Tarrant County alliance brings new opportunities

The day could not have been more exciting! On Tuesday morning, October 26th, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court approved our proposal. Brenda Daniels, Gary Chiu and Pat Quick were in attendance to witness the vote. After six months of negotiations, Afterburners has forged a deeper partnership with Tarrant County. Since March, we have been at risk of losing our meeting location at the Tarrant County Plaza building, but thanks to several key people at Tarrant County we are now secure in holding our weekly meetings, officer training, contests and Youth Leadership series in the building by offering Public Speaking and Leadership classes to the Tarrant County Employees.

This new alliance will give our more advanced speakers the opportunity to work on their training skills. Also, because conducting a Youth Leadership series is one of the prerequisites for achieving a DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster Award), the extra Youth Leadership classes will assist more of our members in achieving their DTMs. We are grateful to everyone who helped make this happen. A special thank you to David Phillips, Tina Glenn and Dean Lampman. We are looking forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with Tarrant County!

Pat Quick

Go to the Commissioners Court agenda page,  click on the Oct 26 agenda, and you can see pdfs of the actual documents and a video of the meeting. Fast forward to about 24:00 to see our little part.

June 3: Youth Leadership is BIG Success

The spring 2010 Youth Leadership class held their Recognition Party and Speech Contest last night. There were so many participants, we couldn't even fit everyone in one picture! About 60 people attended and enjoyed good food, speeches, and fun. More information will come, but here are some pictures of the festivities.

It's Youth Leadership time again!

Our next Youth Leadership will start on Thursday night, April 22nd and will meet every Thursday evening from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm for 7 weeks. This course is for children ages 8 through 17. If you know someone who would like to attend, please let me know so I can get them registered. Also, if you would like to participate and assist Youth Leadership Coordinator George Arndt, please let either George or me know that you would like to help.

Pat Quick

Dec 1: "Youth Leadership" leads the way

Veteran Toastmaster Mac Mercer was our able Toastmaster but youth held the spotlight. The Best Speaker ribbon was won by 16-year-old Austin Starnes. His mother Kenna Starnes took the prize for Best Table Topic.

Austin won the speech contest in the Afterburners' fall Youth Leadership program. Participants in this program believed they also were winners because of the basic speaking skills they gained.

Other prepared speeches included a humorous sales pitch by Mac Mercer (he was doing double duty) and an interesting speech by Theresa Eller about her relative Joseph Conrad.

Tom Brents

Speaking of eating . . .

Hunter Allen enjoys doing just that at the Fall Youth Leadership festivities on Nov 5th.

Fall Youth Leadership Program wraps it up

The fall Youth Leadership program came to an end on Nov 5 with a Recognition Party and Speech Contest. Six young men gave speeches while their parents and other family members listened. Afterburners members served as timers, vote counters and judges, along with several outside judges from District 25. The rules, standards and procedures were the same as for a regular Toastmasters speech contest.

The contest winners were:
First Place - Austin Starnes, "The Difference Between Error and Failure"
Second Place - Dan Walton, "Picture Perfect"
Third Place - Seth Morehead, "What Happened to the Hindenburg"

Coordinator Pat Quick  recognized several Afterburners members for their contributions and announced there will be a spring session of the program, dates to be determined later. Some of the current participants are planning to be back.

The parents brought lots of delicious food and a celebratory cake to the "party" segment of the evening's program. A very good time was had by all!

Jodie Sanders

Don't forget about the Youth Leadership Speech Contest on Thursday night

It starts at 7 pm in the Kornfeld Room which is downstairs on the first floor of the building where we normally meet. The parents are bringing food. If you can help out in any way, call Pat Quick, 214-537-1788. Otherwise, please come and support an important project of our club, and several very fine young people who deserve an appreciative and discriminating audience.

Sept 17: Youth Leadership Meeting

Tonight was the second session of the youth leadership program. If you have never been to one, it is a streamlined version of a regular meeting with an instructional component. The participants (between ages 8 and 17) elected officers at the first meeting. President Austin (above left) called the meeting to order and led the Pledge. Vice President Dan (below) was the Timer (with me as assistant). Three young men gave prepared speeches. Seth told us some things about his life and what he likes to do. David (above right) wants to be an astrophysicist one day so he told us something about the solar system. Ian is a fencer and spoke to us about the three different fencing weapons: foil, épée, and saber. All three speeches were interesting, informative, and well-delivered.

Program coordinator Pat Quick evaluated the first two speeches, then the whole group contributed to the third evaluation. Each one singled out the best aspects of the speech, areas needing improvement, and finished with a positive comment.

Pat introduced the meeting role of the Listener. One new role will be added each week. This week Robert took it on, and had six great questions at the end of the meeting. Everyone had the answers immediately, proving to be great listeners. Next week's meeting will add an Ah-Counter.

After a break, assistant coordinator Linda Coleman asked table topics questions about different aspects of the Internet. Parker Arndt demonstrated how it's done with the first question, then Kyle, Dan and Austin each gave it a good shot.

Pat discussed the elements of a great speech, illustrating many of her points with examples from the speeches we had just heard. She gave the assignment for next week — the participants have a booklet to read.

I liked being at this meeting — listening to the speeches, talking to the guys and their parents, and seeing Pat lead the program. We should all take the time to go at least once, to support our club's program and the young men and their families, and to simply have an enjoyable evening that makes you feel good — and doesn't cost anything!

Jodie Sanders

Sept 1 meeting: "Cuban Culture"

Dámaris Thorn was Toastmaster. She read a little from a book about a cucharacha named Martina, illustrating several aspects of Cuban life. Dámaris left Cuba on a plane, not a boat, in 1960.

The big event of the evening was the very auspicious debut of Robert Castle, the Youth Leadership First Place Contest Winner. His parents and brother Nick were also present.

Tony Morris, Mack Mercer and Brenda Daniels gave excellent speeches. Brenda showed slides of the now-infamous "Hills" trip and skewered Parker Arndt a few times. Mack was his usual entertaining and informative self, giving us much good speaking advice and dropping to the floor at one point. As for Tony, we should all hope that we do not drive on the same streets, live in the same neighborhood, or shop at the same grocery store as he does.

Jodie Sanders