The Flintstones Gummy Bears Youth Leadership Program

Jett-setters Online Toastmasters Club in Oro Valley, Arizona is proud to have hosted a Youth Leadership Program (YLP) for local youth ages 12-17. The eight-week program was conducted over eight consecutive Sunday afternoons, guided by experienced Toastmasters from the club. Eight youth participated in this successful program and are better prepared to enter the “real world” of applying and interviewing for jobs, attending college and community leadership. The coordinator of the program and co-Founder of Jett-setters Online Toastmasters, Mitchell Blocker said, “The Youth Leadership Program is a valuable asset in our community.”

The YLP follows along a Toastmasters club format. The youth started out by choosing a club name and voting on it, the first step in using Parliamentary procedure. They selected “Flintstones Gummy Bears” as their club’s name. Members from Jett-setters Online Toastmasters Club helped the youth with writing and preparing speeches, holding leadership roles, and running a club using Parliamentary procedure. With guidance from the experience Toastmasters, the youth participants performed the roles found in Toastmasters clubs, such as President, Vice President, Sergeant at Arms and Secretary. The elected president and vice president provided strong and consistent leadership, taking their roles very seriously. Meetings were conducted using a prepared agenda and followed Parliamentary procedure. The participants enjoyed listening to speaker presentations while learning how to evaluate their presentations. Articulation skills were utilized during Table Topics, the segment of the meeting where a participant would respond to an impromptu topic or question in a short one-to-two-minute response.

To demonstrate their newly developed skills, the president and vice president will be guest speakers at their host club on November 6, 2021. The youth may have completed the eight-week program, but two are interested in joining Jett-setters Online Toastmasters Club in the next three months when they turn eighteen. There is also interest from this group in continuing community service with a Gavel Club, a Toastmasters program for groups that are not eligible to charter as a club or have interested members who are under the age of 18 years.

To start you own Program or to enroll a youth under 18 contact: pqd@aztoastmasters.org