My YLP Journey
- By Phillip Chen
My first Youth Leadership Program (YLP) was planned in 2008 while working on my DTM. The inspiration from this workshop came from one of my co-workers and Toastmaster, Allan Todd. Allan was working with a group from the Canadian Royal Air Cadets and asked if I would be interested in assisting with the workshop. I assisted with the workshop and got hooked on doing YLPs since then. I met Allan Todd a few weeks later and he told me that one of the Air Cadets that we coached went on to compete at the Regional Air Cadets speech contest and won the Regional Championship.
My YLP was sponsored by Markham Sweet Talkers Toastmasters and was completed with the Canadian Royal Air Cadets from Brampton, Captain D. Bellissimo, 132 Spitfire Squadron. The cadets were enthusiastic and were quick to try techniques to improve their speaking & leadership capabilities. I spoke with Captain Bellissimo after the workshop and he said that the cadet enjoyed the session. He later received request from parents whose children had missed the session and wanted to find out if the session would be repeated the following year. At every YLP there are always other Toastmasters that help with the success of the workshop. I greatly appreciated the assistance of the following Toastmasters: Pradosh Nag, Brent Mersey, Cheryl Ballard and Axel Menzefricke. A second YLP was completed with the cadets a year later.