{"id":5631,"date":"2019-12-12T15:42:05","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T21:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/?p=5631"},"modified":"2025-05-03T22:55:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T22:55:15","slug":"wn20-week12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/2019\/12\/12\/wn20-week12\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 12"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

Monday, Dec. 2, 2019<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

We have listened to many men\nspeak, but none of them have inspired us the way our fellow PEP brothers have.\nIt is absolutely amazing to watch hardened men allow themselves to be\nvulnerable. The fact is that being in the PEP classroom can cause us to be\nemotional and express our true feelings. All of us notice this happens in the\nPEP room on Mondays. It is amazing how interesting conversations get when\npeople talk about things that they are passionate about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of us use our\nToastmasters speeches to express opinions that may be in opposition to others\u2019\nin their own way. We have noticed that we say to each other what needs to be\nsaid, not simply what people want to hear. The Phase Two Toastmasters facilitators\nevaluate us so that we can become better speakers, but they also help train us to\nunderstand and critique people in a totally honest way. True help is not only in\nthe eye of the beholder but also the recipient. In order to truly to inspire\npeople, we must understand them and their deepest desire or need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are becoming a strong-knit\nfamily because of honesty in here. Our class, \u201cVision 2020,\u201d has become a real force.\nWe have come a long way as men, constantly gaining strength and momentum. We\nhave each others\u2019 backs and rely on each other. We have actually started to\napply the 10 Driving Values in our lives. These values have been driven into\nour minds and are now being seen in our actions. As every participant was\ncalled up to do his last speech, the entire class showed support and love by\ngiving respect and attention to each speaker. It gives us confidence when real\nrespect is shown, which is why we are able to get over our fear of public\nspeaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toastmasters has changed us in\nso many ways and has helped us beyond belief, and we can\u2019t wait to show these\nskills to our family and friends. We are stronger now than we have ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adan\nM. (a.k.a. \u201cPrincess Bell\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019 <\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

We are on our second day of motivational\nspeeches, and our class is doing really well thus far. Each member of \u201cVision\n2020\u201d is presenting really informative, humorous and sometimes personal\nspeeches. It seems that some men in our class have really embraced and accepted\nthe values that this program has revealed to each of us. One by one, we stood\nin front of the class and gave words of motivation in our own way. For example,\nChristian C. gave a great speech about global warming, and Damian P. gave one\nabout PEP\u2019s 10 Driving Values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each one of us has really\ngained a lot of confidence while being in Toastmasters. We are evaluated on\neach speech we present in front of our peers. The Servant-Leaders grade us on\nour overall presentation and communication. We all are still working out some\nnervousness in our speeches by controlling our body language and using words\nthat don\u2019t add value to our speeches. But here\u2019s the truth: when we finish this\ncourse, we will be more confident and prepared to give speeches in any type of\nenvironment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of our class members has shared\nsome great stories and real-life events that give inspiration to overcome any\ncondition or situation in life. We still have more people in our class that\nhave not given their speeches yet, and we are eagerly awaiting more motivational\nstories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lashawn\nM. (a.k.a. \u201cMs. Beatrice\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Today started out very early\nfor us in the pod. We all felt the pressure this morning from the\nentrepreneurship test we were about to take, so all of us Phase Two\nparticipants were up studying in the dayroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went to the PEP classroom\nat 7 a.m. as usual. After turning in our assignments and any homework that was\nissued, we faced the library: it was test time, so time to put our knowledge of\nthe previous week\u2019s lesson to the test. It consisted of 30 questions, some\nmultiple choice and some fill in the blank. While testing, our instructors\narrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s entrepreneur PowerPoint\npresentation was taught by Michele G., accompanied by her inseparable friend\nCindy V., who later informed us that she was in training in case she needed to\nteach this week\u2019s lesson on \u201cEstablishing Operations” in the future, which\nincluded the use of critical path charts and tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The morning went by so fast.\nMichele G. was a great instructor. I guess the saying is true: \u201cTime flies when\nyou are having fun.\u201d We learned about various business advantages and\ndisadvantages associated with location analysis. She taught the importance of\nforming relationships with banks in the case we ever needed them to finance us\nin our businesses. She also discussed how important time management is in our\nbusinesses and in life in general. It was a great and wonderful learning\nexperience once again. Thank you, PEP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David\nM. (a.k.a. \u201cDoc Brown\u201d)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Today was a great day because\nwe got to hear some of our brothers\u2019 Toastmasters speeches. They were all\namazing and well prepared. Each one of them had different stories, but they\nwere all of the same mindset: they all spoke about the 10 Driving Values in\ndifferent ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We learned that we are not\nperfect in life, and we have all made mistakes. One of our brothers has had a\nhard time with letting things go. He shared that it was hard to get away from\nthe past because he never did anything right and hurt a lot of people that he\nloved. He is doing what he can to make things better before he gets out because\nhe doesn\u2019t want to live with regret. This brother has come a long way from\nwhere he started out, and it is really showing today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With PEP in our lives, we are\nable to break down barriers and become better men. As long as the 10 Driving\nValues are in our lives, we will be able to embrace morals and responsibilities\nthat we never had before. This is giving meaning to what we are trying to do in\nthis program. We have been given every tool in the toolbox, and it is our job\nto use them when we are released. Some of the tools that we need are for communication\nand conflict resolution. If we honestly had possessed skills like these before,\nthen who\u2019s to say that we would\u2019ve ended up incarcerated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We really believe in this\nprogram and the change it can make in people. We want to thank everyone in PEP\nfor making all these changes possible. We love you all and thank you. God\nbless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel\nM. (a.k.a. \u201cPumba\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Expressions<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter how many\nbricks people throw at you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you keep striving and using\nthose bricks to build a strong foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~\nConnie Deleon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nmy mother shared that quote with me, I was going through a lot of things. I was\nhaving issues with some negative people who kept telling me I wouldn\u2019t amount\nto anything. Hearing her say that to me made a lot of sense. No matter what I go\nthough in life or what people say, she was saying don\u2019t give up, keep striving\nand stay focused. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nquote is\/was inspirational to me because my mom was right. I shouldn\u2019t let\nanyone\u2019s thoughts determine how I feel or where I go in life. It has changed\nthe way I think because instead of it being negative, I look at it for the\npositives. I refuse to let it be discouraging, and I encourage myself to strive\nfor excellence no matter what anyone thinks or says about me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nquote has helped me grow in many ways, and it has made me a humble man. It has\ntaught me how to be patient and appreciate what life has in store for me. I\u2019m\ngrateful for the things that I do have: my beautiful kids, my fianc\u00e9e, my\nparents and my brothers. Mainly it has taught me that in order to be successful\nin life, I need a strong foundation based on good morals and principles such as\nlove, integrity, servant-leadership, execution, excellence, accountability and wise\nstewardship, and that\u2019s exactly why I joined PEP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cipriano N. (a.k.a. \u201cSippy Cup\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, Dec. 2, 2019 We have listened to many men speak, but none of them have inspired us the way our fellow PEP brothers have. It is absolutely amazing to watch hardened men allow themselves to be vulnerable. The fact is that being in the PEP classroom can cause us to be emotional and express […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/estes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}