Greetings Present and Future Fans of Love In Abundance!

We are extremely excited about your visit with us today. We, the family of Love In Abundance, will make every effort to provide the information you need to leave our site informed, knowledgeable about working change for students in Title One or lower performing schools, and your ability to add to the programs, services, personal boundary expansion activities offered through Love In Abundance.

Here are some of the faces that have motivated every program, activity, personal boundary expansion activity, and research project conducted. As you look into their faces, think of the hope your assistance can bring to other, equally deserving students:

FOUNDATION FOR PROGRAMS

In seeking a resolution to any problem there must be a clear evaluation of all factors with any bearing on the problem. Since the objective of Love In Abundance, College Must Begin in 8^th Grade Life and Precollege Preparatory Program, and the College Must Begin in 8th Grade Series is to help students become academically, socially, and psycho-socially astute enough to enter a precollege program by the summer leading to their sophomore school year, while providing permanent, above temporary change to some behavioral issues able to prohibit their successful ongoing; applicable insight had to be derived from delving into the present disparities; reviewing and incorporating the proficiencies of the past; and exploring the provision of probabilities to aide students in wanting to broaden their aspirations for their future, hence:

• Fifth to Ninth Grade Students Attitudes About Education (In Title One Schools-schools where many families experience a number of life limiting deficits-(inclusive of boys/girls)

• College and University Professors Perception of Incoming College Students (many of the professors were those of former students); and

• The Effects of Dr. Pierre Bourdieu’s Sociological Perspective Capitals in the Lives of Successful African American Female Executives (10 African American Female Executives with a budget of at least five million).

Research shows many of these students do not have consistent access to:

1. A parent(s) as a consistent co-laborer inciting the best in the student’s educational endeavors, which influences student interest in advancing in education.
2. Problem resolution skills to deal with anger or frustration issues, which provide the tools student’s need to avoid detention or in-school punishment.
3. Critical thinking skills, which aides students in seeking an amicable resolution when confronted by the negative aspects of life.
4. Heightened life skills, an awareness of self, and the societal rules for life advancement; which helps students broaden his/her definition of their current life and future.
5. An understanding of the often unwavering societal expectations offered through Dr. Pierre Bourdieu’s Sociological Perspective Capitals which includes: Social Capital (friends and associates), Symbolic Capital (clubs, organizations) Economic Capital (budgeting, saving, giving back as a life norm), and Cultural Capital (how a slothful academic attitude contributes to every aspect of the students external and physical presentation, degree of diversity in communication, etc), and
6. Knowledge of the top six deficits of the surveyed college/university professors.

These concerns make up of the foundation for LIA’s College Must Begin in 8^th Grade Life and Precollege Preparatory Program. Now, please take a closer look at the path to our methodologies.

MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER

Greetings to All Who’ve Come Here!

In such a time as this, my main responsibility to Love In Abundance is to be an advocate for children who feel their voice is lost in society, or those who have learned a series of life limiting behaviors; in the midst of knowing them to be worthy vessels in need of consistent love, direction, leadership, comradeship, care and even an occasional (non-literal) kick in the fanny. Instead of simply pointing out disturbed actions or behaviors witnessed in academic learning environments and/or in the child’s home; I would like you to read the lines of this message conducting your own evaluation of cause and effect and the need for learning right behaviors. The evaluation requested is not for the sake of judgment, but acceptance of several contributors to the actions or reactions of students, to open your mind to the need for a program teaching students how to unlearn some of the negative behaviors currently acted out or displayed. Ready?

• Perceived Problem

One area of contention that has evolved to the disruptive or dysfunctional behaviors observed or experienced in children in Title One or lower performing schools involves modes of communication. On the one hand, LIA has witnessed a child attempting to go tit-for-tat with an adult (in some area of school), who has lowered him/herself to the child’s mode of communicating when the child’s actions were deemed inappropriate. On the other, LIA has witnessed parents bringing the child to the office to restore their child to being able to receive his or her education, and heard raised vocal levels between the child and parent as a regular mode of communication. Instead of surmising children are screamed at in their homes, and then again in the schools; could the real problem be many children have come to believe screaming is the proper mode for communication in any environment presenting the need for conversation?

