Toastmasters International, a US-headquartered non-profit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of promoting communication, public speaking, and leadership recently honored Winston D’Souza with the title of ‘Distinguished Toastmaster’.
The Distinguished Toastmaster Tag is given to those who have achieved all the Educational and Leadership Goals set out in their Program, which typically includes both a set of mentored and evaluated speeches and leadership roles at meetings, Conferences, Club, Area, and District Levels of the International Organization (Hyerplink – www.toastmasters.org)
Speaking to News Karnataka Winston said, “I’m delighted to receive this titular honor from Toast Masters International, USA. It is the highest award a member can get from Toast Master International after meeting certain criteria.”
Explaining the criteria, he said there are different criteria to achieve in order to get the distinguished toastmaster title. A person has to deliver a certain number of speeches. There are three stages Bronze, Silver, and Gold as per the earlier system. Currently, the system has changed to the Pathways system, which seeks to impart a combo of both communication and leadership learnings. At each stage, a person has to deliver about 10 speeches, and after that, he has to take part in activities where he can exhibit his leadership qualities like organizing sessions of public speaking, etc. The VP will review the performance and send the report to the head office, where they evaluate the work and grant the title”.
Describing his journey, Winston said, “initially we used to refer manuals while giving public speeches. The speeches would be evaluated and reviewed by the members and they provide suggestions for improvement to make them more catchy and impressive. Almost all clubs were exclusively English Speaking Clubs, but recently, a trilingual and a Konkani Language club has also sprung up adding variety and a whole new membership base to the movement”.
“The toastmaster’s organization is all about promoting the habit of public speaking and building leadership qualities in the members. Even in Mangaluru, there are more than 10 such organizations. I’m part of Mangalore toastmasters. It is the second oldest toastmasters’ group”, added Winston elaborating on the movement.
Winston told Newskarnataka that the Toastmasters movement was started in Mangaluru by the now Houston-based Max Rasquinha. He said, “Winner’s Club was the first toastmasters’ group after which Mangalore Toastmasters club was started around 19 years ago. I was one of the founder members. I have served in various roles such as President, Vice President for Membership to Finance In-charge among others”.
Winston D’Souza hails from Bejai and is an alumnus of St. Aloysius College, Mangaluru. After serving in the banking sector for more than 30 years in Abudhabi he returned to his native Mangalore. He is part of various organizations and clubs such as Eden Aquatic Club, Golf Club, and Mother Theresa’s Institute among others.
Apart from his association with Toastmasters, Winston has is involved in several service activities. He supports poor students by offering scholarships and sponsoring the Mid-day meal of Milagres school. He has recently donated a full encyclopedia for the benefit of poor students of Milagres College and is very involved in setting up senior citizen associations in the Parishes of Mangalore to promote camaraderie among the Senior Citizens.
Newskarnataka congratulates Winston D’Souza, DTM on his achievement.
