Here is a list of some of our members who have chosen to make their profiles public.

 

 

SPEECH FUN!

Many of our members have had some fun with their recent speeches. Peggy Meyer (pictured above) dressed and presented as Wilhemina during her 20^th speech in June 2016, “Comical Communication for After Dinner Entertainment”.

 

 

SENTRY SPEECH CRAFT SPRING 2016 GRADUATES!

Another great speechcraft has ended.  Above you can see our gradutates with our President (lower right) Joni and our Speech Craft Coordinator (lower left) Terri.  This was a big class with a big impact.  Everyone had a great speech the last night and good thing too, because Pete Mcpartland (Sentry Insurance CEO) was present and said a few words too.

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR COMPETITORS

Sentry Toastmasters sent 2 fine individuals to compete in our area international and table topics contests.  Helen ran the contest while Darko (pictured third from the right in back) placed 3rd in the prepared speech and Jeanna (third from left in front) placed 2nd in table topics.  Congratulations to all who competed.  It was another great event.

 

SENTRY SPEECH CRAFT FALL 2015 GRADUATES!

Sentry Toastmasters hosted another great speechcraft.  Above you can see our gradutates with our President (lower left) Joni and our Speech Craft Coordinator (lower right) Debbie.  We have 4 new members from this speech craft and look forward to seeing them be accomplished Toastmasters.  At this speech craft graduation we also celebrated the career of Marcy Kirsch.  Marcy was a charter member of the club in 1981.  We were sad to see her leave, but were so thankful for her years with the club.  We will miss you Marcy!
 

Marcy Kirsch giving her last speech with Toastmasters.

 

 

 

 

 

Meet our friendly Club Officers for 2015 – 2016

 

(back row)

Luke Arneson: Treasurer

Frank Simonis: Sergeant at Arms

Debbie Carcy, CC, CL: VP of Education

Matt Meis, CC: VP of Public Relations

 

(front row)

Joni Lodzinski, ACB: President

Deborah Ginsburg, ACS, ALB: VP of Membership

Helen Roman, CC: Secretary

 

 

 

Peggy is now a CC!

Peggy Meyer (left) completes her Competent Communication designation within six months of becoming a Sentry Toastmasters Club member.   She gave her 10^th speech at the Speaktacular Event held in December 2015.  Congratulations, Peggy! (pictured with club president, Joni Lodzinski on right)

 

Peggy's thoughts: Toastmasters continues to inspire major changes in every part of my circle of life and I am ever grateful for the choice I made to join. I highly recommend it for the reasons stated and for the inspirational camaraderie of the members from all Toastmaster groups.  One can move as far and quickly as they desire, from local to world wide achievements and feel the amazement and joy as I have.  Toastmasters is a quality organization, continuing to grow in an outstanding manner for which I intend to be with for a long time to come. 

 

 

 

 

 

Members

By Matt Meis, CC

 

We have some awesome members in our club.  Here we are in all our glory.  The year is 2015 and we are excited.

Top Row (Left to Right): Luke Arneson, Matt Meis, Debbie Carcy, Jen Steuck, Dick Hawley

Middle Row: Brian Cychosz, Sandy Meis, Terry Ballenger, Joni Lodzinski

Bottom Row: Tom Treder, Frank Simonis, Ciana Rose, Deborah Ginsburg, Helen Roman

 

Attending the District 35 Spring 2015 Convention

By Helen Roman, CC

This was my first, but will not be my last!  I’m talking about the 2015 District 35 Spring Convention

“Blaze the Path – Pass the Torch!” was the 2015 District 35 Spring Convention theme held in Marshfield.  213 dedicated Toastmasters (including 55 first timers) broke away from the glorious spring days in early May to attend.  Even though this was my first Toastmasters convention it will certainly not be my last. From the Friday night roundtable which had only 6 of us (one of which was the President-Elect of Toastmasters International, Jim Kokocki), talking about many subjects, to the Hall of Fame Saturday night - it was all fantastic!

Friday night:  After the roundtable with Kokocki, we were all treated to 5 excellent speakers from our District competing in the Tall Tales Contest.  Mike Wade from the Stevens Point Toastmasters’ club won and will represent our District in Las Vegas this summer.

