"Helping YOU Take Center Stage"!

St. Pius Spelling BEE "Do your best, and be kind to one another." St. Pius V School/Church Mission Statement My 10-year-old daughter Sabrina attends forth grade at St. Pius V. School in Lynn, Massachusetts. Sabrina has been a student there since Kindergarten and my plan is to have her graduate at the end of her eighth grade year. I love this little Catholic School. http://www.stpiusvschool.org/ Starting with top of the chain - the Principal Mr. Maestranzi, the teachers, support/Pastoral staff, even on down to the janitors! I love the uniforms, the structure, the discipline. I especially appreciate that Sabrina’s First Holy Communion was built into her second grade curriculum. I further enjoy the Mass that is held one Friday each month that the entire school community attends as well as parents, family, friends and others who are also welcome. I am even serving my third year ter...

GIBBS COLLEGE SPEAKING GIG AGAIN!! " Join Toastmasters. Oral Communication skills count" Tom Peters A Professor, Cheryl Dorsey, from Katherine Gibbs College on Boylston Street in Boston, MASS http://www.gibbsboston.edu/ who teaches Interpersonal Communications called me and asked me (as a Toastmaster) to come into her class on Wednesday November 28, 2007. I would be there for an hour and emphasize the relevance of public speaking and communication skills to her students. http://www.toastmasters.org/ Their assignment is to prepare a presentation in front of the class. Of course as the District 31 Lt. Governor of Marketing I agreed as a way of plugging Toastmasters in the hope that they will begin a CLUB there!! http://www.district31.org/ I asked my friend and fellow Toastmaster/Edge Member, Mary Cheyne who is from my District 31 (WON second place in our District 31 Humor Contest) if she would like to join me. Mary spoke for 20 minutes and I spoke for 20 minutes and then we...

Greetings - We wanted to Share!! WE DID IT!! One of my "best Aussie mates" Mary Cheyne and I have submitted our "Public Speaking & Communication Skills for Youths" proposal in December 2007 and WE DID IT (!) We have been selected as YAR 2008 Conference Workshop Presenters!! We got the exciting news -... "Congratulations! Your workshop proposal has been selected for the 2008 YAR Conference scheduled for June 11, 2008". "We are pleased with your interest in this one of its kind conference in Essex County and your willingness to pass on your knowledge and tools to your peers and colleagues". Youth At Risk (YAR) is an initiative of the Essex County Community Foundation. www.essexcountyyouth.org Friends thank you all for your support - we took the steps to make it happen!! WE DID IT!! (Of course we'll post how it went in June!) Regards!! Sherri Raftery, M.Ed. Mary Cheyne, M.B.A.

There are times when being an orphan is not so bad, at least you don't have family worries! Emma Symms An invite to speak at the 2008 Nebraska Orphan Train Celebration - Fremont, NE WOW - Ok let me bring you back a few steps (or should I say Stops). In my previous post I mentioned I am being honored by THE HOME for Little Wanderers - Boston MA - on Wednesday May 28, 2008. http://www.thehome.org/site/PageServer?pagename=events_voices_visions Last year while I was listening to the Toastmasters http://www.toastmasters.org/ 2001 “World Champion of Public Speaking” (WCPS), Darren LaCroix's, http://www.humor411.com/ "Get Paid to Speak Next Week" audio CD in my car…my mouth suddenly opened when Darren mentioned a woman named Charlotte Endorf endorf@cableone.net who wrote a book - PLAINS BOUND FRAGILE CARGO - about the Orphan Trains. THE HOME http://www.thehome.org/ is part of the Orphan Trains Movement too. Children who were orphaned from the civil war were taken ...