• Love In Abundance Solution for Resolution

The problem is addressed through broadening the problem beyond its immediate boundaries and connecting it to the students desired future. LIA aspires to connect student behaviors to societal expectations in alignment with the students aspirations on a quarterly basis to keep the focus small enough for students to be interested in the information presented, and broad enough to connect standard business practices for students to gain insight into life in the real world. This helps students feel receptive to the change expected, because they know judgment and guilt are not included in LIA’s course of redirection. The first quarter introduces the power of Effective Writing (with writing assignments focused on increasing self efficacy); Social Capital (introduces the connections of friends, associates, and networking from a societal perspective for students to evaluate individual alignment); and we end the quarter with Economic Capital (introducing how to gain and keep effective finances and community service for the entity served above self – tying students ability to receive the desired finances to Effective Writing and Social Capital to unify each societal expectation for students to evaluate her level of readiness and/or preparedness).

• Perceived Problem

Students are often viewed hanging out or in crowds or bunches, doing what young people do or talking about those things of interest to other young people. Often times, the dialogue heard is shocking (in that it is so far removed from Standard English), or it is in some code acceptable to other young people (so many older people deem it less than or surely life limiting). Though not as intense or altered as the communication acceptable to young people today, we all had codes for some dialogue between friends for those things we did not want our parents to be aware of. The attire of choice was hip huggers, form fitting clothing, and other articles expressing personal choice – because many of us believed our parents simply did not understand. Flirting with members of the opposite sex was normal and expected – at times, even as a result of peer pressure. Freedom of expression was pushed to the limit because being young often times meant stretching the boundaries for interaction. After all, being a teenager has to present or create its own benefits, right?

• Love In Abundance Solution for Resolution

While freedom of expression, to some degree has to be acceptable; the ramification of excessive expressions is addressed through LIA’s 2^nd quarter programs, in alignment with each students desired expectations. LIA’s focus is on introducing the student’s personal or individual connectedness to the often unspoken societal expectations. Symbolic Capital begins the month (introducing the significance of clubs and organizations to the students aspired for career); Listener Type is introduced (to show the benefits of each listener type to opportunities for advancement); and Cultural Capital ends the month (by showing how a slothful academic interest/emphasis affects the students walk, talk, dress, mode of communication, acceptance and demonstration of social, business, and professional etiquettes, and every other aspect of the students external presentation).

• Perceived Problem

Self esteem seems to be the punch word used through every community, environment, or institution addressing the pertinent development of young people everywhere. Self esteem, which is secondary to heightened self efficacy, is attempted to be addressed through many forms or activities to assure student feel the best about self as his or her life progresses.

• Love In Abundance Solution for Resolution

LIA begins the 3^rd quarter by delving into a students Self Talk (specifically introducing the ramifications of positive self talk above and beyond negative self talk); What Does Your External View Say? Is introduced to (help each student perform an independent evaluation of how she presents herself and the message received from a boy regarding her choice of attire); and the month ends with tying Self Talk and …External View, to the often unspoken business and social etiquettes). Real life what if scenarios are prevalent throughout each quarter to assure LIA is addressing each of the six deficits of the surveyed college and university professors.

• Perceived Problem

Since children have been small, they have heard or been taught that reading is fundamental. Throughout elementary school, students have time specifically set aside for reading in the school environment. As children get older (intermediate and middle school), the expectation must be that this class is no longer necessary, because at just about the time parental participation in education begins to dissolve – reading is also taken out of education.

• Love In Abundance Solution for Resolution

LIA’s 4^th quarter focus is in introducing the Capital Investment Reading List to assure students are able to connect all lessons learned throughout the year to the societal expectations offered in each of Dr. Pierre Bourdieu’s Sociological Capitals. The books further ingratiate the significance of each Dr. Bourdieu’s Capital to the students desired expectations – while comprehensively addressing each lesson taught throughout the year. The year is ended with students making proclamations about her desired future expectations. The final event to solidify all lessons and provide an avenue for students to present her new self to parents and the public is through our annual LOVE Ladies Self Efficacy Weekend.

Love In Abundance, College Must Begin in 8^th Grade Life and Precollege Preparatory Program will aide our students in understanding who they are and whom they have the right of becoming. Personal boundary expansion activities (offered each month) will allow our students to see a vision of life possible through intentionally adapting her life to incorporate tolerance, patience, and choosing to master, instead of existing through all facets of her education. Lessons will become life norm adaptations when students are then able to teach each learned lesson to a younger, grade level student who may be where they once were on a monthly basis. Community service is incorporated into each month’s program structure to assure that our students are qualified to receive the President’s “Gold” Volunteer Service Award. If any of our parents have a desire to advance their live via advanced education; Love In Abundance is prepared to assist each parent is finding the appropriate career, and working through the process to re-enter the education arena via advanced education.

