The Next Generation

Our four newest club speakers came together to deliver the best opening speech day I can remember during my past five year association with all Toastmasters clubs that I have been a member of.  The theme of the meeting was The Next Generation and the theme was about them.  The one thing they all successfully did was most certainly justify the theme selection.

The recent injection of new faces and blood into the club continues with these four students but the most remarkable aspect of their individual performance was that they presented at a high quality despite students in every college and university facing the challenge of preparing for end of term exams.  I have seen how hard our own four university students are currently working as they navigate a string of forthcoming exams, and we had several members of the club who could not attend because they needed to focus on exams.

The first generation of the club was essentially 20 students who were in the class of the club founder Ruben Burga in a business program.  Ruben continues to be in the club as its sole faculty advisor and the arrival of 2017 is already showing signs of being momentous for him, for reasons that are beyond the club itself.  One cannot plan for getting the right people on the bus, it is always a vaunted goal of recruitment, but engagement is an entirely different matter. Without personally driven and engaged club members, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  It is fantastic when things come together in providence rather than planning.

With these additions and recent additions, the Class of 2017 will match up very well with the Class of 2012.  We already have filled one executive position with a member of this quartet, and as we look to expand the executive team next year, there is a richer pool of talent to draw from. Back in the day, the Class of 2012 produced a promotional video for the club that provides a time lapse insight into the club itself.

As a club of course we look forward to moving into the new building and we are currently working with the students union to prepare for our new home but a home is not anything without a family and that is what the Chinese symbols on the theme for the meeting represent - these are the symbols of home and family.   It is our former Club President Daniel Anupol who came up with the expression "We are Family".  Last night The Next Generation was on full display and the transition year now is behind us - and as a club we can now deal with the nicest problem to have, which is called success.  No home is complete without a family of students who bring brilliance, meaning and quality to it.  The new members we are now gaining have helped to establish the foundation of the Next Generation, and we really look forward to 2017.

""