White Rose Toastmasters

08/17/2026

09/09/2025

An interesting duo of contrasting speeches delivered at our White Rose Toastmasters. Meeting last Thursday. Mary shared personal experiences illustrating the benefits of being a mentor or mentoree. In her speech entitled “Getting the Most Out of Your Mentors,” she noted that one of the most important traits to being a successful mentoree or effective mentor is curiosity.

John reflected fondly back on his life growing up Catholic in Chicago in the 1960s. Entitled “Catholics: We Were a Little Weird,” John’s speech was enhanced with visual aids by way of the old fashioned flip chart. John remembered that one of the impenetrable mysteries Catholic boys always wondered about were nuns. Did they have hair? What did they do in that mysterious convent they lived in? He recalled how he and his friend Mickey would go with his mom anytime she had to deliver stuff to the convent. He and Mickey would stand rubbernecking there at the threshold trying to see if the nuns were doing anything normal, like walking around in lady clothes, or eating a cheeseburger, or watching Love Boat until his mom noticed them both being nosy and would swack them both in the head.

08/22/2025

Jeff, in his humorous speech at this past week’s White Rose Toastmasters meeting, offered some sound advice on how to talk your way out of the doghouse once you've landed there. Here are some key phrases that Jeff suggested you might try utilizing to free yourself from the "doghouse:"

08/10/2025

At this past Thursday's White Rose Toastmasters meeting on August 7th, the Club celebrated its 42nd anniversary. In attendance were present, past, and possible future club members, as well as Toastmasters Area 12 Director, Heather Morgan and former Area Director, Jeff Dombach. Guest speaker for the day was Scott Miller, the City of York’s Chief of Staff. Scott shared with the group what was new in York and what residents can do to help promote the city. John Kallenberger, Club President, presented Scott with an honorary Toastmaster membership. Scott, in turn, presented the Club with a City of York Proclamation from Mayor Michael Helfrich proclaiming August 7th as International Toastmasters Day in the City of York, Pennsylvania.

Director Heather Morgan spoke as well, detailing recent and upcoming Toastmaster events throughout District 38, noting the district extends from New Jersey to central Pennsylvania. The meeting concluded with refreshments, conversation, and a group photo.

A big Thank You to all those who attended and to club members, especially President John Kallenberger and VP of Education Mary Kallenberger, who organized the celebration!

07/30/2025

Great article in this month's TOASTMASTER magazine on how to adjust a speech when having to deliver it virtually: https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2025/july/in-person-versus-online-delivery-skills

07/26/2025

White Rose Toastmasters will celebrate its 42nd year as a Toastmaster Club on Thursday, August 7! Join us for guest speakers, refreshments, and camaraderie.

Guests and non-members are welcome! You’ll meet 42 years-worth of White Rose members, former members, and veterans of the Toastmasters community. Check us out and see if the public speaking and leadership development opportunities offered by Toastmasters is right for you.

The celebration begins at 12 noon in the Loucks Room of the downtown York YMCA, 90 N. Newberry St., York, PA. For further info, contact us at [email protected]

06/24/2025

One of our favorite quotations about the power of a speech...

06/06/2025

John J delivered a speech at yesterday’s White Rose Toastmasters zoom meeting, its title taken from a quote by the philosopher Albert Camus: THERE IS BUT ONE SERIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEM… He revealed the entirety of the quote after first relating the story of his friend having shot himself in the head with a sh***un. The quote concludes: “…AND THAT IS SUICIDE.” His speech examined su***de from both a very personal perspective as well as a philosophical one.

05/26/2025

One of the most moving Memorial Day speeches ever given was by a soldier who was considered one of the Army’s finest WWII field commanders - General Lucian Truscott. Truscott, who had commanded the U. S. Sixth Corps through some of the heaviest fighting in Italy, delivered the speech at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery where 20,000 American soldiers had been buried. The year was 1945. The Germans had surrendered just three weeks before and the war still raged in the Pacific.

No recording or transcript of Truscott’s Memorial Day speech exists, but Bill Mauldin, the beloved WWII cartoonist, included an account of it in his memoir, The Brass Ring:

“When Truscott spoke he turned away from the visitors and addressed himself to the corpses he had commanded here. It was the most moving gesture I ever saw. It came from a hard-boiled old man who was incapable of planned dramatics.

“The general’s remarks were brief and extemporaneous. He apologized to the dead men for their presence here. He said everybody tells leaders it is not their fault that men get killed in war, but that every leader knows in his heart this is not altogether true.

“He said he hoped anybody here through any mistake of his would forgive him, but he realized that was asking a hell of a lot under the circumstances… He would not speak about the glorious dead because he didn’t see much glory in getting killed if you were in your late teens or early twenties. He promised that if in the future he ran into anybody, especially old men, who thought death in battle was glorious, he would straighten them out. He said he thought that was the least he could do.”

05/21/2025

Ahhh, the ebb and flow of Club membership…
We were flowing.
Now we’re ebbing.

After we conducted our Club officer elections at our White Rose Toastmasters Club meeting last week, we discussed our decline in membership since experiencing a flurry of member resignations over the past year. We mulled over what remedies to try and strategies to adopt in an effort to attract new members. We’re aiming to get that flow back!

We invite you to flow with us! Join us as a guest at any of our meetings. Typically, at each meeting there are at least 2 speeches on tap as well as fun and camaraderie to be had, including the opportunity to show off your improvisational skills in a round of Table Topics! Throughout the summer, we’ll be meeting virtually via Zoom from 12 noon to 1:15 pm every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month. To join us on Zoom, email: [email protected] to request a meeting link.