February was a very action pack month for my side of the state. We began the month with the anticipated yet dreaded appearance of Punxy Phil, a groundhog that looks for his shadow to determine whether or not we will have six more weeks of winter or if it will be an early spring. Yeah, we're crazy ,but the youth in the area don't seem to mind. They get two whole days of school off.
The week after that, love was in the air, emotions were high, and many men (including me) were actually shopping. Feb. 14 and that whole week was very pleasant, not only because of the occasion, but also the weather. At the end of that week my county had their Leader's Symposium. I was asked to represent council ,and give a presentation on our county, regional, state, and national events. The first night of the Symposium I didn't have to be there, but I went anyway. Halfway through the night, when we came down to the last two presenters, my extension agent ,Carol Schurman, came to me and asked if I could speak in her workshop. I agreed, thinking I could look over her materials and speak on her subject. About the time I began to search through her notes, she came up to me and asked me to pick a random card from the dreaded, green impromptu cards. My mind was spazzing out thinking "Impromptu, she meant impromptu speech!!" I slowly pull a card, I read it, the subject " To you what does pledging your heart to greater Loyalty mean?" It is not a hard hard question to talk on, until you actually start trying to think what your are going to say. Mind you this is two minutes before she started her presentation. Three minutes into her speech she starts introducing me ,and I do not even have the first sentence in my head. I take my place at the head of the room and start. " How many of you know what the 4H pledge truly means?...." after that my words spewed a motivational speech about What the 4-H pledge meant to me with an emphasis on Heart. I ended took my seat as the audience judged my skills. I collected papers and to my delight my three minute impromptu speech got no lower than a score of 95. Talk about an ego booster. The weekend couldn't have gotten better ,or could it have? I did my presentation on the events ,and as I was handing out my council business card, a lady who listened to my impromptu speech and attended my workshop, came to me and asked if I would come be a motivational speaker at their county's round-up.
As I said February was an action packed month. I will be speaking at several round-ups ,because of my involvement with the state council. It taught me the speaking skills, and I am really now looking for a way to give back. Until Next month this is your Council Vice President of Internal Affairs and Sentinel. Garrett Richardson.
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