Estes Summer 2025 Weekly Journals
Week 2
Monday March 10, 2025
We started class by putting up our cups, grabbing our name badges and sitting in a quiet Monday morning fog – then all of a sudden, it was time: every man wearing a green jacket was instructed to go to the back of the room to get his dance on, and it was fun and funky. One guy had to do the “Wheel of Doom,” which has a layout similar to the Wheel of Fortune. The Wheel of Doom is just a fun game and accountability tool that the Prison Entrepreneurship Program uses to lighten the mood of prison while helping to wash off the tough exterior that a prison environment creates.
After more dances and laughs, we began our first day with Bruce T., one of our many wonderful executive volunteers. He began by introducing us to the class that he will be teaching us called “Living in the Village.” He likes to refer to it as “Living in the Neighborhood,” since his PEP fun name is Mr. Rogers from the old TV show Sesame Street. We covered a brief history of America’s economy from the Great Depression to the housing bubble busting (2007-2008). Then we moved on to the four steps of “getting your house in order” covered in Chapter 2 of the personal finance book Living in the Village, along with many other invaluable facts.
Once his class concluded, we moved back to selecting class members’ fun names. We chose many great fun names, and the whole class got a good laugh. Most of the names are based on cartoon characters from movies and TV shows.
After returning from lunch, we were introduced to another class called Toastmasters, which is a class committed to developing communication and leadership skills. Today’s PEP class was entertaining and gave us some solid insight into what challenges lie ahead.
Jason B. (aka “Shaggy from Scooby-Doo”)
Tuesday March 11, 2025
As we walked into the classroom today, everybody was excited and ready to give their business pitches. Jeremy W. started his journey with us as an emcee, and he did great. The men living in M-pod had to dance, followed by Zach B., Javier C. and Jaime P. giving us our two Words of the Day: consistent and consistency. The definition of consistent is “acting or done the same way over time, especially to be fair or accurate,” while “the quality of always doing or behaving in similar ways” defines the word consistency.
Next, we were given the BPC pitch sheet by Jeffery L. (aka “The Weather Man”), who told us to memorize our pitches by the end of the weekend, if possible. Then we ran through our first two pitches (Jaime P. first, then Felix W.) before we had to do the “danger quiet game,” aka count time with consequences. Afterward, we heard from Jonathan C. about his super useful chemical clean-all solution; Kyveon H. with his breakfast food truck and famous glazed donut cheesy burger; Patrick V. with his EV charging mobile assistance; Jason K. and his doggy daycare/Hilton hotel grooming facility; Craig S. with his Boston’s best burgers and subs in the back of a food truck idea; Jyron K. with his trucking logistics company; Terry N. with his power washing business; and Juan Z. with his EV trucking logistics company. Most of these gentlemen are from J-Pod, where we make millionaire moguls.
This journal session was fun, and we hope you gained insight into a normal day in PEP.
Elijah B. (aka “Lloyd from Dumb & Dumber”)
Wednesday March 12, 2025
This morning heading into the PEP classroom, we could all see our brothers smiling and greeting each other. We entered the room and everyone was shaking hands, and you could just feel all the positive energy. Next, we grabbed our name badges and found out where we were going to sit today before we had our daily pray-in.
Right after pray-in, the next thing we heard was, “Everyone with white shoes on, head to the back of the room!” The entire place came alive, and the music turned on; all of our brothers started dancing and clapping. If there was a man in the room that wasn’t fully awake, they sure were now! Then it was time to sit down for the “Word of the Day.” Today’s two words were “sight” and “vision.” Jeremy W. and Orrian E. gave their thoughts about these words and what the words mean to them. They went back and forth about it, and then for about five minutes or so, they picked people out of the crowd that had their hands up, asking them what their thoughts were. One of our PEP brothers said something that hit home with us: one day, when he was driving down a road in his hometown, a building came into view. He could envision himself running a business out of it, and it took fifteen years to make it happen, but he never lost his vision. It all starts with a vision, and it can take years, but if you never lose sight of your vision, you’ll make it happen.
We concluded class with Toastmasters, which is a course that is a beast of its own. Its focus is on helping us become more effective communicators, and it is just one of the many tools that PEP uses to rehabilitate us for society. Finally, we prayed out and went home for the day.
Charles B. (aka “Beaker from The Muppets”)
Thursday March 13, 2025
This morning, we walked into class and were greeted by the Servant-Leaders. On our way to get to our name tags/badges, we greeted one another and, once we retrieved our badges, we sat in our assigned seats indicated by a chart that tells us where we’ll be sitting for the day. Our seating chart changes every day or two so that we get to know everybody in our class. We found our seats and settled in.
Every day, the screens will say something like “everybody with a green jacket, go to the back of the room,” which means it’s time for those men to dance down the aisle. Everyone who isn’t dancing gets up and claps for the ones who are dancing, and it’s a pretty good way to start the day. Also every day, we also have a Word (or Words) of the Day; today’s words were “endurance” and “self-discipline.” A couple of Servant-Leaders spoke about these words and then let a few of us from the current class speak about them as well.
