Once you get into Level 3, Pathways educational program becomes more dynamic and more exciting. Do you know that you have 13 optional electives... and you need to choose only 2?
For my mandatory Planning & Implementing project under Leadership Development path, I decided to use Toastmasters International's Youth Leadership Program (YLP) to introduce to ITE College East for the very first time.
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| Facilitators with Teacher-advisors at ITE College East |
"He who fails to plan is planning to fail." - Sir Winston Churchill. In my opinion, there are 4 distinct phases, namely, Planning, Resources, Challenges and Implementing.
Planning began before Pathways was first introduced to District 80 in July 2017. To get District 80's support, I had preliminary discussions with PQD Harikrishnan Muthusamy and explained my ideas before the District Trio's training at Toronto Convention in August.
Resources included getting the training materials from Toastmasters International, training facility at ITE College East, and the student participants. The former was easy. I left this to PQD Harikrishnan who sponsored the YLP workbooks for participants. Getting the School Principal and Teacher-Advisors of ITE College East to support was also relatively easy as I had been involved with them for more that 10 years as Charter President, Rotary Eclub of 3310.
The challenges were real. First of all, I had to find Toastmasters facilitators who were willing to sacrifice four continuous Thursday afternoons to conduct the 8-session Youth Leadership Program. I was fortunate. I have 6 Distinguished Toastmasters (DTMs) who are members of Rotary Eclub of 3310. Once they had committed, it was plain sailing. I was able to secure the services of another 3 Toastmasters volunteers. Getting the participants were more challenging. The students had to juggle between studies and attending YLP. In the end, 45 students signed up; mainly from nursing and business disciplines.
Implementing. The project took off with PQD Harikrishnan doing the welcome address on 12 October 2017. The cohort was divided into three groups, namely, Yellow, Red and Green teams; each with 15 members and supported by 3 facilitators. On each Thursday afternoon, we cover 2 sessions of the workbook. The students learned about parliamentary procedures, commonly used rhetorical devices, body language, vocal variety, pitch, tone and pace through practical sessions; as the youth train to become effective communicators and leaders.
Planning began before Pathways was first introduced to District 80 in July 2017. To get District 80's support, I had preliminary discussions with PQD Harikrishnan Muthusamy and explained my ideas before the District Trio's training at Toronto Convention in August.
Resources included getting the training materials from Toastmasters International, training facility at ITE College East, and the student participants. The former was easy. I left this to PQD Harikrishnan who sponsored the YLP workbooks for participants. Getting the School Principal and Teacher-Advisors of ITE College East to support was also relatively easy as I had been involved with them for more that 10 years as Charter President, Rotary Eclub of 3310.
The challenges were real. First of all, I had to find Toastmasters facilitators who were willing to sacrifice four continuous Thursday afternoons to conduct the 8-session Youth Leadership Program. I was fortunate. I have 6 Distinguished Toastmasters (DTMs) who are members of Rotary Eclub of 3310. Once they had committed, it was plain sailing. I was able to secure the services of another 3 Toastmasters volunteers. Getting the participants were more challenging. The students had to juggle between studies and attending YLP. In the end, 45 students signed up; mainly from nursing and business disciplines.
Implementing. The project took off with PQD Harikrishnan doing the welcome address on 12 October 2017. The cohort was divided into three groups, namely, Yellow, Red and Green teams; each with 15 members and supported by 3 facilitators. On each Thursday afternoon, we cover 2 sessions of the workbook. The students learned about parliamentary procedures, commonly used rhetorical devices, body language, vocal variety, pitch, tone and pace through practical sessions; as the youth train to become effective communicators and leaders.
Indeed, this is a very worthwhile project. The ITE participants enjoyed themselves while learning a new life skills. The facilitators felt that the afternoons they spent with the youth had also helped them developed personally. We received requests to conduct this program at other ITE Colleges.
Chew Ban Seng DTM
Past District Governor
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