Week 22

Week in Review

Monday December 4, 2017

Woke up this morning still reciting my pitch from the night before. I’m sure all of my Legends of the Fall ‘17 brothers can relate to this. Visualizing ourselves round by round in the competition, to finally making it to the “final four” of the BPC. Though our ultimate goal is graduation, we are all still working very hard on our presentations. Some brothers are holding pitch panels under the stairs, while others are presenting in their cells, but everyone is preparing to give their very best come December 7^th and 8^th. We had a small disruption that turned out for the good! We were informed to pack up all of our things and bring everything to the dayroom while the unit janitors came in and sprayed bleach all through our cells to do a unit cleaning. Some took it as pointless while others, such as myself, took it as a blessing in disguise, due to us feeling a little bit under the weather. All in all, it was a very productive day! Let’s go, Legends of the Fall ‘17! God Bless you all! Julian R. (a.k.a. “Buzz Lightyear”)  

Tuesday December 5, 2017

There are only two more days until we give our pitches at the Business Plan Competition, and we are all pumped. It’s been a long and hard, but all of our work is about to pay off on graduation day. Leadership Academy and Men’s Life will be finishing up in a couple of weeks, and Spring ’18 will be ready for their five-test initiation into Phase Two of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program. The guys have been studying real hard, as well as helping each other master the material. Spring ’18 will also be in the computer lab next week with a course load of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Fall ’17 and other graduating class members will be the Servant-Leaders helping this new class along, as we ourselves were helped by the servant leaders before us. Erik P. (a.k.a. “Patrick Swayze”)  

Wednesday December 6, 2017

Today we had our final rehearsal for our graduation ceremony. As the big day draws near, you can feel the excitement in the air. As the Legends of the Fall ‘17 prepare to matriculate and move on to the next leg of our PEP journey as graduates and Servant-Leaders, we are overcome with the feeling of accomplishment. We are proud of all our brothers here in PEP. Throughout this whole experience we have been right there next to each other and watched ourselves start out as separate idealistic individuals and come together into what we are today: The Legends of the Fall ’17! David W. (a.k.a. “Forrest Gump”)  

Thursday December 7, 2017

Today’s Business Plan Competition (BPC) was glorious! All of us got to revel in our accomplishments while being patted on the back by those that have gone before us. It will be a day that we will not soon forget. Shout-outs go to all the brothers that put hard work and effort into transforming their lives. This is the beginning of a long road that lies ahead of us all. Tomorrow our families will be here to watch us graduate. It is a day that should have a lot of emotions involved. We are all looking forward to watch how our families will respond when they see the new men that we have become. It was along ride, but it was well worth it. To the brothers that are in the upcoming class, Spring ’18: we will be here for you all the way. There will be times when you will want to quit, but take it from us, the transformation that we seek is here; all you have to do is grab it. We all come from different walks of life, but we have one thing in common: we are all seeking a better tomorrow. Joseph J. (a.k.a. “Yellow M&M”)  

Friday December 8, 2017

As we arrived at today’s graduation, we realized that lives can be changed in a moment through others’ impact on our lives. Words carry weight, and well-chosen words can give us hope and even change the course of our lives. During graduation, someone told us not to let anyone steal the moment from us. I’m sure most of us could share stories of a conversation that impacted our lives – perhaps words from a teacher that changed the way we saw the world, or words of encouragement that restored our confidence, or even gentle words from a friend who carried us through a difficult time. Perhaps that is why the book of Proverbs spends so much time emphasizing our responsibility to treasure words and use them wisely. Proverbs 16:24 says, “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Scripture never treats speech as if it’s just “talk.” Instead, we are taught that our lives can have life-or-death consequences. In just a few words we could crush someone’s spirit, or, through words of wisdom and hope, nourish and strengthen others. Not all of us have the ability of beautiful, powerful speech. But we can seek God’s wisdom to serve others through words. With just a few well-chosen words, God can use us to change a life. Antonio R. (a.k.a. “Honey Graham”)  

Expressions

 “Choose to love—rather than hate. Choose to smile—rather than frown. Choose to build—rather than destroy. Choose to persevere—rather than quit. Choose to praise—rather than gossip. Choose to heal—rather than wound. Choose to give—rather than grasp. Choose to act—rather than delay. Choose to forgive—rather than curse. Choose to pray—rather than despair.” ~Unknown For every positive action you do, you prevented a bad action from occurring, whether big or small. Try to be positive with everything that happens in your life, because the goodness in life will always surpass the bad that could happen. Alexius T. (a.k.a. Cherry Dr. Pepper)