The stance Love In Abundance has chosen to take on is for the empowerment of each student and family member (willing to work with us), and life redirection for each student because our families are people first. As people, we all perform our best when all facets of who we are have been addressed and attended to, so the program not only assist students in being academically and socially prepared for life advancement and the opportunities awaiting academically and socially prepared students. Love In Abundance program incorporates lessons and activities to assure our students have a heightened emotional intelligence level to assure they are prepared for all aspects of who she aspires to be. The CMB8^thGrade Life and Precollege Preparatory Program takes a four step approach to life redirection via:

• The Program – Provides an introduction into a different societal or academic area of concern on a monthly basis

• A Practical Application-Provides an avenue to connect with the societal expectation or academic concern to evaluate the student’s stance vs. societies expectations

• An Alternate View – Provides a practical application of the addressed societal need or academic area of concern in an alternative way, to broaden each student’s level of diversity and critical thinking skills

• Peer-on-Peer mentoring – Provides the empowerment vehicle through the allowance of students teaching all lessons to younger, grade level students, to enhance the life of each student while increasing student confidence in other areas of personal concern or interest

LIA used student reactions to introduce all programs on a quarterly basis (to keep the focus small enough to grasp our student’s attention, and vast enough to incorporate standard business practices to gain insight into life in the real world). Lessons offered through Love In Abundance Life and Precollege Preparatory Program work to empower families in knowing how to purposely achieve their greatest heights individually, and as a family unit (because this changes the dynamics of at least two generations). The outcome of your evaluation will provide the insight needed to determine if you are now ready to help us help them?

Vickie Gunnells-Hodge

Founder/Chairperson

STUDENTS  AND ATTITUDES CONNECTED

Love In Abundance (LIA) College Must Begin in 8^th Grade Life and Precollege Preparatory Program is an internal stakeholder in academic environments addressing some of the internal detriments perceived by students currently prohibiting a successful academic experience. This research based program looks into the dynamics placing students in categories such as: problematic, troubled, and at risk. As a result of our programs existence in academic environments, it was discovered that students are not the only parties to their perceived areas of dysfunction. But, students are the only ones to wear a variety of dysfunctional and life limiting association labels. LIA is not of the mindset that students are innocent of some of the labels extended to them. LIA has merely experienced the reality that students are not the only contributors of the negative and life limiting labels adorned by them.

Contrary to some of the negative comments spewed in the media about minority children and their attitude toward education, no student wakes up one day deciding to live a limited life view in the midst of so many other opportunities. Several parties contribute to a student’s slothful attitude toward education, but the student is the only one to end up with the negative association label: at-risk.

A few major disparities often overlooked as it relates to attaching the title “at-risk” vs. using the term “placed at risk” include:

US Census Bureau revealed in the Public Education Report 2009 released in May 2011, that Texas ranks 43^rd in per pupil spending for public schools (there are only 50 states).

The Department of Education puts the Texas graduation rate at 71.9%, ranking Texas 36^th annually (50-36 =14 states lower than Texas).

The Cumulative Promotion Index indicates that only 64.5% of students in Texas graduate in four years (that leaves 35.5% of students who either “fell through the cracks” or “Texas forgot their own slogan about “Don’t mess with Texas” and are messing with their own children”).

Region IV, in Houston, has created a Parental Incentive Program to help parents understand their value in the educational endeavors of their children (because too many parents have taken the priority role in the parent/child relationship, which leaves the child as, what?).

Data from the 2000 administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that, nationally, 90 percent of 4^th graders were in schools where a school official reported that more than half of parents participated in parent-teacher conferences. Among 8^th graders, though, that proportion dropped to 57 percent. This information is reported in an article titled: Parent Involvement, by Education Week.org October 20, 2011 issue – but published: September 21, 2004.

The results of these reports appear to suggest that several parties contribute to students being deemed at risk, but the students are the only ones left to wear the label at risk.

Instead of focusing on what students are allegedly “incapable of”, LIA via the College Must Begin in 8th Grade Life and Precollege Preparatory Program exist to aide students in discarding the learned negative behaviors causing students only to be deemed incapable of any number of advancements without accusations and without judgment. LIA then introduce lessons in mastering the societal expectations, while incorporating personal boundary expansion activities as tools showing each student the need for purposely adopting social/life advancing skills capable of goading them to their preferred life aspirations.

DISCLAIMER:

• Students, you ARE NOT being provided an excuse to continue in a slothful attitude toward your education as a result of any level of dysfunction in your house or home.

