighting how insights from her tennis coach can help her achieve this goal.
Dave evaluated Summer’ speech, commending her exceptional delivery. Dave provided constructive feedback, identifying areas where the speech could be further strengthened.
Our esteemed guest, Matthew Choate, introduced the second speaker, Toastmaster Tim Murphy. Tim delivered a moving speech about a memorable experience with new friends, recounting their visit to the Sanctuario Maria Delatador De Nudos, a local Catholic sanctuary. At this sanctuary, visitors write prayer requests and expressions of gratitude on ribbons, which are then tied around the space. Tim expressed his astonishment at the breathtaking sight of millions of ribbons adorning the sanctuary.
Matthew evaluated Tim’s speech, offering thoughtful feedback and identifying areas for improvement. Great job, Matthew, for stepping in as the evaluator and actively participating! Your contributions are appreciated!
Toastmaster Dave Burr led an engaging table topics session, offering participants to respond to thought-provoking questions centered around “Stamina.” This exercise aimed to foster quick thinking, effective articulation, and confident on-the-spot communication skills. Great job, everyone!
Toastmaster Kerstin Haase served as a General Evaluator, providing comprehensive feedback on the meeting and commending the exceptional performance of participants. Toastmaster Tim delivered the Timer report, ensuring each segment adhered to the allocated time. Toastmaster Kerstin shared the Grammarian report, offering valuable linguistic feedback and shared resonating quotes with the group.
Toastmaster Tina Joe smoothly handed over the meeting to President Kerstin to wrap up and officially adjourn the meeting.
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The next Sunrise Toastmasters meeting will be at 7 a.m. on Feb 7, EST. If you would like to join our meeting as a guest, contact us for the meeting link.
The roles for the next meeting are as follows:
Toastmaster: Savannah
Speaker 1: Tim
Speaker 2: Abdulrahman
Table Topics: Summer
General Evaluator: Dave
Evaluator 1: Norris
Evaluator 2: Tina Joe
Timer: (Open)
Grammarian: Kendra
