Week 2

Week in Review

Monday January 8, 2018

At Toastmasters we learned how to speak to a crowd. The speakers from the Fall ‘17 class had everyone’s attention. At first we all were skeptical of the speeches, until our first speaker Julian R. came and did his best stuff. He had everyone on their feet for a standing ovation.

Next, we had our brothers Alex P., Terrance S. and Ryan Y. give strong and powerful stories. My brother Alex turned his into a poem, while Terrance and Ryan talked about learning from their lives in prison. The crowd wanted more, but we had to evaluate each other’s presentations. The Toastmasters panel consisted of our PEP brothers who had experience giving speeches.

At the end of class, we split into our groups to determine who will be attending Toastmasters class in the morning or afternoon. We also voted on our presidents and vice presidents. For the AM class, we chose our brother and good friend, Jason M; and for our PM class we chose Adam W. We chose these two for our presidents because they proved in Phase One that they can represent Spring ‘18 with honor.

Frankie P. (a.k.a. “Scruff McGruff”)

Tuesday January 9, 2018

Today we looked around and saw all of our Spring ’18 brothers waiting to be called out – and even though we weren’t called out due to a character assessment, we were still ready. Seeing that we had some free time on our hands, Spring ‘18 began further preparing for Bert S.’s test tomorrow. Some of us even started studying the next two chapters so we could stay ahead of the curve. Meanwhile, some of us were putting final touches on our homework assignments.

We in the Spring ‘18 class are privileged and blessed to be given the opportunity to do something constructive with our time. We appreciate the structure and positive vibe MTC and PEP have made in our living environment. Spring ‘18 will show their appreciation and gratitude by proudly accepting everything that PEP has to offer, and by walking across the stage on graduation day.

Alfredo R. (a.k.a. “Strawberry Fanta”)

Wednesday January 10, 2018

We are headed into our third week of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program’s business curriculum, and we can honestly say that we have a strong and dedicated class. We are the Soldiers of Spring ‘18 and we live life on the up and up. Today we took a test in Bert S.’s entrepreneurship class – the first of many more to come.

Many of us felt like it was too easy, but from what we hear, the tests get harder and harder. Our three words to live by: study, study, study! We all want to make it across the finish line, so let’s make this the biggest class to graduate PEP. We’re not quitters; we’re the Soldiers of Spring ‘18.

Alejandro A. (a.k.a. “Pineapple Fanta”)

Thursday January 11, 2018

What a week! We thought they were exaggerating when PEP graduates told us, “Second phase is finally here guys, so things are going to crank up a notch!” Boy, were we mistaken. We’ve got to admit that this week has been just a complete blur of information. Where do we even begin?

We were introduced to Toastmasters International for the very first time, and witnessed captivating, mind-blowing and jaw-dropping speeches from a couple of our PEP brothers who recently graduated. We also got a chance to formally meet our fearless leader, Bert S., and were able to gain insight on what the next six months are going to consist of. From what we’ve heard, we’re going to receive tough feedback about and objections to our business concepts, but it’s only to help us sharpen our ideas. We have even been brainstorming among each other about our different business concepts, while at the same time juggling multiple homework assignments.

It has truly been a very busy week, but we always remind ourselves that when we start to feel overwhelmed to persevere. No one said this would be easy – if it were, it probably wouldn’t be worth pursuing. PEP is all about resilience and not giving up when things get difficult, even when it’s the easier thing to do.

Marcus J. (a.k.a. “Honey Dew”)

Friday January 12, 2018

We woke up to another beautiful Friday morning, blessed to see another day. The very thing that drives us is our purpose in life. Determined to get through PEP successfully, we put our time into studying. Through talking with each other, we can gain more knowledge and wisdom about what it means to be an entrepreneur.

As we went through the day, dayroom tables were full of entrepreneurs focused on their futures. We know that we have the potential to have a huge impact on our communities. We know that in every entrepreneur, there is someone who is willing to put in the work needed to be successful.

We know that in the end, all this work is not just for us – we are also doing this for our children. Any other time on a Friday, it would have been time to relax – but not for us. We know when we go home that failure is not an option. Some of us are driven by past failures, so on this Friday, we finished hard with the end in mind.

Jason C. (a.k.a. “Peach Cobbler”)

Expressions

“So much universe, so little time.”

~Terry Pratchett

Time is our most precious asset, and we are only given a specific amount – there is no way to buy more time. What we have is all we’ve got, but we can maximize the time we have by using it wisely. You never want to look back at your life 20 years from now and wonder, “What if … ?” You also don’t want to feel like you wasted half of your life, just going through the motions.

The greatest mistakes we make are not heeding the words of the wise. How many times did we hear “don’t be so quick to grow up,” yet we continued to try to be an adult as fast as possible. And here we are adults, trying to stay as young as possible, wishing that we were kids again.

You can’t make up for lost time; however, you can choose to use every day, every hour, every minute and every second to the best of your ability. Make the most of each moment and do all you can, while you can, because our days are numbered. My greatest question to you is: are you living to die, or are you dying to live?

Michael G. (a.k.a. “Baby Simba”)