By Terry Mencke, ACS-ALB, Area 44 Director

 

I am an accountant.  Not only is it my job to compile numbers, but I play with numbers just for fun! My husband, Chuck, suggested I use my love of numbers to compile some statistics for District 25. My eyes lit up at that suggestion! I hope you find these statistics as interesting as I did!

As you are aware, the Pathways program will be replacing the Traditional program next year but for now, many members are working both programs.

Briefly, this is how Pathways works. There are 11 different paths, or areas of study. Each path has five levels. When you finish a level, you earn a virtual badge on your profile. When you finish all 5 levels in a path, you get a certificate, both virtual and physical! When you complete two paths (plus five other tasks, which I’m not going to discuss here), you will be a Distinguished Toastmaster! It has been 16 months since District 25 started on Pathways, so I thought we’d see how we’re doing this Toastmasters year.

D25 has approximately 2,500 members and many of us are embracing the new format. Here’s what we have done so far in Pathways.

336 Level 1’s

130 Level 2’s

51 Level 3’s

20 Level 4’s

12 Level 5’s

That is a total of 549 Pathways awards! And someone has even completed two full paths!  Unfortunately, we don’t have information on whether that person has completed the remaining requirements for their DTM through Pathways, but if they haven’t, we could be very close to having our first Pathways DTM!

As a comparison, let’s look at the numbers for the Traditional program. As a refresher, you must earn each of the awards listed below, plus five other tasks (like the five mentioned above for Pathways), to become a Distinguished Toastmaster. Here are the Traditional program awards for this year.

148 Competent Communicator                             99 Competent Leader

54 Advanced Communicator Bronze                   35 Advanced Leader Bronze

32 Advanced Communicator Silver                      34 Advanced Leader Silver

30 Advanced Communicator Gold                       35 Distinguished Toastmaster

This totals 467 Traditional program awards!  Many members are really working to earn their DTM before the Traditional program is retired!

Whether you are working the Traditional program or the Pathways program, the members of D25 continue to show that they appreciate the benefits of Toastmasters! There has been a total of 1,006 awards earned this year by the members of District 25 and I fully believe those numbers will be even greater next year!