Saturday:  Since our own Sentry Toastmasters club earned its Distinguished Club Award, we were invited to a private breakfast.  Debbie Carcy and I were included in the procession of club banners donning our 2 banners with Debbie representing the tenured member, and I as a first-timer.  

We applied the divide and conquer method to catch as many sessions offered.  Our very own Dick Hawley led a session called “Is your Club Ready for the Moments of Truth?” and participated in a Panel discussion on “Corporate Club Panel Discussion”.

I was exposed to the updated Revitalized Education Program (REP); attended the District Business Meeting; and listened with amazement to another 5 contestants for the International Speech Contest.  Michael Frohna from the Green Bay Yackers Toastmasters Club will join Mike Wade in representing our District in Las Vegas this summer.

In addition to myself, fellow members from our club in attendance were:  Joni Lodzinski; Debbie Carcy; Matt Meis; Don Broderick; Brian Cychosz; Dick Hawley; Ciana Rose and Tom Treder. 

Overall my experience was meaningful – the caliber of speakers has challenged my speaking goals and the REP will be exciting to participate in and share with our members.  Seeing the leadership within our District reinforced the level our own members have attained in the past – and will continue in the future, as exemplified by our own Brian Cychosz who competed in the newly created position in the District, for Club Growth Director.  It was all quite impressive!

 

Toastmaster Growth

By Deborah Ginsburg, ACS, ALB

I find that having earned my Advanced Communicator Silver and Advance Leader Bronze has been an exceptionally rewarding experience for myself personally. The delivering of the speeches has helped me grow tremendously. This has helped me share information about my faith in a very supportive and engaging environment. The opportunity to meet and work with so many wonderful people within the Toastmasters Community has been greatly enriching as the Leadership Roles required going well beyond the club level. If you ever the opportunity to embark on that path, take it! It is an awesome growth and development experience and you’ll find many people in Toastmasters willing to help you when you ask, and many volunteering to help as well.

As I approach my achievement of Retirement, I cannot help but believe that Toastmasters has helped me make this goal a reality. There have been others ahead of me that have approached retirement and did not want to have a celebration and I know some of it was their fear of public speaking. I am looking forward to my celebration and am embracing it including the speaking a couple of minutes in front of my associates!

I feel so blessed to be part of a caring and sharing community

 

   

Designation Time

As our club grows we individually learn.  Pictured above are Sree, Kyle Zdroik, Helen Roman, Debbie Carcy, and Matt Meis.  Debbie has reached her Competent Leader (CL).  The rest have all achieved a Competent Communicator (CC) level in Toastmasters, finishing their 10th speech with flying colors!

     

New Members!

We are excited to announce 3 new members.  Two are pictured above: Jen Steuck and Luke Arneson.  Sandy Meis is has also been accepted as a member and is not pictured here.  As our Toastmaster organization grows our club gains new perspectives and becomes better-rounded.  Welcome new members!

 

 

Competent Leader Designation

By Linda Hammerschimdt, CC

 

Receiving my Competent Leader Designation is something that I am very proud of.  Without the assistance of everyone within Toastmasters, I would not have been able to achieve this goal.  I have sharpened skills, such as, Planning and goal setting, delegating, coaching and motivating team members.  I also served as Vice President of Membership which has given me more confidence as a leader.  My next step is to earn my Advanced Leader Bronze.  If you are looking for a way to sharpen your communication and leadership skills, join Toastmasters!  It is a positive environment where everyone encourages each other.  Thank you everyone for helping me obtain my CL!

 

 

Toastmaster of the Year - 2013

By Debbie Carcy, CC

 

It was a great honor and privilege to receive this award. I would like to sincerely thank my Sentry Toastmaster peers for believing in me, especially my mentor Terri Ballenger for her time and and committment to excellence. Her dedication and enthusiam inspires me every day to lead by example. The communication and leadership journey for me has not been an easy one; it does take time, effort and change. The award was unexpected, and I am truly humbled and grateful for the many opportunities to serve the club.

