The members of the Lake Toasters Club (990426) feel that it is important to use the skills that they have learned and honed in Toastmasters to give back to their community. One of the ways they do that is by being involved with the 4-H Tropicana Public Speaking Contest.
How does the Lake Toasters Club get involved? Each year members of the Club mentor students who are preparing for the contest. Other members serve as the judges for the contest.
This year the Golden Triangle Club (1152249) also participated by mentoring students and the Lake Harris of Leesburg Club (1336393) will be providing a judge for the County level contest. One of the goals of the Area Governor, Cathie Catasús, ACB, ALB, is to involve all of the Clubs of Area 73 in this wonderful endeavor.
“An important part of developing leadership skills is giving back to the community,” Cathie says. “The partnership we have established with our local 4-H Program affords us the opportunity to not only develop our leadership skills but mentor the young people in our community to become better communicators and perhaps even future Toastmasters.”
For the past three or four years Harry Fix has been a judge for the Tropicana Speech contest in Lake County. “Our Club meets in our County's Agricultural Center which houses the County's 4-H Program,” says Harry. “One year 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent contacted our Club and we've provided judges for the contest ever since.”
The Lake County Tropicana Speech contest is held in the Bob Norris Auditorium of the Lake County Agricultural Center. According to Harry, the auditorium is full of students, parents, and a few teachers. Most of the public elementary schools as well as a few private schools participate each year.
Harry's passion is evident when he speaks about his involvement with the program. “The energy and enthusiasm of the students is incredible. Each of these students has already won at their class level, their grade level, and then at their individual school level and are now competing at a county-wide level. The students are incredible not only in the delivery of their speeches but the crafting of them as well.
“Each speech is a minimum of two and a maximum of three minutes long with only a two second leeway. I could never imagine doing a speech in which I only had a two second leeway but these students do it and they do it amazingly well. Each year about a fourth of the way through the contest I'm mentally kicking myself. The students are all so good that it is extremely difficult to separate first, second, and third place winners.
“Because I actually work as an administrator for the school system I feel very proud not only to be a part of the contest, but also to know that I have had a part in helping these students in the daily work that I do as the Director of Planning for the School District of Lake County. This year I will not be participating as a judge so we can rotate other Toastmasters through and give them an opportunity to serve as a judge.
“I believe that all Toastmasters should clamor at a chance to help out in their local Tropicana Speech Contest. It is a perfect way for them to use their skills to help the youth of their community.”
Cathie Catasus talked a little about her own experiences. “I have judged it for the last 3-4 years as well,” she said. “I will be judging again this year too. I also had the opportunity to work with many of this year's contestants in a pre-contest workshop.
“About 15 students came in (during their spring break) and presented their speech in front of myself and a small audience at the venue where the contest is held. This was their chance to practice and also to receive feedback about their speech. I was able to give them pointers on how to improve their performance for the contest – imagine the opportunity to give 15 speech evaluations!
“These students really are an inspiration to watch! They create their speech on any topic of their choosing – in past years I have heard speeches about fishing, why smoking is bad for you, Michael Jackson, musical theatre, cancer, sibling rivalry, making cupcakes and many more unique topics! As we all know, public speaking is a great skill to have and these kids are learning it at the perfect age. They are confident and do a great job every year. As a parent it really feels good to be able to help mold our future Toastmasters!”
If you are interested in involving your Club(s) in this educational program, please contact your local County 4-H organization leadership. For additional information about the Tropicana Speech Contests, you can visit the following link: http://florida4h.org/news/public_relations/tropicana.shtml
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