Week 1

Week in Review

Monday July 2, 2018

Well, we have spent three months in Phase One, anticipating Phase Two – the business portion of class. We kept hearing from all the graduates about increased workloads and class times. Now, Phase Two has finally arrived. Today was officially day one. This is what we’ve all been waiting for. While only some of us started computer lab today, all of us started Toastmasters.

Speaking of Toastmasters, it’s definitely going to take some getting used to. Standing up in front of a group of people and giving a speech on random topics isn’t easy. Our topic or objective this week was called “Icebreakers,” which is basically an introduction about ourselves, our past and/or our passions. I think it’s safe to say that we all have some room for improvement in public speaking, but hey, that’s what this is all about.

Overall, it’s been a good day and a great start to a productive learning experience and a future of success. We are filled with excitement, nervousness, maybe even a little fear, but also with a tremendous amount of potential and ambition. We’re all as ready as we can be to take on the challenges ahead and excited for the rewards at the finish line.

Travis W. (a.k.a. “Lucky Charms”)

Tuesday July 3, 2018

First and foremost, a round of applause goes out to the ones who passed the first five tests, but even more so to the ones who had homework over their heads and beared down and did it, even when it would’ve been so easy just to walk away. We all showed the discipline and courage that this Fearless Fall ’18 class has. And with Phase One behind us and Phase Two ahead of us, we all seem to be pretty excited about seeing what this next chapter has in store.

We received various assignments that must be done, including all of the different chapters that we must read. At first, it all seemed to be overwhelming, because we got it all at once; but as soon as we got started, we all had a great time with creating our business logos and even cutting out pictures for our brochures.

We are all very excited as we begin to see everything unfold. There are so many plusses that this program has, and one of them is writing letters to our advisors. We felt like that was a standup act, mostly for the fact that we were able to give them our story and show them our appreciation before they even started helping us. Another perk is having access to the computer lab. For us to be able to touch up on our computer skills prior to being released is a major advantage for each and every one of us.

Erik C. (a.k.a. “Yogi Bear”)

Wednesday July 4, 2018

Today is July 4th, so we did not have class today. Classes will resume on Thursday. In the meantime, we’ve prepared ourselves by reading chapters one through three in our entrepreneurship books. Chapter One was about 21^st Century entrepreneurs. It talks about who the entrepreneurs are today and how society benefits. Chapter Two was about how we the founders are the reason why entrepreneurial businesses work so well. Chapter Three discusses our business ideas and identifying opportunity. It’s exciting to look around and see this brotherhood, all grouped up, reviewing what we’ve read and studied.

It’s interesting and fun as we bounce ideas off of each other for our other assignments, our brochures and business logos. We are flipping through magazines trying to find pictures that can help us. It’s a business competition, so essentially we are competing with each other, yet we’re all working together to help each other succeed. We are truly building lasting friendships. We believe this is brotherhood at its finest. Some write better, and some draw better, but we’re all helping each other in our weak spots. We are enthused about our assignments and making our vision come true. We have a saying: hard work now means more quality time with our families later. We’re all so proud to be representing PEP’s Fearless Fall ’18 class,

Jerimie B. (a.k.a. “Chocolate Milkshake”)

Thursday July 5, 2018

Phase Two is finally here! Our first day of Entrepreneurship class was about innovation and business plans. These topics were presented to us by Mr. Bert S. (a.k.a. Chocolate Truffles) himself. Also, we are the first class ever to be recorded. They are going to use these videos to teach the other units and hopefully to expand PEP to other states – how exciting!

In addition, we learned how to break down our business plans into four sections to give us a better view of what we need to improve on (e.g. finances, time, nonfinancial risk and competitors) – things we may not have thought about before. Bert S., one of our instructors, also drew up a table that gave us an outlook on business ideas, category and resources required, including deficit. This gives us an idea of the quality, high or low, of the business we’ve chosen.

Furthermore, Bert S. took one of the 10 Driving Values, Innovation, and used it as a main topic. He broke innovation down to us in many different and truthful ways. For example, innovation involves change, which is true, and it is always a positive change. Bert S. explained another thing about innovation that we all thought was true but is not, is that innovation requires a new device or process. Innovation is an idea applied in practice which is an invention or idea made manifest. These were great topics to learn about in our first day of Entrepreneurship class. I think we can agree this is what we’ve all been waiting for.

Jasmon L. (a.k.a. “Butterscotch”)

Friday July 6, 2018

The class of Fearless Fall ’18 is now well under way. Today we had a short class. We came in expecting to start Living in the Village, a financial literacy course, but instead, we were told that we would start it next week. Roger L. (a.k.a. The Skipper), our peer educator, then took us through our next homework assignment: coming up with our business name and slogan/jingle. Creating our own business plans is now becoming a reality.

Never did we imagine that so much had to be taken into consideration when considering a name for a business, such as what message do we want to convey (e.g. value, quality, service), as well as consider how we plan to market our business name. Our homework assignment is to come up with five possible names for our business. Then, we are to have 20 of our peers vote, by initialing a form, and make suggestions if they have any. We might have already decided on a name, but with this exercise, we might find out our first choice is not as marketable as we thought, or doesn’t convey the message we want.

This journey is only beginning, and already we can see that there is a lot expected of us. Do we have what it takes to graduate? Of course we do. We’re Fearless!

Carlos H. (a.k.a. “Dusty Bottoms”)

Expressions

 “He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.”

• Ben Johnson

Brothers, our pride will keep us in ignorance. When we are too stubborn to ask for help or believe that we are the possessors of all knowledge, we are isolated from the wealth of opportunities that life provides. Let us not be passed up in life by the ambitions and humility of others.

As we approach each day as a new and exciting learning experience, we allow ourselves to be willingly available to the teachings of those around us. Each person is defined by their knowledge, background and experiences. As we see this in each other, we are able to gain so much more from our lives.

As we continually embark on this journey called life, let us be open and receptive to the teachings of others, even our peers. This program has so much to offer each and every one of us; however, in order to gain anything from this experience, we must humble ourselves and acknowledge that we don’t know everything. So, let today be the day that we begin to learn not only from ourselves but from others as well.

Timothy D. (a.k.a. “Ren”)