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CLUB HISTORY
" Without
continuous personal development you are now all that you will ever become."
TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL 1903-2006 - 103 years FROM
CONCEPTION TO PRESENT
1924-2006 - 82 years FROM
FIRST MEETING TO PRESENT
Dr.
Ralph C. Smedley was the founder of Toastmasters International. He graduate
from Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, in 1903, and took a job
as director of education for the local Young Men’s Christian Association.
He realized the older boys needed training in communication and began a
public speaking club, “The Toastmasters Club”. When he went to other
organizations, he always organized clubs, but they dissolved when he moved.
On
October 22, 1924 as YMCA director in Santa Ana, California, he held his
first meeting of the new “Toastmasters Club.” The idea soon spread and
other clubs sprang up. The new clubs were organized into a federation that
incorporated in 1932 as Toastmasters International (TI), the first manual
was copyrighted, and officers elected. It became international with a club
in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.
TI
continued to add new clubs. The first club organized in the US outside of
California was in Seattle, Washington, in 1933 and chartered two years later
in 1935. In 1933, the first issue of the Toastmaster magazine was
published. District 1 was also instituted in Southern California in 1935.
By
1938, Charter No. 100 was presented to TI in Santa Ana. An Inter-Club
speech contest started in August of that year. By 1946 District 18 of
Scotland became the first district organized outside of the U.S. In 1948
the First TI Articles of Incorporation were published.
From
1950 to 1968 the processes to achieve CTM and ATM awards were improved. Dr.
Smedley died in 1965 at the age of 87. TI continued even stronger than
before. In 1970, the first Distinguished Toastmaster Award (DTM) was
issued. Then a milestone was achieved in August 1973—the membership opened
to women.
In
the years since 1973, the organization was been invigorated – no resting on
laurels or retirement here. The Success/Leadership Program was introduced
in 1979 and membership reached 100,000 in 1982. The ATM-Bronze and ATM
Silver programs began in 1984 and membership reached 150,000.
The
two track educational requirement recognition system began in 1997 and the
latest newsletter states the number of members at over 200,000 with over
10,000 clubs
(average 22 members per club) in approximately 70 countries.
SIGNAL PEAK TOASTMASTERS
Club
Chartered
September 30, 2002
Distinguished Club
2002-2003
President's Distinguished Club
2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006,
2006-2007,
2007-2008
D3
Leadership Excellence Award
2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007,
2007-2008
Our club had
its first orientation meeting on January 4, 2002. Abbott-Ross
Laboratories and Central Arizona College were the two sponsoring
organizations--our parents so to speak.
Our first
Club Officers were elected.
The birth was a struggle. Should we increase our membership by
meeting at Ross rather than CAC? CAC’s conference room was free,
but the college was a long distance for some members. We decided
that Ross was closer to Casa Grande and a beautiful meeting room
was given to us free-of-charge. Our birth was difficult.
Attendance was sparse at times, and we had to build the
membership.
Finally,
after 9 months the club was chartered with 20
Charter members on September
30, 2002. We celebrated with a dinner at CAC and invited family
and friends to celebrate the event. District officers came from
Phoenix and presented our charter. We passed from infancy to
youth. Our members were giving speeches and achieving their CTMs
(Competent Toastmaster). But
we continued to struggle and club declined to 18 members.
We actively
sought members. We set the goal and were fulfilling the
requirements to become a Distinguished Club on June 30, 2003-no
small feat since we had only received our charter on September 30,
2002 – nine months before. Finally, on March 28, 2003, we held
our first speech contests and competed at the area level.
Even though we did not win, this was our transition time to
becoming adults. In our first year we attained Distinguished
Club status.
On June 30,
2003 we became a
Distinguished Club.
On July 1, 2003
Beth Price our first ATM B became the G2 Area Governor.
We have
become assured of our future with many presentations by our
present 25 members. We elected our new
Club Officers for
2003-2004. We are a long way from maturity, but have formed a firm
basis for continuing the club.
We approached
the end of our second year by electing our
Club Officers for
2004-2005. The President's Distinguished Club Award almost in
our grasp, by mid June we would know.
On June 30,
2004 we became a
President's Distinguished Club.
On September
30, 2004 we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary as a Charted Club.
Our Club moved its meeting location to CAC Plaza in June and at
the end of August we moved into our new meeting place at Fidelity
National Title Company. Our quest for a permanent home is
still ongoing, in January 2005 we moved to the Boys and Girls Club of
Casa Grande.
On June 30,
2005 we became a
President's Distinguished Club
for the second year in a row and received the
D3 ribbon for
Club Leadership Excellence.
We have ended
our third year with resounding success and have elected our new
Club Officers for 2005-2006. We think we have found our
permanent home, Plastic Technology in Eloy, AZ.
On July 1, 2005
Al Gramando ATM B/CL became the G2 Area Governor.
