May 15th Meeting

Eagles,

Last night’s meeting was a full house, attended by 19 committed members and 5 interested guests!

Tom Corrigan stepped in as Toastmaster, leading a meeting that included three Speakers. As Humorist, Tom channeled his inner Mark Twain, sharing numerous humorous observations.

MaryAnne Shrishac’s quote of the day helped us understand the difference between interest and commitment. Jaime Fisher led Table Topics, providing members and guests an opportunity to share their thoughts on vacation spots. Our members and guests showed not one iota of reluctance to share their favorite destinations.

Our first Speaker, Fred Swiderski, gave his Icebreaker…..Fred shared his passion for learning with the club. Fred was followed by Steve McGirr, Speaker #2. Steve gave his second speech, sharing his passion about fitness. Steve explained how he transitioned from his (previously) favorite food groups of candy, meat, and potatoes to his new favorites of fruits and vegetables. He also gave Ian Brooks a run for his money as Grammarian by teaching all of us a new word – “tsunamic”.

Kate Kelly was Speaker #3, giving a speech about Emma “Grandma” Gatewood, who hiked the 1258 mile Appalachian Trail three times! Kate’s speech was based on the book “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk”. For those of you that are looking for speech ideas, think about a book or magazine article you recently read as they are tremendous sources for ideas!

Thanks to all of you that participated, including the functionaries not mentioned above: Stephen McGirr (Timer), Brad Leete (Ah Counter), Robin Corrigan (General Evaluator), Tony Centorino, Heather McKelvie, and Paula Erardi (Evaluators).

Club News

The District 53 Spring Conference takes place this Saturday, May 20^th…….Jaime Fisher will be competing in Table Topics, and Sandra Centorino will be leading an educational session. Please click on the below link for more information.

http://d53.toastmastersdistricts.org/District53Conferences.html

We are heading into the home stretch of our 2016/17 year with two meetings left (June 5^th and 19^th). Following our June 19^th meeting, we will meet for a social gathering (more information to follow). Our last order of club business will be to determine our officers for the upcoming 2017/18 year that begins on July 1^st. These roles are open to anybody that is interested……Ute provided a newsletter that summarizes the roles. If you are interested, please reach out to Amy Demas (abcdemas@gmail.com), or any of the club officers.

See you all on June 5^th!

Tony Centorino

Eagle Secretary 

May 1st Meeting - May Day! May Day!

Eagles,

Our May 1st meeting, with Yours Truly, serving as Toastmaster, featured an Ice Breaker, a Labor Day Lesson, and a History Tour Double Feature!

Fred Swiderski served as our Humorist, telling us a story about where the parrot found the Frenchman. He was followed by Brad Leete, who provided us a quote from the Curious Case of Benjamin Button.....Brad broke the Eagle Toastmaster record for longest memorized quote from a movie!

Ian Brooks served as our Table Topic Master where he called 6 Toastmasters to the lectern. For those of you that could use a "Red Book Project", and did not absquatulate when called up, seek out an Eagle that saw you give your TT for Project 1 credit.

Bernard Bostic gave his Ice Breaker where he offered several life lessons such as "you're either growing or going backwards". Bernard took a big step forward by giving a well organized story of his life, while stumping Ah Counter, Steve McGirr with 0.0 ah's and ums!

Tom Corrigan took us for a tour at the Museum of the American Revolution. bought us lunch, and then gave an after lunch speech where he finished the tour. A vivid way of sharing his love of American history and teaching us a few things!

In between Tom's speeches, Ute Brinkmann, shared a fascinating account of how Labor Day came to be in her speech "Just Another Day".

A word of thanks to the functionaries not mentioned above.....Heather McKelvie (Grammarian), Richard Freeman (Timer), and Kate Kelly (General Evaluator). Our Speech Evaluators included Joseph Oddie, Brad Leete, Fred Swiderski, and Sandra Centorino.

Other News

We are heading into the home stretch of our 2016-17 TM year (it ends on June 30th). Amy Demas led a discussion on what Eagle's officers do and Ute Brinkmann provided descriptions of each role in the news letter. 

If you are interested in increasing your participation in Toastmasters, please consider any of the 7 officer roles. Feel free to reach out Amy (abcdemas@gmail.com) or any of the officers to learn more. 

Note that each year, several officers change so if you are at all interested, please reach out! Also know that the President has a 1 year term limit, so that office is definitely open!

Also....Congratulations to Sandra Centorino. Sandra has been selected to be an educational speaker at the upcoming District 53 Conference in Bloomfield CT on May 20th. Sandra presented a trial run of "Heroes don't look like they used to"......Thanks to the inputs from our club, she is in the process of adapting her speech to a 40 minute version!

Our next meeting is on May 15th, with Joseph Oddie serving as our Toastmaster.....Please sign up for something! 

And bring your Red Book so you can check off another project!

Tony Centorino

Eagle Secretary