IBSS is committed to developing future leaders through education, which is why we introduced the Toastmasters’ Youth Leadership program to our community. Every young person has the potential to become a good communicator and leader, but this potential must be developed through practice and experience. Recently, IBSS completed its first, successful execution of the program, which developed participants’ public speaking and leadership skills. This program served 11 participants from ages 13-18 including children of IBSS employees and members of the homeschool community from Silver Spring.
“As coordinator of the Toastmasters Youth Leadership program here at IBSS, this was a very rewarding experience for me as I got to observe the consistent improvement and development of the participants’ confidence, leadership, and public speaking skills throughout the program sessions.” – Eirik Cooper, Director of Cybersecurity at IBSS
Toastmasters International, a nonprofit educational organization, has helped over 4 million people since 1924 through their self-improvement programs in public speaking and leadership. Through the Youth Leadership program, participants learned to:
- Overcome nervousness when speaking before an audience
- Organize and present their ideas logically and convincingly
- Listen carefully to others’ ideas
- Offer advice to improve their speaking and leadership skills
- Participate and lead group discussions or meetings
Each session had two components – chairmanship and public speaking. Over the course of 8 months, there were 8 sessions which included the following topics:
Our students designed their final sessions which included a panel discussion using the skills they acquired overtime to discuss how technology is affecting the way that the younger generation interact in a social setting. This session was as informative to the audience members as the participants.
“Toastmasters was a great social experience. It helped me develop my public speaking skills and my social skills.” – Thomas J., 16 year old participant
This helps participants develop skills to communicate effectively at an early age to handle challenges of adulthood and leadership successfully and become tomorrow’s leaders in the community.
We look forward to hosting similar future successful events in September.