On September 30, 2005 we celebrated our 3rd Anniversary as a
Charted Club.
By May of
2006 our club was a Founding/Sponsoring club for a new club;
Florence Toastmasters. Veronica Joaquin
CTM was our leader in helping to start the club along with Al
Gramando ATMS/CL.
Club President
Donna Craven CTM/CL conducted our clubs first Youth Leadership
Project. Assisting Donna was Al Gramando, Nancy Chavez and a new member Kristin Williams.
On June 30,
2006 we became a
President's Distinguished Club
for the third year in a row and received the
D3 ribbon for Club Leadership Excellence
for the second year in a row.
We have ended
our fourth year with resounding success and have elected our new
Club
Officers for 2006-2007.
On July 1, 2006,
Al Gramando became the first member of our club to attain Advanced
Leader Silver (AL-S), Advance Toastmaster Gold (ATM-G) and Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM).
On July 1, 2006,
Al Gramando DTM became the Gila Division Governor and Kristin
Gramando ATM-B/CL became the G2 Area Governor.
On December 1, 2006, Al Gramando DTM announced that he was running
for Lt. Governor of Marketing for District 3. The election
campaigning will officially begin in March 2007. May 19,
2007, election campaign was unsuccessful.
January/February 2007, Donna Craven CTM/CL conducted the club's
first SpeechCraft which resulted in 4 new members.
June 30, 2007 our club once again ended the year as a
President's Distinguished Club
for the fourth year in a row
and received the D3 ribbon for Club Leadership Excellence
for the third year in a row.
As the Gila Division Governor Al Gramando DTM ended
his term with Gila Division being President's Distinguished.
Kristin Gramando AC-S/CL ended her term as G2 Area Governor with G2
being Select Distinguished.
We have ended
our fifth year with resounding success and have elected our new
Club Officers for
2007-2008. Unfortunately we had to move our club once
more, we had two great years at Plastic Technology. On July
3, 2007 we found a temporary home at
The United
Methodist Church of Casa Grande.
November 2007 Al Gramando DTM
announced that he was running for Lt. Governor of Marketing again.
On May 31, 2008, election campaign was unsuccessful (the margin
was 16 votes)
On April 17, 2008, Kristin Gramando
became the 2nd club member to attain Advanced Leader Silver
(AL-S), Advanced Communicator Gold (AC-G) and Distinguished
Toastmaster (DTM).
April 30, 2008 our club was awarded
our first "Talk Up Toastmasters" ribbon for signing up 5 new
members between March 1 and April 30.
June 2008 our club was a Founding/Sponsoring club for a new club:
"Talk The Talk" Toastmasters located at the University of Phoenix.
Al Gramando DTM was our leader in helping to start this new club
along with Kristin Gramando DTM.
June 2008 our club was awarded our
first "Beat The Clock" ribbon for signing up 5 new members between
May 1 and June 30.
June 30, 2008 our club once again ended the year as a
President's Distinguished Club
for the fifth year in a row
and received the D3 ribbon for Club Leadership Excellence
for the fourth year in a row.
Because of all our members working towards their goals, not only
did our club excel, but our Area G2 and Gila Division ended the
year as President's Distinguished.
We have ended our sixth year
continuing the legacy! We have elected our new
Club Officers for
2008-2009.
Our home at
The United Methodist Church of Casa Grande has
become our permanent home.
August 21, 2008 Al Gramando DTM is
awarded his second
AC-G.
On August 28, 2008 Al Gramando DTM
is awarded his second
DTM.
November 2008 our club was the
Founding/Sponsoring club for a new club: Cool Town Toastmasters
located in Coolidge. Kristin Gramando DTM was their club mentor.
May 14, 2009 we elected our new
Club Officers for 2009-2010. Deann Drottz CTM President, Don
Casebolt VPE, Kristin Gramando DTM VP Membership, Don Kramer Jr.
VP PR, Remy Miller Sec., Al Gramando DTM Treas., and Orlando
Enriquez SAA. We also discussed how our club was going to
pay the rent on the room used for our meeting.
May 28, 2009 for the first time in
our club's history we have to pay for the use of our meeting
place. By a majority vote it was decided that each member
would pay an additional $20 per dues period. This will cover
the cost of the room rental. For the past year the payments
have been paid by a secret benefactor. Unfortunately that
person is no longer able to help us.
June 30, 2009
our club once again ended the year as a
President's Distinguished Club for the
sixth year in a row
and received the D3 ribbon for Club Leadership Excellence
for the fifth year in a row.
We have ended our sixth year
continuing the legacy! We could not have done it without all
our members working towards their goals.
July 2, 2009 the newly elected
club officers for
2009-2010 took office.
September 3, 2009 our club was
awarded our first Smedley Ribbon for signing up 5 new members
during the months of August and September.
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