Afterwards, we had a special guest Gerald D. come and talk to us for a while and give us his testimony. He did nine years on a 10-year sentence and is now on PEP’s staff. After he finished, we talked about and created our PEP Coat of Arms, which is a vision board with our head shots glued to a superhero’s body; we also need to include two of PEP’s 10 Driving Values on there, along with some other images that express who we are and what we represent. It was another great day in PEP!
Joshua B. (aka “Sho-Nuff”)
Friday March 14, 2025
Good morning, PEP family and friends! We started this great Friday off with our daily meet and greet. Then we prayed in as a family, followed by dancing. That’s when we saw this on the screen: “If you think you will be a CEO, to the back of the room!” So, all of us in the current class got up and started to dance, beginning class with positive energy as everyone laughed jokingly with their PEP brothers.
As we continued with our morning, the two emcees gave us the Word of the Day: “reason,” which means a basis or cause, as for some belief, action, fact, event, etc. One of the emcees made some good statements about what is the reasoning on the things we do and why we do it. As we went on thru class we gave some guys their fun names. It was pretty funny. One person got Cotton from King of the Hill and somebody else got Thumbs off of the movie Spy Kids. It brings back a lot of our late 90’s and early 2000’s childhood movies we use to enjoy watching as kids while growing up. While we were doing the names three people got the wheel of doom. The class got them to do boot camp. They had them march around class yelling at them as if they were in basic training. We got information on a family package on the people at the PEP Headquarters so they can contact our family. Once we came back from our break, we got into our book and PowerPoint of Entrepreneurship. The guy that was up front gave us a powerful statement on how to start a business and how to maintain a business. He gave us some key tips on the business he has and what it will take to sustain a business. The pros and cons of having a business. After his PowerPoint, he answered some questions from the guys of our current class. This is the journey of how us guys in PEP class was on this beautiful Friday.
Martavious B. (aka “Squirrel Master”)
Expression
“I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from pain and treasure the most precious gift I have-life itself.” -Walter Anderson, “Overcoming Obstacles”
This quote means a lot to me and was taught to me by my grandmother when I was a young boy. It’s about being able to channel your energy, especially after the loss of a loved one such as my grandfather. He was a huge father figure to me growing up, and it showed me two things. You can be sad and give up on life, or channel that sadness into something positive. Being young and not knowing how to cope I chose sports as an outlet, as many of us have. I channeled my energy to be good at football, but turned out to be great at it. I earned two D-1 scholarships: One to OSU and one to LSU. I felt like I had the world in the palm of my hand. Still coping was a part of who I became, but being young I chose to hang with the popular crowd and smoke weed. After smoking so much I began to slack in my studies and failed a history class with a 68%. “No pass, no play!”, I’ll never forget my coach telling me this, while simultaneously ripping my heart out of my chest. Having lost my D-1 scholarship after completely giving up, I had to find another outlet to channel my energy. That began when I purchased a 1967 Galaxy 500 at the age of twenty. With the car not being drivable, I towed it back home where I began to restore it to its former glory days. After getting the car running with a little help from YouTube University, I finally found a passion in life again. I chose to rise up and find something worth living for again by bringing life back into old classic cars. With that passion still fueling me today and having restored three other old school vehicles, I can’t wait to show my children that there is more to life than sadness.
Zachary B. (aka “Phineas from Phineas and Ferb”)
Week 1
Tuesday March 4, 2025
Today was our first day of class, and it was a totally different atmosphere than what most of us are used to – there was screaming and yelling as soon as we walked through the door, and the way the brothers greeted us broke down many walls. The greeting was welcoming, and you could feel the love. We saw the power of love today with people gathered together from all types of backgrounds, ages and ethnicities in one room.
That was only the beginning. The class was filled with excitement and positive energy. All the Servant-Leaders were easygoing, and you could tell they cared. Nobody had a chip on his shoulder or was angry. We were all united and of one accord, and the dancing kept everybody laughing and busy. Then we gave each other fun names, and this part of the day was hilarious. But the real shift came at the end, when we all had to do some leg raises on the floor. We couldn’t stop laughing.
Also, we were surprised when the guy from the free world spoke. David F. had been to prison before, not once but three times. He’s been through what we are going through and succeeded, taking PEP up on its offers when he left. Hopefully, the brothers are all encouraged the same way. His testimony wasn’t spectacular, but it was real; we could all see that. If he could go through this program and stay connected when he left, then we all felt we could do the same.
Overall, today was great, and PEP is going to be much more than we can even begin to fathom.
