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Thesaurus Thursday - Rochester Chamber Toastmasters showed our “mettle” this morning after our meeting area turned into a swamp overnight.

Our feet began to go “squish squish squish” as soon as we walked into the old Holiday Inn building on Broadway in downtown Rochester.

It’s been under renovation for the past year, but we knew there was just too much muddy water on the floor to have been tracked in from our recent snow fall.

Our intuition was correct, pieces of false ceiling tiles had fallen in the main atrium. They’d collapsed under the weight of a water leak overnight. 

A contract worker confirmed that the water was likely due to a sprinkler malfunction on the building’s second floor, which is where a project  to create a new hotel and restaurant is still underway.

The resulting downpour made several offices and hallways seem like a swamp. The Rochester Chamber of Commerce’s offices were hit hard. Along with squishy carpeting, a huge smart TV in the main conference room appeared to be inoperable as a result.

Rochester Chamber Toastmasters members quickly took steps to conduct their meeting from the opposite end of the room so that speakers would have a monitor for the powerpoint portion of their presentations.

Say the Secret Word & Win a Prize


Groucho Marx would be proud!


As host of the TV show “You Bet Your Life” the comedian always had an extra prize ready should a contestant say the “secret word.” 


While Rochester Chamber Toastmaster Tim Amert has made it a mission to keep the secret “Word of the Day” tradition alive, it appears fellow club member Craig Weckwerth did him one better at a recent Toastmasters meeting.


During his assignment as Grammarian, Craig Decided there would be both a “secret word” and a “moste secret word.”


Whoever uttered the phrase that pays would get themselves a nice dozen of farm fresh eggs.


Craig reports that Eric Gatz deserved the first dozen for his shameless attempt to say the right word while displaying his remarkable “vocabulary;” which as it turns out was the secret word.


Meanwhile, fellow club member Rick Lien walked away with the other dozen for the word “luck.” Rick may not have actually uttered the word, but as Craig puts it: Rick got the second package “because we’re lucky to have him.” 

Youth Leaders Shine in High Level Visit from District Cabinet Members

Talk about pressure. If it isn’t hard enough to get up in front of your peers and do a little public speaking, add some school district education dignitaries and see if you don’t gain a few extra butterflies.

Members of Beth Rojas’ speech class seemed to take the high level visit to their classroom in stride. 

They’re a part of a Spring session of the Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program which just started a few weeks ago at the Rochester Alternative Learning Center.

The YLP program offers ALC students a structured public speaking and leadership course which helps build several skills; the most important might just be the confidence to stand in front of your fellow students and to talk; whether it’s an off the cuff question or a structured speech, each session is a learning opportunity and the personal transformation at the end of eight weeks is nothing short of extraordinary.

As you’ll see in the note addressed to the ALC staff, the YLP students were certainly one of the highlights of the visit by cabinet members of School District 535.

Congratulations to our YLP Students & Staff Members!

We knew that our Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program students were outstanding, now we know they’ve got company throughout the building at the Rochester Alternative Learning Center (RALC).

The Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs has recognized their hard work and named them the 2019 MAAP School of the Year.

The RALC features several excellent programs that meet the students’ many needs. We at Rochester Chamber Toastmasters are proud to say we’ve had a small part in helping to make it a unique and valuable learning experience.

Since 2013, Chamber members have teamed up with speech instructor Beth Rojas for fall and spring sessions featuring Toastmasters International’s Youth Leadership program. Beth offers encouragement throughout the week and during eight, one-hour sessions, Toastmasters focus on the fundamentals of leadership, organizing and giving speeches.

Congratulations to our Latest YLP Grads!

Where will they go next and what will they achieve? No one knows for sure, but we do know the group of students you see above from Beth Rojas’ speech class at Rochester’s Alternative Learning Center have some extra skills that could make a big difference.

Over the space of eight, one-hour sessions this fall, Beth’s students have been made to feel a bit uncomfortable, they’ve taken risks and they’ve gained new self-confidence as they’ve learned new skills.

