Fellow Toastmasters, Greetings and good morning. The beauty of

Fellow Toastmasters,
Greetings and good morning.
The beauty of Toastmasters educational program is that it is flexible and that each one of us
decides at our own pace (and free will) how often or seldom we want to give speeches and
complete speech manuals. There are no time limits set by TI to complete speech manuals nor
are there any penalties for tardy completions. Some members are more active than others in
giving speeches and participating in variety of club meeting roles. We may know of members
that have completed the basic Competent Communicators [CC] manual within few months of
joining the club while others may have taken couple of years to do the same. Both examples are
perfectly normal and completely acceptable.
The district leadership has recently started acknowledging members that have completed three
or more educational awards [Triple Crown] in one TM calendar year. I applaud the district
leadership for this initiative because, acknowledging and recognizing achievements of members
is at the core of the Toastmasters program. In this current year [2012-2013] district 65 has todate acknowledged and recognized 29 worthy Toastmasters who have completed three or
more educational awards. Congratulations once gain to all these fine Toastmasters and future
Toastmasters, who plan to complete three or more educational awards.
Going back to learning at our own pace, I would like to share with you two recent examples of
fellow Toastmasters, who too have completed three or more educational awards.
First, I want to praise Jose Angel Manaiza in District 1, in the greater Los Angeles area, for his
extra-ordinary efforts in completing the educational awards.
Jose has completed since beginning of the current TM year [July 1, 2012] the following
educational awards: CC, ACG, LDREXC, CL, CL, ACB, CC, ACB, LDREXC, CC, ALB, ACS, ACB, CC, CC,
CC, LDREXC, CL, CL, CC, CC, CC, LDREXC, CL, ALB, CC [a total of 26 awards.]
In case you are wondering how on earth, Jose was able to complete (and submit to TI) 26
awards in one year, here are some clues! To start with, Jose belongs to 9 [nine] Toastmasters
clubs and that is definitely helpful. It is possible that some of the speeches in respective
manuals may have been given in previous TM year and completed/submitted during the
current TM year. Jose has completed 10 [ten] CC manuals and that is 100 speeches. In addition,
he has done 4 [four] High Performance Leadership [HPL /LDREXC] modules and that’s another
24 speeches or more. With 7 [seven] combinations of ACB, ACS, ALB and ACG awards, requires
about 50+ speeches. In addition, Jose has also completed 5 [five] CL manuals. I refuse to
calculate how many club meetings were needed to fulfill all the required leadership roles. There
is no question in my mind that Jose Angel Manaiza is definitely a very dedicated, organized and
passionate Toastmaster!
There is another lady by the name of Betty Jo Olsen [no relation to our DG-elect, Kate Olsen!] in
District 6 in central and NE Minnesota and southern Ontario Province in Canada; who has
completed since the beginning of the current TM year, the following education awards: CC, CL,
ALB, ACB, CL, ALB, CC, ALB, CL, ACB, CC, CL, ALB, CL, ALB, CC [a total of 16 awards.] Betty
belongs to 5 [five] Toastmasters clubs. I believe that you’ll be able to calculate yourself, the
time taken in completing this comparatively lesser number of awards!
The purpose of my providing you with this information is to reiterate that we as individuals
have our ‘own pace’ in accomplishing things and that slower or faster pace is a matter of
personal choice a Toastmaster makes.
Sam Mehta, DTM, PDG
Syracuse, NY
PS. In case you are still in disbelief of the 26 awards of Jose Angel Manaiza, here are the details:
1142290 F 2 CC
08/30/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Praisemasters
Los Angeles
9757
09/12/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Realtist Plus Club
Los Angeles
F 4 CC
1043675 A 3 LDREXC 03/25/2013 Manaiza, José Angel Los Angeles Professional Speakers
Culver City
1043675 A 3 CL
02/01/2013 Manaiza, José Angel Los Angeles Professional Speakers
Culver City
1043675 A 3 CL
02/01/2013 Manaiza, José Angel Los Angeles Professional Speakers
Culver City
1043675 A 3 CC
08/09/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Los Angeles Professional Speakers
Culver City
2460309 C 4 CC
08/15/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Wine Tasting Toastmasters
Redondo Beach
2188519 C 2 ACB
11/26/2012 Manaiza, José Angel ESL Toastmasters
El Segundo
2188519 C 2 LDREXC 12/31/2012 Manaiza, José Angel ESL Toastmasters
El Segundo
2188519 C 2 CC
01/27/2013 Manaiza, José Angel ESL Toastmasters
El Segundo
2188519 C 2 ALB
01/30/2013 Manaiza, José Angel ESL Toastmasters
El Segundo
2188519 C 2 ACS
03/11/2013 Manaiza, José Angel ESL Toastmasters
El Segundo
2188519 C 2 ACB
02/04/2013 Manaiza, José Angel ESL Toastmasters
El Segundo
2188519 C 2 CC
07/08/2012 Manaiza, José Angel ESL Toastmasters
El Segundo
2073068 F 1 ACG
04/15/2013 Manaiza, José Angel Ladera Toastmasters
Los Angeles
2073068 F 1 LDREXC 01/10/2013 Manaiza, José Angel Ladera Toastmasters
Los Angeles
2073068 F 1 CC
09/06/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Ladera Toastmasters
Los Angeles
2073068 F 1 CL
11/14/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Ladera Toastmasters
Los Angeles
2073068 F 1 CL
11/14/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Ladera Toastmasters
Los Angeles
2073068 F 1 ACB
10/15/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Ladera Toastmasters
Los Angeles
5634
C 2 CC
07/18/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Xerox Xeroids Toastmasters Club
El Segundo
6270
B 5 CC
09/05/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Bruin Toastmasters Club
Los Angeles
6270
B 5 LDREXC 10/16/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Bruin Toastmasters Club
Los Angeles
6270
B 5 CL
09/13/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Bruin Toastmasters Club
Los Angeles
6270
B 5 ALB
09/13/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Bruin Toastmasters Club
Los Angeles
977
A 1 CC
07/26/2012 Manaiza, José Angel Professional Women Toastmasters
Culver City
As a bonus for your interest in this subject-matter, here is a video clip of Jose Angel Manaiza, Jr.
speech – “The Power of our Words.” See and hear Jose in person!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-nM2WeWnpY