On October 23, St. Vladimir Toastmasters members provided a heartfelt feedback session for speaker, Grace Jisook Park for her 10th and final speech with the club. Grace announced that she was leaving St. Vladimir’s and Toronto to pursue a new job at the University of Memphis.
Grace joined Toastmasters on April 15, 2019 and aggressively worked through the Pathways program, delivering speeches every second week in order to improve her public speaking skills. The club watched Grace progress enormously over the period and learned a tremendous amount about speech-language pathology, her chosen area of research.
“I relished the fact that I could receive professional evaluations on my speeches from members and my mentor (Matthew Kleinosky),” said Grace. “The club provided a safe and positive learning environment where I could practice my speaking skills and be outside of my comfort zone while learning and growing.” Grace was visibly emotional while receiving positive feedback about her six month progression. “They said that my progress was transformative,” she said with a tear and smile.
St Vlad’s Club Secretary and Grace’s mentor, Matthew Kleinosky said, “Grace embraced three key ideas and quickly went from student to model example: courage, feedback and gratitude.” He added, “Grace demonstrated that someone can learn the skills and ideas to become an excellent presenter in under six months! Audience engagement, humour, vocal variety, pausing, flawless structure—Grace went from novice to what now looks like a natural.
St Vladimir’s wishes Grace great success on her journey and hopes that she will settle into a new Toastmasters in Memphis.
“I will be missing the club a lot,” Grace said.
As of November 11, 69.6% of District 60 members signed up for Pathways and selected their path.
Contact pathways@toastmasters60.com for trainers or assistance
