{"id":6778,"date":"2019-04-17T15:30:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T20:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/family.pep.org\/cleveland\/?p=6778"},"modified":"2019-04-17T15:30:01","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T20:30:01","slug":"week-15-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/2019\/04\/17\/week-15-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 15"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

Monday, April 8, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today is a new day with new possibilities. Another week has\nbegun and we are ready for it. This morning, we were expecting to have our\nToastmasters International class, but that wasn\u2019t the case. When we entered the\nPEP room, we found out that we would receive the results of our character\nassessments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We weren\u2019t really sure what to expect and, at the same\ntime, we were ready to find out how others perceive us. We wanted to see if\nthere was an area of our lives that we needed to work on. It is easy to say\nthat we are good in all aspects, but we all have blind spots, areas that our\nbrothers are better able to perceive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are called to live by PEP\u2019s 10 Driving Values. There is\nsomething so amazing about this standard of values! It makes us different and\nhelps us to develop a new and authentic manhood from the inside out. It has not\nbeen an easy process, but nothing good ever comes easy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything in life has its price, and each will be rewarded\naccording to his deeds. We, the Conquerors of Spring \u201919, are almost there! We\nwill continue to push forward and finish with our heads held high. Graduation\nis close at hand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salvador\nM. (a.k.a. \u201cPedro\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, April 9, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many of us, today was Computer Lab. Computer Lab is\ndivided into two classes: morning and afternoon. The Fall \u201919 class is also\nsplit into morning and afternoon classes. The morning Spring \u201919 and Fall \u201919\nparticipants were up and headed out the door as soon as the announcement was\nmade over the intercom. The men who were scheduled for the afternoon classes were\nsitting at the dayroom tables, coffee in hand, preparing and refining their\nbusiness plans. This is necessary after receiving critical information from the\nexecutives who came and shared with us at our Business Plan Workshop event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us have made some major changes to our business\nplans. We have received advice as to what areas we should focus on when it\ncomes to advertising our businesses. Others are focusing on financials, such as\nCost of Goods Sold. At the same time, we are adjusting the information on our\ninsurance premiums, which will be necessary in order to start our businesses.\nAs this program moves forward, our business ideas are becoming more and more\nvivid. Before coming to prison, many of us were unorganized and struggled to\nmake sense of things. Now we can\u2019t wait to be released and put our plans into\naction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most exhilarating part of this program is the way in\nwhich we are being taught to unlock the entrepreneur within each of us. We are\nnot being promised a handout in the future. We are being equipped to give\nourselves a hand up! We also understand the importance of giving back to our\ncommunities. This is a new perspective for many of us, but one that the whole\nclass is embracing. Our interactions with the executives prove to us that there\nare an abundance of people who are willing to give us a second chance. In our\nopinion, it is the executives who make this experience priceless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timothy\nM. (a.k.a. \u201cRicky Bobby\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, April 10, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, the Spring \u201919 class of PEP, have done very well today.\nWe had fun and learned much about the importance of selling a business. We\ndiscovered that a person who doesn\u2019t plan on selling a business still needs to\ndevelop a plan to do so, just in case. This is known as an exit or harvest\nplan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our teacher, Brian T. (a.k.a. \u201cCruella de Vil\u201d), engaged\nthe class by explaining the ins, outs and whys of a harvest plan. We answered\nseveral questions that revealed the true meaning of this concept in our\nEntrepreneurship textbooks as it would apply to our individual businesses. Brian\nT. is a mentor to all of us and has proven his worth many times over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A student body is like an organism, composed of many\nindividual cells that make their own impact on the whole. The teacher, or brain\nof the organism, needs to be healthy if the class has any hope of doing well.\nWe, the students, represent the rest of the organism, which needs to work\nharmoniously with the teacher in order to be truly successful. We, as a team or\norganism, have braved many challenges together and we have conquered them. We\nhave earned the right to call ourselves the Conquerors of Spring \u201919! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guy\nP. (a.k.a. \u201cSling Blade\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, April 11, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today was a very good day! We had no class today, but many\nof us were up with the sunrise. Some people started their morning by working\nout while others grabbed a cup of coffee and formed study groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are supposed to have a Fun Day for all PEP members\ntomorrow, but we are still expecting to have our Living in the Village test\nfirst. Whatever happens, it is best to be prepared. We are getting close to the\nend of this program, but there is still a lot to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the afternoon, we had Toastmasters on the Pod. We came\ntogether to give speeches in front of one another. We then gave positive\nfeedback in the form of evaluations. We are becoming much better speakers than\nwe were at the beginning of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nS. (a.k.a. \u201cSmokey\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday, April 12, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were given this beautiful and blessed day off from class\nfor a fun-filled day of enjoyment and bonding. We began our Fun Day around 8\na.m., with a gathering of all of the PEP brothers, circled up for prayer. We\ngave praise to our Heavenly Father for our many blessings, such as giving us each\nother and taking care of our families while we are away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our prayer, we proceeded outside and started the\nactivities off with a game of Dodge Frisbee. After many fun battles, a victor\ncould not be decided, so we continued on with a water balloon toss. This\nquickly turned into an all-out water balloon battle, resulting in many laughs\nand even more wet brothers. We became the ultimate victors as we combined\nforces and drenched our fearless leader, Greg P. (a.k.a. \u201cFlower\u201d), with many\nwater balloons, laughter and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fun didn\u2019t end there. After all of the scheduled\nactivities were complete, people broke up into smaller groups to play\nvolleyball, softball, horseshoes and toss the Frisbees around. All too quickly,\nthough, the day had to come to an end. We thank our Heavenly Father for\nblessing us with such great brothers and fun-filled days such as these. We were\nreminded that LOVE stands for Life\u2019s Only Victorious Enjoyment! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny\nR. (a.k.a. \u201cLeprechaun\u201d)   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expressions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe unexamined life is not worth living.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                                      <\/em> ~ Socrates<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When taking a look at self, most people in\nsociety today tend to just scratch the surface. What society needs is a heart\ncheck! We need to delve beneath the surface to the center of our innermost\nbeing. Why? Because the truth of the matter is that it is sorely needed in this\nworld today. Have you ever wondered why everybody just settles for normalcy and\nmediocrity? That\u2019s the only vision that most people have! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to stop fooling ourselves and call it\nwhat it is: the mediocrity of life. What does it take to want more? What must\nwe do to have a name that\u2019s not just \u201cJoe Schmoe,\u201d but rather who we are and\nwhat we do \u2013 a name that actually means something \u2026 a name that has credibility\nand is worthy of more than just what the world has deemed as standard. Or are\nwe to be reduced to a hapless saying on a bumper sticker?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get deep! Get down to the root of your heart\nand boldly act upon it. Do something, and don\u2019t let anything stop you. Never\nsettle for anything less than what is genuine. Sacrifice mediocrity for\nsomething that\u2019s unknown, but so much greater than superficiality. When you\n\u201cget deep,\u201d if you think that you have arrived at your destination, you will\ndiscover that you have merely taken the first step.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicholas T. (a.k.a. \u201cClark Kent\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, April 8, 2019 Today is a new day with new possibilities. Another week has begun and we are ready for it. This morning, we were expecting to have our Toastmasters International class, but that wasn\u2019t the case. When we entered the PEP room, we found out that we would receive the results of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clsp19"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/pamlychner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}