Troy Community Toastmasters has been encouraging and working with all aspects of the Troy Community for 15 years. Yes, they have been working with future leaders and speakers for 15 years.
The club, originally named Park Street Presenters, was started in early 2008 by Suellen Parkes, then owner of Exhibits Now located on Park Street in Troy, Michigan, where meetings were originally held.
Suellen was the first club President. Her son Jason Parkes, Dan Walker, Minesh Baxi, and Marie Jakubiak, began meeting in the conference room at Exhibits Now. The goal was to build a robust club where business professionals could come together to improve their speaking and leadership skills.
Club growth was slow but steady through most of 2008 and towards year-end, Jeff Hampton, a seasoned Toastmaster, volunteered to mentor the club with the goal of building membership to 20, the number required by Toastmasters International to be recognized as a “Chartered Club.”
In December 2008, it became necessary to find a new location.
As luck would have it, club member Mike Piercer was President of the Walsh College Alumni Association at that time.
To our delight Walsh College welcomed us in. We held our first meeting in the Troy campus in January 2009. This proved to be a huge boost for our club and within a few months membership rose to 24 members. In March 2009, we applied and were granted charters status by Toastmasters International as a full-fledged Toastmasters club.
The Walsh location, facilities and administration proved to be important resources allowing the club to grow and flourish. In 2011, the Board unanimously voted to change the name from Park Street Presenters to the name we have today, Toastmasters at Walsh College – Troy.
In March 2023, we celebrated our 14th anniversary, consistently earning Toastmasters Distinguished Club awards.
In 2019 we changed our name to Troy Community Toastmasters and moved to a new location.