 

 

Toastmaster of the Year - 2013

By Joni Lodzinski, CC

 

Thank you for presenting me with this incredible honor.  This award comes with surprise and gratitude for the mentoring and believing in my leadership ability before it had come to fruition in my eyes.  In the course of time invested in Toastmasters and reaching a higher level of communication skills, I have truly enjoyed the process, not entirely easy, but enjoyable when one is supported and led by outstanding leadership.  I would encourage everyone to the challenge of initiating change and having the courage to make new goals.  Thank you for each person who has played a part in assisting my progress and helping me grow and bloom where I was planted.

 

I started Toastmasters a little over a year ago and I have been glad I made the decision to start.  The members make this organization one of the best I have ever participated in.  With helping attitudes and smiling faces each member helps welcome and guide along new members.

I wanted to get more involved and started doing as many speeches as I could.  Then I found out about the speech competitions.  I was lucky enough to represent our club in the humorous speech competition last fall and then in the table topics competition this last spring.  Both of these contests have taught me a lot and have just broken the surface of what toastmasters can be.

I look forward to starting on the leadership committee as a VP of Public Relations and look to further mine as well as Toastmasters goals in the coming years.

I wish I could say achieving Advanced Communicator – Gold was something I actively pursued, but it just happened as a natural part of being active in Toastmasters.  I have focused on the leadership responsibilities of the organization for the past several years and completed speeches as needed along the way.  One day I was organizing my manuals and realized that I met the requirements for the next designation.

Completing the Advanced Communicator – Gold designation is the culmination of various communication requirements.  Achieving this designation begins with the completion of the Competent Communicator, Advanced Communicator – Bronze and Advanced Communicator – Silver awards.  The  40 completed speeches along with coordinating programs such as SpeechCraft and other Toastmasters International approved seminars compile the communication requirements for this designation.  In addition, the individual must mentor a new Toastmaster member.  The Advanced Communicator – Gold award is the highest level of communication awards recognized by Toastmasters International in their educational program.

Achieving this designation has been a work in progress that required the support and dedication of many other people.  I am grateful to the members of Area N-2 Toastmasters and specifically the Sentry Toastmasters for providing me an opportunity to serve in a capacity that allowed me to develop my communication skills.

It was such a great honor to represent Sentry Toastmasters at the Area N-2 Humorous Speech Contest on October 11th 2012! Ever since I can remember, speaking in front of others presented great challenges for me. This immense fear drove me to join SpeechCraft in the Fall of 2011 and I shakily spoke my way to Graduation Day 6 sessions later! This was a huge milestone. The decision to become a member of Toastmasters a few months later was not an easy one but my desire to become a better speaker was greater than my fear of commitment.

I won the Area Contest, and advanced to the District 35 Northern Division Humorous Speech Contest held on October 20th 2012. I won the Division contest, and earning this success was far more than I ever imagined! I entered the Humorous Speech contest at the District 35 Fall Conference held on November 3rd 2012. I did not win this event but the momentous experience I gained from participating and listening to the other speakers at this level will last a lifetime. Becoming an active member of Toastmasters is one of the best decisions I ever made.    

I started Toastmasters in July 2009 and took a little over 2 years to get my Competent Communicator designation. I was just really busy my 1st year as a Toastmaster with everything else I had going on in my life but once I actually said, “OK, I am going to get this designation”, it didn't take that long.

I think it will help me in the future and in my job, if I ever have to give presentations. I would recommend Toastmasters to anyone who feels they could use a little help delivering speeches and presentations. I am now working on completing my Competent Leadership designation and hope to have this complete sometime next year.

I am most appreciative of the “Rookie of the Year” Award and have the plaque at my desk so I and others can see it! Receiving the award was not expected and my being the recipient was a wonderful surprise! Though I was not asked (you have be a former recipient of the awards to vote), I am also able to confer agreement that Brian Cychosz is deserving of the “Toastmaster of the Year” Award! This has been a wonderful year, so much to learn and the curve is still pretty steep with so much available to tap into. Brian has been wonderful in helping me navigate the role as President of Sentry Toastmasters of Stevens Point! So many exclamation points and the only explanation being it is intended to convey the level of excitement that’s been part of this year. I’m also looking forward to the upcoming year as your Area N2 Governor.

