DaytonDailyNews.com

Those of us who dreaded speech class in high school or college might not understand why Rick Powell and so many others would join a club where giving speeches is the whole purpose.

Powell, a Dayton native and Beavercreek resident, is a member of the Beacon Toastmasters Club in Beavercreek.

"Toastmasters is the largest communication and leadership organization in the world," Powell said. "I joined the Beacon club to learn to be a better speaker and listener.

"I wasn't familiar with the leadership aspect of the club when I joined," he said, noting that he uses those leadership skills daily as a financial adviser for UBS Financial Services.

"The real mission of Toastmasters is to change people's lives. We do that by helping them learn to be better communicators, both as speakers and as listeners. People who get ahead in life are those who can communicate effectively," said the 1966 Chaminade High School graduate.

The Beacon Toastmasters Club, founded in 1957, is open to "anyone who is serious about improving their communication and leadership skills," Powell said.

"People come to the Beacon club to be better speakers, but they stay for the friendship and fun. It is amazing how much a person can learn when he or she is having fun."

Powell, the club's president, joined the United States Navy and served in Vietnam before attending Sinclair Community College, where he got an associate's degree in mechanical engineering technology.

He attended the University of Dayton at night to earn his bachelor's degree in engineering technology in 1978, and went on to UD to get his master's degree in 1993.

"I worked for several years at the Marmac Co. in Xenia, and was there when the big tornado in 1974 blew through," he said.

He and his wife of almost 40 years, Alma, have two sons. John and his wife, Kristen, live in Beavercreek with their two daughters, and Donny lives in Yellow Springs and attends Wright State.

The Beacon Toastmasters Club meets the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Peace Lutheran Church, 3530 Dayton-Xenia Road.

For more information, go to

www.beacontoastmasters.org/

or contact the club's president Jayson Lee at (937) 904-2534 or its vice president for education, Al Gunderson, at (937) 426-5883.

The Beavercreek club is hosting a joint open house with the Xenia Toastmasters Club from 6:30 to 8 p.m. May 22 at Peace Lutheran Church in Beavercreek.

For more information, go to www.beacontoastmasters.org/openhouse.pdf.

Contact this columnist at dsb@donet.com.