District 23’s annual conference wrapped up on Sunday, May 19th, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two contest winners, several awards, a new set of district officers, a slew of Distinguished Toastmaster medallions, and a new district alignment.
Speech Contests
The district-level Table Topics and International Speech contests wrapped up with members from Amarillo and El Paso taking home the first place trophies.
Chavelle Kent of Amarillo Coffee Weekenders in Amarillo, Texas, took home the first place Table Topics trophy. She has been a member since the fall of 2018 and had the audience laughing throughout her entire response.
Rati Baijal of EPCC Toastmasters in El Paso, Texas, won first place in the International Speech contest for the second year in a row. Rati speech on learning on love and accept yourself brought the audience to tears.
Annual Awards
The annual “of the Year” awards used to be given out during the fall conference. Since we no longer hold fall conferences, the awards for service during 2017-18 were given out at the conference in May.
Gerrie Spurgeon received the Area Director of the Year award for her work in Area 63. (Photo not currently available.)
Laurel Fischer received the Toastmaster of the Year award. (Photo not currently available.)
District Officers
With the new district alignment (see below,) District 23 elected six officers:
- District Director – Kenny Granville
- Program Quality Director – MyChelle Andrews
- Club Growth Director – Carlos Lobato
- Division North Director – Stephen Douglas
- Division South Director – Salvador Valles
- Division East Director – Cheryl Gentry
Distinguished Toastmasters
Celebrating the highest award Toastmasters presents, District 23 honored thirteen Toastmasters with their Distinguished Toastmaster award.
District Realignment
The district voted to accept the proposed alignment delivered by the realignment committee with only a couple of modifications. A couple of clubs in Division North were moved to different areas. However, in general, the new alignment with three divisions was passed by the district council.