BRATTLEBORO — Resident Becca Balint is a writer who has worked in education for more than 20 years as a teacher, historian, health educator, tutor, advisor, coach, camp director, counselor, wilderness trip leader, rock climbing instructor, and mentor to wayward adolescents.
And now she's an award-winning public speaker.
On March 27, Balint prevailed over five other contestants in BrattleMasters' spring “table topics” contest, impressing a panel of judges who rated her on her ability to hold forth on a surprise topic of a general nature for up to two minutes.
BrattleMasters is the Brattleboro-based chapter of Toastmasters International, the educational nonprofit founded in 1924 devoted to helping millions worldwide meet their goals in public speaking and leadership development.
The club meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St., Brattleboro. Members attend from the tri-state area of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts and come from all walks of life. Meetings are open to all and free for visitors.
The club, first sponsored by the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce, chartered in 2007 and was named a distinguished club in 2013.
Balint, who writes a weekly op-ed column in the Brattleboro Reformer and works for the workforce development committee for the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies Group, advances to the next round of competition in White River Junction.
She says she first heard about Toastmasters from a speech coach, Deb Sofield, who teaches at the Women's Campaign School at Yale University. Sofield told Balint that the organization is a great way to get more speech practice and training in front of a supportive audience.
“I have always been comfortable in front of a group, and I have had a lot of practice over the years from my teaching, but I really wanted to fine-tune my speaking skills - Toastmasters has been a great venue for that,” Balint said.
She added that in a table topic challenge speakers “must use their wits and connect with the audience to see them through. It is a great challenge to string together a coherent speech without having a chance to plan out your strategy.”
Balint said having been a teacher and a camp director gave her a slight advantage over other contestants, “as in these two jobs you constantly have to change your plan on the spot, and it is usually in front of a rambunctious audience.”
A second BrattleMasters contest March 27 saw member Susan Cummings, a western Massachusetts writer, take first place in “international” competition, impressing judges with her prepared speech of five to seven minutes.
One Toastmaster will emerge with the title World Champion of Public Speaking at TI's international convention later this year in Kuala Lumpur.
Contests are held at the club twice a year. There is no judging at the club's regular meetings, where the emphasis is on constructive, expert, written and oral evaluation.
One of Balint's proudest moments as a teacher was being awarded the Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year Award from the history department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she earned her master of arts in history. She also holds a master's in education from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Her undergraduate years were spent at Barnard College at Columbia University and Smith College.
After a career in teaching, she trained at CTI to become a personal and professional coach of individuals and groups. Her clients are mainly educators and writers.
For more information, visit brattleboro.toastmastersclubs.org or www.toastmasters.org.