Week 2
Week in Review
Monday October 9, 2017
Today at 7:30 a.m. we got together in the PEP room and prayed in as usual and set a divider up to divide the room in to two separate rooms. We separated into groups of about 20 participants each and had our first Toastmasters experience. Toastmasters empowers individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. Its mission is to provide a supportive and positive learning experience where members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth. Toastmasters International’s values are integrity, respect, service, and excellence. As members of this Toastmasters club, we promise to prepare speeches and leadership projects to the best of our ability, based on projects in the Competent Communication Manual; to prepare for and fulfill meeting assignments; to provide fellow members with helpful, constructive evaluations; to help maintain the positive, friendly environment necessary for all members to learn and grow; and to maintain honest and highly ethical standards during all Toastmasters activities. We have a Toastmasters Manual with 10 speech projects each. Each project is designed to develop our speaking skills one step at a time. Every project builds upon what we learned in the preceding project. However, since today was our first day for Toastmasters, everyone felt nervous and a little anxious because to many of us, this was our first Toastmasters experience.
Today’s speech consisted of the “Ice Breaker” speech. Our group consisted of seven speakers; some chose to speak about their testimony, birthplace, education or family. Our objectives were to begin speaking in front of an audience and to discover speaking skills we already have, as well as skills that need some attention. It was a four- to six-minute speech, where we introduced ourselves to our fellow Toastmasters and gave information about our background, interests and ambitions. At the end of the class we all agreed that we had a good time speaking, evaluating each other and learning the process. We all received positive feedback and look forward to next week’s scheduled Toastmasters meeting.
Emilio B. (a.k.a. “Tattoo from Fantasy Island”)
Tuesday October 10, 2017
Today started out with turning in our homework that was due. The seating chart showed that our assigned seating had changed, as it does every week, so I set out to locate my new seat and the different PEP brothers I would be sitting by this week. I also noticed that we, The Sovereign Kings of 2018, were now down to 82 participants. If I remember correctly, we started with 161.
Today’s facilitator, Class of Extreme ’17’s James H., introduced Justin M. and the daily devotional. Immediately afterwards, James H. made announcements on letting Peer-Educators know if we have any parole status changes. He also suggested that we seek out the older PEP brothers when we need advice. Their life experiences and knowledge could be beneficial. This morning James H. announced two birthdays, and Michael H. asked us to shout “Go Cowboys” to be interjected during the singing of Happy Birthday.
James H. then introduced Matthew Z. and Daniel A. They did a PowerPoint presentation on naming a business. The presentation touched on several key points of naming a business, one being the need to communicate to customers what you do. It also touched on three things to beware of and how to make a final decision. Next up James H. introduced Justin W. who did a presentation on Thank You Cards. This presentation explained why we send them, Do’s and Don’ts, good examples, examples of common mistakes and the consequences of those mistakes.
Gami J. then took center stage to give a short motivational speech on not giving up or quitting the program. The rest of the morning was facilitated by Gerald H. and Vincent H. We also took a pop quiz on the book Living in the Village, and shortly after we ended with a pray-out and instructions to return after lunch.
Derrall B. (a.k.a. “Gandolf”)
Wednesday October 11, 2017
Today was pretty cool for us. PEP and our donors are doing something like an Angel Tree-type gift program for us, which is amazing. They are so supportive in reconnecting us with our families.
We had an “Internal Kickoff” yesterday. They had us lip-sync battle, limbo, and play this crazy balloon popping game. Our class had fun. We have an event coming up called “Think Tank,” and we are all excited about it. This week has been busy for us. We will be tested tomorrow for the Entrepreneurship course. This means we have to study as much as possible, and believe me, it is a lot of work. We have two books we are working through now, and that is not counting Toastmasters booklet as well. We all really enjoy that class. It is scary giving a speech, but the feeling you get after it’s over is excellent. I like when they do an evaluation in a way that makes it fun. There is already a good bond going in our class.
Today is usually the day we help each other out studying and brain storming business ideas. It is cool to have the support we do. The days feel more purposeful. We have a fun night planned in our pod with bingo and a ball toss game, and everyone eats together. Our Peer-Educator is pretty good about organizing stuff in the pod for us to do. Today is also computer lab day, where we learn Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Some of us have a hard time with typing, but with practice we will succeed. There is a good amount of excitement over this business part. It will be cool to see which of us will win the Business Plan Competition. I pray God blesses all who see this.
Jeffrey B. (a.k.a. “Sherry the Fairy”)
Thursday October 12, 2017
Today is Thursday, also known as “test day.” For a lot of us we probably have butterflies in our stomachs, wondering if we studied enough to make the best score we can possibly make. As test time approached we were trying to be helpful toward our PEP brothers, encouraging them to do their best.
Our fearless leader, the In-House Manager Gami J. called us out around 12 p.m. to class. Today in class we also had Bert S. who is blessing us with his time and knowledge in business to teach our entrepreneurship course. We are very thankful for him, and we try to show him by absorbing everything he is teaching us, but before that, he had to dance down the aisle.
We took our first test on Chapter Three in our entrepreneur book, and we all put our best foot forward to pass. We will just have to wait and see – what a nail biter! As Bert S. went through the topics of the day, we were given handouts on basic business and chapters one and two in our entrepreneur book. The basic business handout touched on free market and free enterprise economies. During his talk, Bert S. said a word I think resonated with us all: he spoke about the need to be resilient, which is when a person gets knocked down and bounces back up. With the help of PEP, that is what we are trying to achieve. Toward the end of class we went over some of the business ideas people had, and some people in class got a chance to give advice and insight or new ideas to help that individual with his business adventure. We also watched a couple short videos on Nooma, which touched on how to love one another, coming together and how God is close to those who are in need and are weary. We ended class, as we do in PEP, by praying out.
Christopher B. (a.k.a. “Alfalfa”)
Expressions
“Don’t count the days – make the days count.”
~ Muhammad Ali
Ever since I heard this quote, I’ve applied it to my everyday life. I don’t think Ali was referring to actually counting the days, but rather that instead of just watching time go by and not making any use of it, we should instead use our time wisely and do something productive in life. Many times we spend our time just sitting around complaining about situations where we could very easily influence the outcome. There was a time in my life when I lost a very good job because I was caught watching the clock. In other words instead of doing my job and seeing to it that proper duties were performed, I was somewhere watching the clock waiting to take a break, go to lunch, or even call it a day – a day when I did not perform anything I was hired to do. I began to realize that what I was doing was not getting me anywhere I needed to be in life, and if I wanted to do better, it was time that I began not to count the days, but make the days count.
Kevin B. (a.k.a. “Reverend Reggie”)