When it comes to public speaking, the mere idea of it can bring many to an anxious state: full-body chills, sweaty palms, shallow breaths.

Though, there is a way to conquer this fear.

The Toastmasters club, run by President Claire Angles, Vice President Preston Wise, and Secretary Maxim Salyuk, is a safe environment for students at Castaic High School who are wanting to expand their communication and debating skills.

The club, which meets in room 254, mimics the program-style of Toastmasters International, a nonprofit organization that holds consistent meetings in order to “empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders.”

English teacher, Mrs. Itaya, has been a first-hand witness to the speech transformations that occur through this nonprofit organization.

While the program can’t break everyone out of their comfort shell, it’s enough to make them better communicators.

Mrs. Itaya’s husband is an architect with a very quiet and reserved personality, which overall hurt him professionally. When he discovered Toastmasters International, he decided to join.

“[My husband] gave this speech when my [daughter] got married, and everybody just about died because nobody could imagine [him] giving the speech he did–or any speech for that matter. But he rocked it. He cooked,” exclaims Mrs. Itaya. “So, I really believed in the program because I saw the difference it was making.”

Furthermore, Mrs. Itaya adds on, stating that public speaking has a significant impact on the future of many students, especially the quiet ones. While many students aim for their dream schools, having the right skills will not only open doors, but allow opportunities to flow in as well.

However, the Toastmasters Club was not always known as a speech-improving club.

It originally started as the Speech and Debate club that held a more “listen and lecture” environment, according to Angles, who had joined the club her freshman year.

Beginning the 2025-2026 school year, the speech and debate club was transformed into a Toastmasters club, while still holding elements of its past origins.

“We were very adamant on, ‘we want our first semester to be very much speech related and our second to… [hold a] more…debate atmosphere,’ and that’s kind of how we’ve done it,” explains Angles. “So, we have moved away from doing table topics into doing debates and doing small cluster-form debates.”

Wise explains how, at the beginning of every meeting, members choose a topic and everyone does an improvised one-minute speech. The meetings conclude with one of the members doing a speech on a topic similar to the one that they had previously argued.

“It’s really just hands-on experience, and you can tell people have been getting a lot better,” stated Wise.

Sophomore Harlow Mackenzie-James joined the club at the beginning of this year and is already seeing an improvement in her abilities to communicate with others and give constructive criticism, especially in Color Guard.

“It’s helped me, personally, with [increasing my] confidence [and] speaking my thoughts clearly, where they’re structured and more understandable for people to understand, and how I phrase them.”

In the future, Angles hopes the club gets the opportunity to attend and participate in debate competitions, which is something she never got to do. Not only does she wish for support from student members, she also calls for more support from administration as well.

“I wish our faculty and our staff and specifically, admin, [would] push speech and debate to be a little bit more formalized, kind of like the way Science Olympiad is,” explained Angles. “I personally couldn’t run a formalized speech and debate team. You need a teacher to do it, you need an advisor. You need someone to actually teach the style of debates.”

Nonetheless, Mrs. Itaya has applauded all of the board members for keeping their promise and sticking to the scheduled meetings, despite the hectic nature of senior year.

When it comes to public speaking, whether that’d be in front of a class or even talking to a teacher, it rattles the bones of nearly everyone. While the jitters might stay, the Toastmasters club is teaching students how to properly communicate their thoughts and feelings, helping them obtain a crucial skill that will benefit students in every stage of their life.

If you’re interested in joining, email Claire Angles ([email protected]).