Week 5
Week in Review
Monday April 24, 2017
Those of us with Toastmasters in the morning went to our 7:30 a.m. class. While we waited for everybody and to be prayed in, I began to study for my test on Thursday. We had our assigned jobs for today’s class: I was the timer today, while Rodrick was the Listen Master, Fontaine was the Grammarian, John was the Table Topic Master and Steve was the Toastmaster. All these duties are ways for us to critique our speeches so we can learn to project the message with correct grammar to the class. We had about eight people who had to do a speech today. Esteban did his ice breaker speech – he was very nervous and kept moving, but he did a good job overall. He’s not the only one who feels nervous when it comes to speaking in front of a crowd, but we gave him good feedback and constructive criticism. I can see the benefits of the Toastmasters class and the curriculum that is in place for us in Phase Two. Some of it is hard, but we help each other and pull through. After each speaker was evaluated on his speech, the General Evaluator gave us an overview of the class. We ended class by praying out and heading back to the dorm.
Jesse F. (a.k.a. Gerber Baby)
Tuesday April 25, 2017
Today in PEP we turned in our résumés. We briefly greeted familiar faces to prepare for the “names test” we will have to take in the near future. We had a few presentations today, but before the Servant Leaders could come to the room they had to go to the back of the room and dance to the front. The graphics team did a presentation over our logos that we will have to turn in next week. The logos will be placed on brochures we will do in a few weeks. It is good that the graphics team will help us out. They also showed a lot of great examples of previously released PEP brothers, who did a nice job setting the bar for us.
The second presentation was about our product/service offering which will be placed in our business plans, as we will have to mention the product or service in future pitches. Before we could go back to the dorm to study, we were issued the book Living in the Village. This book will teach us about financial literacy. We ended our day with a pray-out, and as we left the chattering was not as loud as it was in the beginning. We are saving our energy for the drive to keep moving forward. We are all in this together, living “between the wings” as the class of Pristine ‘17.
Martin F. (a.k.a. Fruit Cake)
Wednesday April 26, 2017
I started off this morning thinking about our PEP newsletter topics, which are accounting, cleanliness and a personal one I wrote about “change” just to name a few. We have been reading and rereading chapters one, two, and three of our entrepreneurship textbook for the past week. Our class has three tests tomorrow, and we are doing our best to maintain our GPAs. It is serious competition and we all want to stay ahead to keep from falling behind. We are constantly reading and writing all day and into the night. It takes commitment, time and dedication because we are simultaneously working on six assignments: designing our logo; working on our Venture Capital Panel (VCP) pitches; reading Living in the Village book, in which we have to read two chapters and answer the questions in the workbook; and our computer lab assignments on Monday and Wednesday mornings.
This morning we started our Economics of One Unit (EOU’s) in the computer lab, using PowerPoint presentations – we were exercising our minds with problem solving figures such as overhead, unit sales and break-even points. We are learning how to recognize our business costs and cash flow. We help and encourage each other, so even if we sometimes get overwhelmed, we keep ourselves grounded. Truth be told, this program is for the strong-hearted. We have been tested beyond what we thought we were capable of and have proved ourselves and made ourselves proud. There is plenty of support here, so my prayers go out to all our supporters. We keep all of our PEP family in mind, so on behalf of Pristine ’17, I thank you for your time and consideration.
Victor F. (a.k.a. Lady Gaga)
Thursday April 27, 2017
Today, we were tested on three different chapters of our entrepreneurship book. It was tough, with unexpected questions being asked. This also shows us what to look for in our future tests.
Wait a minute, hold on; brain is on overload right now. The Phase Two work that we are doing now makes the Phase One work that we’ve already done look like “a piece of cake.” The good thing is that we work hard and then we play hard. Pristine ‘17 has been stepping up to the plate in different ways, always changing and improving ourselves.
PEP must be doing something right, because we keep coming back to class for more. Whether it is learning more about our characters, business tips or how to carry ourselves better, these areas in our lives need to be filled in on a continuous day-to-day basis. Having multiple agendas every week is not only time consuming, but developing our ability to improve. PEP develops in us the skills needed to survive in the business world – everything from being organized and prepared to execute any tasks asked of us to meeting deadlines. All of the 10 Driving Values play an important role in our lives. We are all in this together. We shine together, we grieve together, and we lift each other up. Even when some don’t feel the need to be lifted up, they are lifted up any way. This is what we do as PEP: we strive together.
Thank you to the PEP nation, executives, families and friends.
Gregory F. (a.k.a. Scooby Doo)
Expressions
In this week’s Toastmasters class, the topic to speak on was, “What motivates you to change?” Change is necessary. We have to change and be renewed in our minds because we can no longer live the way we were. Our old lifestyle is what brought us here to prison. If we turn away from our old ways, we can live and become new members of society. Changes, or things we go through in life, are unavoidable. It is the decisions we make when that change happens that matters – with a positive outlook, we can change a bad situation into a positive one.
I was an individual who was seeking change and looking to find my way. During PEP’s Phase One, we completed the Quest for Authentic Manhood, where we learned about how to be an authentic man. We also learned about wounds that we have had and why we are the way we are. We may be products of our past, but we do not need to be prisoners of our past. We went through character development which helped us to identify our character flaws. If a PEP brother sees a flaw in our character, so will our community and employers. Through our accountability process and holding ourselves to a higher standard, we are helping sharpen one another through love. PEP is a good program where we continue to learn valuable tools that will help us to survive in society and in business with other entrepreneurs striving toward success. This is why I believe the change PEP cultivates is necessary.
Kieran G. (a.k.a. Bubble Yum)