Hello Sunrise Toastmasters Members and guests!
Rewind from January 15
This meeting was held at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in the North Tower (Room NT102A) and started at 7:00 AM with 10 members present.
VP Membership Tim Murphy opened our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Next, he handed it over to President Summer Murphy to lead the meeting as Toastmaster for the morning. According to Summer, lifelong learning is a virtue and a cultivated practice. Those who learn the art of polymathy (Word of the Day) revel in the joy of broad-based knowledge and insights. In her topic selection, Summer challenged us to keep a learner’s approach to life. What a great goal to set before us in 2016! As she reviewed the agenda, she noted that Jan. 15 is a landmark day for two Toastmasters making their introductory speeches – what a great meeting this will be!
The first speaker, Phil Monroe, completed his first Toastmasters speech, titled ‘The Farm of Life.’ What does a tobacco auction and Arizona-based tech company Intel have in common? Answer: Phil! Though his interests led him all over the States, he holds fast to his unique upbringing as a farmer’s son. Congratulations, Phil, on the first of many speeches! The second speaker, Pam Ku, also completed her first Toastmasters speech, titled ‘Taking Risks’. As she reminisced a once-in-a-lifetime bouldering experience, Pam showed us how her pragmatism might sometimes threaten the spontaneous joy – in her case, it almost cost her a breathtaking Western sunrise that she will always remember. Pam is striving to take more risky adventures this year, and we daresay this speech is evidence of that. Congratulations, Pam, on your Icebreaker speech! The third speaker, Jenna Willingham, completed her seventh speech in the Competent Communicator manual titled ‘Grace.’ She illumined the life story of an unlikely mother-son pair and the lovely image they paint of grace. Jenna delivered an evocative and insightful speech that illumined the anti-transactional, unfair, and transformative nature of a grace-filled act, heart, and life.
Phil Stringer led the club in Table Topics, of which the club enjoyed 5 rounds before moving into evaluations. Thanks to Walt Abele, Dave Burr, and Mike Stipanov for serving as evaluators, to Tim Murphy for evaluating the meeting in general, and to Joe Stack for serving as Timer/Grammarian.
Just before the meeting adjourned, the President and VP Membership held a pinning session recognizing Phil Monroe and Pam Ku for delivering their first Toastmasters speeches!
Fast-Forward to December 22
Please see the slated roles below:
| Toastmaster | Dave Burr | |
| Speaker 1 | Bryan Alston | |
| Speaker 2 | Walt Abele | |
| Speaker 3 | Tim Murphy | |
| Table Topics | Mike Stipanov | |
| General Evaluator | Jenna Willingham | |
| Evaluator 1 | Joe Stack | |
| Evaluator 2 | Lolita Henley | |
| Evaluator 3 | Steve Stephens | |
| Timer/Grammarian | Phil Stringer |
