The program
Develop Your Skills
A structured path from your first visit to real, measurable growth in communication and leadership. Here is how it works.
Your journey
Guest, Guide, Member, Mentor
Blue Streak is designed so you are never navigating alone. Every stage of your involvement comes with built-in support.
Guest
Visit as many times as you want. No obligation, no pressure. Participate in Table Topics if you feel like it, or just watch.
Guide
Request a Guide and we pair you with an experienced member who answers your questions one-on-one before, during, and after your visits.
Member
Join, choose your path, and get paired with a mentor. Take on roles, deliver speeches, and build skills with structured feedback.
Mentor
In time, you become one. Mentoring newer members is one of the most powerful ways to deepen your own skills while helping others.
The curriculum
Pathways: your personal development track
When you join, you choose one of six Pathways learning paths aligned with what you want to develop: Dynamic Leadership, Engaging Humor, Motivational Strategies, Persuasive Influence, Presentation Mastery, or Visionary Communication. Each path has five levels of speech and leadership projects that build progressively. You move at your own pace, and your mentor helps you choose.
Discover what you could learn
Explore our interactive Pathways guide. Select the workplace skills you want to develop and see the specific projects and curriculum paths that build them.
Beyond prepared speeches, every meeting role is a learning opportunity. Serving as Toastmaster of the Day builds meeting facilitation skills. Serving as an evaluator sharpens your ability to give constructive feedback. Even timing and grammarian roles develop attention to detail and on-the-spot commentary. The curriculum is not just what you say at the lectern. It is everything you do in the room.
What you get
What you practice on Wednesday shows up at work by Friday
Table Topics, two minutes of impromptu speaking, becomes the moment in a meeting when someone says “what do you think?” and you have a structured answer. Prepared speeches become the project pitch, the division presentation, the webinar you lead. Evaluations train you to give feedback that people can actually use, the same muscle behind performance conversations and peer reviews.
Serving as Toastmaster of the Day teaches you to run a meeting that starts on time, moves with purpose, and ends on time. The Grammarian and Ah-Counter roles make you precise. The Timer makes you concise. None of it is theoretical. Every skill has a Monday-morning address.
Why it matters now
The market keeps voting for these skills
#1
Communication was the most requested skill across nearly 2 million job postings analyzed in a January 2025 Aura Intelligence workforce report.
Top 3
The National Association of Colleges and Employers ranks communication among the most essential attributes employers seek in its Job Outlook 2025 survey.
After the meeting
Ascension Notes: the learning that follows you home
The meeting gives you reps. The Notes give you the framework. After every meeting, the VP Education sends Ascension Notes, a development resource that turns the week’s theme into techniques you can use at work immediately.
Here is one, from a recent edition on recovering when a moment wobbles. When a thought drops or a question breaks your flow, the instinct is to rush, and rushing fragments the message. Instead, run the comeback sequence: pause for one breath. Reframe with a short bridge line. Return to your core message in one clean sentence. The goal is not to erase the disruption; it is to guide the room forward. In project updates, stakeholder pushback, and difficult conversations, people take their cues from how you respond when momentum drops. The comeback is not a backup plan. It is part of the plan.
That arrives in your inbox after every meeting.
Beyond the club
Your growth does not stop at the meeting
Toastmasters is a global organization, and Blue Streak members regularly take advantage of opportunities at every level.
Speech Contests
Compete at Area, Division, and District levels in Table Topics, International Speech, Evaluation, Humorous Speech, and Tall Tales contests.
Training & Conferences
TLI (Toastmasters Leadership Institute) runs twice a year. District conferences in spring and fall bring together speakers and leaders from across South Carolina and Georgia.
District Leadership
Serve as Area Director, Division Director, or in other district-level roles. Real organizational leadership experience that counts toward your Toastmasters education.
Speakers Bureau & Resources
Join the District Speakers Bureau to deliver presentations to outside organizations. Access TI learning resources, webinars, and a global network of speakers and mentors.
Member highlights
The people who make Blue Streak what it is
Blue Streak members do not just show up. They compete, lead, and set the standard across the district.
Minnie Thomas, DTM (x3)
Three-time Distinguished Toastmaster. Speech contest winner. One of the most accomplished members in the district.
Mary Alice Barth, DTM
Distinguished Toastmaster. Chaired the 2024 District 58 PDTA conference. A leader who builds leaders.
Victor Gascon
Two-time District 58 Toastmaster of the Year. District Speakers Bureau member. Brings competitive excellence and community service together.
Cassie VanDelinder
VP Education. 2025 Area C Evaluation Contest winner. Designs the meeting themes and Ascension Notes program that drives member growth.
Practical details
What it costs and how to join
Toastmasters International dues are $60 every six months, which works out to $10 a month, plus a one-time $25 new member fee. Blue Streak charges no additional club dues. If you are a current employee, check with your manager or HR about approval and whether your team covers the dues. If you are a retiree, no manager approval is needed. You pay dues directly and access meetings from home via Microsoft Teams. Blue Streak also hosts a monthly evening session for longer speeches and deeper skill building, outside work hours entirely.
Blue Streak is open to all employees, contract workers, and retirees of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and affiliated companies. Not sure if you are eligible? Reach out and we will let you know.
Just watch your first one. No speaking, no camera, no prep.
Not sure which meeting to start with? Browse upcoming themes and find the right one →
Blue Streak Toastmasters is a recognized employee club of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the individual club members and do not represent the views of BCBSSC or its affiliated companies. Blue Streak Toastmasters Club #5548 is a recognized club of Toastmasters International. All rights reserved. Toastmasters International, the Toastmasters International logo and all other Toastmasters International trademarks and copyrights are the sole property of Toastmasters International and may be used only by permission.
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