Berkeley Square Speakers goes European with Youth Leadership

Somewhere in the Tyrollean Alps is St. Johann.  And in St Johann is a school with a head mistress and a motivated English teacher who heard about Toastmasters through a friend.  This friend is Beate Rissbacher, former President of Berkeley Square Speakers.  It did not take much convincing.  The Youth Leadership project at the Bundesgymnasium St. Johann (local secondary school) started in September with 15 motivated 15-17-year olds.  Uniquely, the participants can speak German or English during the meetings.  Fearless in either language, the participants consistently provide during table topics how nimble and genuine young minds are in answering table topics.   There is just as much older minds can learn from the creativity displayed in the speeches, many of the speakers speaking in public for the first time.

This project is the third Youth Leadership Project run by Berkeley Square Speakers and complements the successful projects at Trinity School (Belvedere, Kent) and at ACS Hillingdon (in spring 2014).  Youth Leadership has been a wonderful experiences for the project leaders Beate Rissbacher, David Salamons and Marc Lottig.  Special thanks goes to Andrew Bennett who lead the first project and provided invaluable support and input.