Five Years of Leadership

Five years is an important milepost in the life of any club or organization. It marks the point where the group passes from being a bright idea or a short-term project to becoming an institution, an ongoing part of the community.

 Oak Hill Toastmasters celebrated that milepost on Thursday, March 14 with a dinner at Serranos Café and Cantina. The dinner, attended by more than thirty past and present members and their guests, marked the anniversary of Oak Hills receipt of their charter from Toastmasters International in March 1997.

 Building a new club is always a challenging undertaking, and the anniversary dinner was an occasion of triumph for those who worked to found the organization five years ago. Jan Elliott, president for the current year, presented certificates to all past presidents of the club, seven of whom were in attendance (see above). She then introduced the club's first president, Carol Cespedes, who recognized some very important guests who had helped in the  formation of the club in 1996 -1997. This included past District 55 Governor Lark Doley, past Area 60 Governors Debi and Steve Sigrest, past International Director Paula Tunison, original Club Mentors Carol Cespedes and Darrel Thurman, original Vice President for Membership Tricia Garret Gonzales, and original Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Scaife. 

Since no Toastmaster gathering is complete without some speaking, veteran Table Topicmaster Darrel Thurman came forward to involve all of us in sharing our personal experience in Toastmasters. In the end, we were, as Jan Elliott so aptly puts it, "popping our buttons" with pride.