Fred A. (aka “Logan from Blue Streak”)
Wednesday March 5, 2025
We began our work by splitting into groups to discuss the two first Driving Values, “Fresh Start” Outlook and Servant-Leader Mentality, and what each one means to each of us. “Fresh Start” Outlook is embracing the opportunity for a new beginning. It’s about shedding past mistakes and focusing on the future with optimism and determination. We agreed this is like a clean slate for a fair chance to show our potential. It will allow us to restore our dignity regardless of background or personal history. We strive to equip human beings to achieve their full potential. We believe that people can change, dignity can be restored and as a result, society will reap bountifully.
The second Driving Value we discussed was Servant-Leader Mentality, which emphasizes leading by example and prioritizing the needs of others. This mindset helps build strong, supportive relationships while leading with empathy and respect. We discovered PEP believes that with leadership comes the overriding responsibility to be of service to others. We believe the contributions we make in the lives of others are far more important than our own accomplishments. We will lead by example with humility at sacrifice of personal glory.
PEP exists because of our desire to serve all those with whom we come into contact, especially our participants, executives, partners, donors, prison staff and the community at large. We agreed it is important to prioritize being of service to others. We also discussed being humble in leadership positions to build strong supportive relations and seeing others succeed over glorifying our own success. These are very important lessons we learned to help build our character and help us begin our journey to become better men and productive members of society.
Matthew A. (aka “Velma”)
Thursday March 6, 2025
Today in class, we took a personality test to understand our perspectives on different scenarios. The whole time, we laughed and had fun as positive energy and overall good vibes filled the atmosphere.
We have a daily ritual in our PEP class of starting each day with prayer, which is a true blessing from above. Then, as a class, we move to the back of the room and dance to the front. It’s a great way to start the day.
Today, we came to the front of the class and let our classmates give us fun names. That’s one of PEP’s ways of washing prison off of us. It’s pretty cool, honestly – no other prison program does this. We have Servant-Leaders who ensure we take the necessary steps toward true character development. As a class, we are honored to be here because these people could have left us stranded in those nasty old prisons; instead, they reached out to us, giving us a new direction for our lives. We all need it for sure.
PEP is about helping us grow to be more responsible, positive, self-motivated people for our community and our families. Today was the start of greatness, and we are eager to see what else PEP has to offer!
Jayden B. (aka “Shrek”)
Friday March 7, 2025
Today we did not have class, but we did a lot in the dorm. Some of my fellow PEP brothers woke up early and got together to read the Bible. We read Scripture and shared our testimonies and experiences over some coffee. We share our stories to uplift each other; we also want to warn each other of our mistakes so that no one else repeats them.
The PEP environment helps us break the walls that we have created – both in the world and in prison – to protect ourselves when we had to live in “survival mode.” We see each other slowly break those cycles by openly communicating and sharing as we learn to use our 10 Driving Values, one of them being Love. We also serve each other and understand we have been given a great opportunity in PEP.
Throughout the day, we can see many PEP brothers exercise, study hard and work on assignments in order to change our old mentality. We also give ourselves breaks from studying and reading by watching TV or using our tablets in order to reach out to our loved ones on the outside for moral support. They remind us to give it our all in the program and become somebody different, to keep learning and changing our mentality.
We appreciate this wonderful opportunity we have been given to change our lives because now we have a bright future to look forward to. We practice applying the 10 Driving Values both inside and outside the classroom as we anxiously await the day we can apply them in the free world with family and friends, as well as in business.
Jaime B. (aka “The Map from Dora the Explorer”)
Expression
“Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered, but a maze of passages through which we must seek our way, lost and confused, now and again checked in a blind alley. But always if we have faith, a door will open for us, not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of, but one that will ultimately prove good for us.”
– AJ Cronin
This is a quote by AJ Cronin from the book Who Moved My Cheese. This quote hits home for me on so many levels. It is a good indication of how hard life is, but how faith in God can prevail and that He will show you a way out of the dark and into the light.
It makes me reflect on my life and how I once had everything going for me: a nice house; a great job; a beautiful, loving wife; two happy boys; three cars … but I lost my direction and faith after Covid hit. When I lost my job and couldn’t find steady work, I ended up going to a dark place and lost it all. My house, cars, wife – my whole life came crashing down, and I ended up in prison. This was the start of my maze of passages, feeling lost in a prison world I didn’t know and confused as to why and how I even ended up in this situation.
Then my dad passed away, and I realized I had no one to release to and nowhere to go. I hit rock bottom, and this was my blind alley check. A friend of mine had convinced me to go back to God and start reading the Bible, so I thought, “What do I have to lose, right?” About a week later, my parole was denied and another week later my short way was denied too. So, I decided to pray about it, put my faith in God and His process. I prayed for Him to please show me what He had planned for me, to basically show me the reason why I’m still in prison.
Three weeks later, I received PEP’s message on my tablet. I signed up for the program, sent in the application and got accepted. Now here I am, on a journey I never would have thought of or even known about. But by me having faith, I was led on a course that is proving to be extremely good for me.
Jeremy B. (aka “Tom Hanks from Castaway”)