I was honored recently to receive the 2010 “Toastmaster of the Year” award presented by Sentry Toastmasters. Recognition from my Toastmaster peers and mentors is extremely humbling and inspiring. I am happy to do my part to further the vision of Toastmasters - to help others realize their dreams through development of their communication and leadership skills resulting in individuals finding the courage to change. This is why we continue to give the gift of Toastmasters to others. It is our contribution toward improving our world.

The Spring Convention theme was titled "Capital...ize Your Toastmasters Skills" and was well attended in Madison with more than 180 registrants and our club was represented at various parts of the meeting by Dick Hawley, Roberta Bie, Brian Cychosz and myself. The business meeting included the election of the officers for the upcoming term starting July 1 and the dinner was concluded with the induction of the new officers and area governors, myself included as N2 Area Governor. Aside from the issues relating to the microphone, the facilities were quite nice and the wait staff very helpful and efficient. The speeches and learning sessions were well done and the opportunity to meet other Toastmasters from other clubs was fantastic.

By the way, the name of the speech contest winner is Dhanashree Thangaraja--she is the speaker that re-started her speech due to the microphone difficulties--she will represent us very well at the International Convention later this year and it could not have been an easy decision for the judges as the other contenders also did an outstanding job of presenting their prepared speeches.

Competent Communicator! CC! How great it that to see the “CC” after your name knowing it is earned, and not given! This project of completing 10 speeches has not been easy, nor has it been overly difficult. You see, I have earned this designation in the supportive environment of the Toastmasters International environment and most notably, Sentry Toastmasters! My club has been extremely supportive of me and I am most appreciative of them for that support.

It has been rumored that people would rather die than give a speech. Ahh, and once you start conquering a fear, you might start conquering other fears too. That is how it has been with me. Thanks to my club, because I have been conquering my fear of public speaking, I have also been able to look at other fears in the face and start conquering them too, like working on my fear of heights.

Since joining Toastmasters, I am able to go down the huge escalator at HQ without it preventing me from doing what I want to do, or prevent me from going where I want to go. I have been on the Eye in London and a walk in the tree tops in England. Where I would have sat on the sidelines rather than attempt something due to a fear, I try to remind myself that with courage and support, it is doable. I still have this huge amount of frustration when my computer acts up and forgets that I have already purchased the Microsoft products at considerable expense. Obviously, this is something else to work on to be sure. I encourage others who are working on their CC to keep going in pursuit of it, it is definitely worth it and you will not regret it! And for those in pursuit of their DTM, go for it!

Whew! It’s over, well not quite. This is how I thought I would feel after completing

Speechcraft in the fall of 2007 and my final speech to receive the Competent Communicator Award. After each accomplishment, there is just another challenge waiting, and I can do it at my own pace.

I have enjoyed the last 3 years immensely. I am so grateful to those who took time out to mentor me, allow me to evaluate them, and gave me the chance to take on the small leadership role as Treasurer. I use what I have learned every day at work! I am amazed at how my listening skills have grown.

I have received many compliments from co-workers and repeat participants in courses I instruct, that I have become a better instructor, become more patient, slowed my pace, look more relaxed in front of a group, and most importantly I listen. I owe compliments like these to Toastmasters!

Thank you to all who helped me to achieve my goal.

I joined SpeechCraft just over two years ago just to get more comfortable speaking in front of a group. My first speech I gave, I was shaking so bad, I couldn’t let go of the lectern. By the end of my third speech, I was better and thought – I made it through SpeechCraft. I accomplished my goal!

Much to my surprise I was wrong. I was told I could do so much more by joining Toastmasters. At first, I thought, what am I getting myself in to? But as time went on, I was glad I joined. I also assumed the role of Secretary, which I will be relinquishing in July.

As a manager, I need to be able to lead others. The experience I have gained through Toastmasters has enabled me to be a more effective leader. Not only by speaking, but also by listening. Receiving my CC designation was a great accomplishment for me. I look forward to reaching more personal goals and continuing as a member of Toastmasters. They are a great group of people!

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