They’re now graduates of Toastmasters International’s Youth Leadership Program. With the assistance of Beth and the members of Rochester Chamber Toastmasters, the students have learned the basics of public speaking and leadership.

The results are in a few words “transformative” and “life-changing.” Most have never stood up front of a group or been able to express themselves to their peers. In many cases, it’s also the first time the students have been recognized for achievement.  

YLP Graduate Wins Scholarship, Sets Sights High

If you need a healthy dose of inspiration and determination, a graduate of Rochester Chamber Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program may be in a clinic near you someday soon to deliver it as a nurse.

This past week, Diana Sanchez of Rochester, Minnesota was awarded the Overcoming Adversity Keeping Strong (OAKS) Scholarship from Rochester Community Technical College. The OAKS scholarship program awards deserving students from Rochester and surrounding areas a scholarship to attend RCTC.

The OAKS program pays tribute to students who have overcome tremendous odds to become personally and academically successful.

Diana came to the United States from Mexico when she was four-years old and didn’t speak a word of English. She struggled with anorexia and self-esteem issues and in seventh grade she began attending the Rochester Alternative Learning Center, which is geared toward students who don’t excel in the city’s traditional high schools.

Among the many classes Diana took at the ALC was a speech course conducted by Beth Rojas. Since 2013 Beth has been partnering with members of Rochester Chamber Toastmasters. Over a space of eight sessions held in the Fall or Spring of each academic year, the Toastmasters volunteer to facilitate one-hour classes which highlight key skills of public speaking and leadership.

The transformation brought about through Beth’s nurturing instruction, positive feedback from the Toastmasters and the YLP curriculum are transformative. From barely having the confidence to say their names in front of a group, to giving full presentations, the results can be life changing.

Beth couldn’t be prouder of her former student and emailed her congratulations, “You continue to amaze me each and every day by your level of self-confidence, never-ending compassion for others and living your life in a way that others notice and want to be more like you!  Continue to reach for the stars, Diana and always look to the sky!”

Another one of Diana’s former ALC teachers, Leah Baethke, was on hand as she received the scholarship and summed it up this way in an email, “Diana left everyone with tears in their eyes. She did a remarkable job giving an emotional speech in front of 500 strangers. She couldn’t have been a better representation of what the ALC is all about, and everyone was so impressed with her and had lots of questions for me about our school (which I was happy to brag about).So proud to be a member of the ALC community!”

Favorite People, Impactful Stories

The fall session of the Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program is revealing more about a select group of teens at Rochester’s Alternative Learning Center.

The assignment on a recent Wednesday morning was for students to talk about their favorite person and to explain why they have been so impactful to them.

As members of Rochester Chamber and Suburban Toastmasters clubs offered their encouragement, we heard from speaker who described a special grandfather; a guy who liked tea, was a snappy dresser and offered his family strength in hard times.

Another teen credited several adults for saving him and his siblings as their mother’s substance abuse led to homelessness and his father served a prison sentence. As his life begins to improve in Rochester, he is now more sensitive to those who are hurting, and he feels a need to help them if he can.

"To everything there is a season."

The quotation from the book of Ecclesiastes found in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible was the masterful thread that wove its way through what turned out to be Erika Polansky's final speech before Rochester Chamber Toastmasters.

Erika was a founding member of the club in 1992; was one of three original members who are actively involved in the club; and had helped foster a stability of leadership that would be the envy of most organizations.

Over the years she served as a friend and wise mentor to members who were new to the program and to those who had been around for a while.

Erika could be counted on for incisive, intuitive evaluations and excellent speeches. To the knowing smiles of many she would also be happy to enlighten the uniformed on the various unwritten rules of Toastmasters; most notably, the distinct differences between a podium and a lectern.

Erika was also a pacesetter for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event held each Summer in Olmsted County. As a member of the club's Walkie Talkies group, she and her fellow walkers set high marks for involvement and fundraising.

In her final speech, Erika talked about many seasons, including a season to raise a family, a season to retire and a season to end a very close association with Toastmasters.