• Students, you DO NOT have permission to react to the perceived problems in the academic environments you exist in with teachers or educations modeling your mode of communication, beyond mastering each phase of your education for the benefits it will allow you once you do. DISCLAIMER: The statements about the teachers/educators are not applicable to the teachers/educators it is not applicable to. And

• Students, you ARE NOT being provided a pass to be disrespectful or display acts of insolence because your state has failed you through an unwillingness to fully divest in the best education for ALL children. DISCLAIMER: The statements about these adults are not applicable to the adults it is not applicable to.

Students must instead know it is their responsibility to advance in their life because lessons learned in education will dictate their life outcome. This is a reality LIA students are coming to believe in the midst of some of them receiving a limited education system (because of the state refusing to fully fund for the best possible education), and/ in the midst of any perceived problems with the adults in their life, home, school, community, or state. This increase in personal fortitude is the exact same desire the powers that be of Love In Abundance desire for every student. We need your help to help students grasp their individual truths.

Quest for change: If several parties indeed play a role in the reduced attitude or willingness of some students to advance in education, in lieu of his or her perception of receiving a less than fair education; let’s collectively work to level the playing field for all students. For the span of one year, purposely commit to work with Love In Abundance to help children comprehend the reality of their role in their life actually advancing. Bring your talents, your expertise, and your finances because your commitment will make a difference to you, your community, and all our futures. Remember,

These children will be the future, if provided the most proficient tools for that responsibility or not!

IDEOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABILITY

In an effort to create long term above temporal success, all lessons begin with students writing their own goal and objective for each month’s lessons and activities, in preparation for the pertinent tools for life advancement introduced throughout each month’s activities. This methodology begins the process of willingness for students to adopt a heightened attitude toward their education, because of being able to connect self to the outlook of their future.

Beginning and continually emphasizing all programs in this manner makes each student’s educational experience personal, thus opening their mind to:

• Learning appropriate social and business etiquette’s offered through Dr. Pierre Bourdieu’s Sociological Capitals to create (instead of merely existing through) the boundaries for their own life and future.
• Gaining the confidence to excel beyond any perceived limitations by mastering, instead of merely being knowledgeable of the top six deficits of the surveyed college and university professors.
• Expanding their definition of who they are through each personal boundary expansion activity, because when students are able to see another possible life view, the door becomes opened for the steps needed to work toward their desired life view.

The anticipated change in student focus and growth is experienced through a different academic or societal area of concern introduced every month, throughout the eleven moth program. The innate capabilities are attached through comprehensively connecting each quarter’s lessons to every other lesson.

As the power of choice becomes innately clear, lessons learned and the provision of comprehensively connecting each lesson to every other lesson will help students become empowered little ladies modeling socially acceptable ideologies able to secure her desired life and future.

The Peer-on-Peer mentoring program is the coup de grace of every program, because it allows our little ladies to teach each lesson learned to a younger, grade level student, in a manner agreeable to the younger student. Students truly begin to see her innate gifts and talents, which can increase her passion to help the younger grade level students in omitting some of the destructive or life limiting thinking, while opening the older student’s door of permission to explore other heightened interest.

STATEMENTS OF FACT

Mission Statement: To evoke the power within our students to broaden their definition of who they are and whom they have the right of becoming.

Vision Statement: Assure students of their role in becoming academically, socially, and psycho-socially astute enough to enter and master a precollege program by the summer leading to their sophomore school year.

Societal Problem Statement: Greed has long been a problem throughout the country. The degrees of greed exhibited through some media sources appear to relay the message that a certain level of greed, achieved in business, has an acceptable level of approval as long as it is carried out under the guise of “doing business”. In recent years, instant gratification seems to have become an acceptable “business practice” as long as the “wrong people” were not injured. But when children watch what we do far more than hearing what we say; we (as a society) have in effect shown them that an ideology of achievement allowance at any cost is an acceptable means to any end.

Parental Problem Statement: When a parent becomes the primary individual in the parent/child relationship, while their child is suffering with an inability to adjust to life’s changes that resulted from their parents choice to divorce or separate; the parent will have provided some of the ammunition causing their child to be diminished to the horrid connotations attached to the label “at-risk”. DISCLAIMER: The statements about the parents are not applicable to the parents it is not applicable to.

Student’s Problem Statement: As too many parents have moved to the role of primary in the parent/child relationship, inconsistent boundaries in home have taught children how different scenarios can be manipulated for their benefit. As the rules for behavior change in school, or businesses continue to take the stance that “I can do what I want to because I want to”; children are left unaware of how to evoke the necessary innate permissions within to act in his/her best interest for the achievement of an honorable future while also remaining respectful of the elders (however devoid of character) changing the boundaries for interaction and advancement before them. DISCLAIMER: The statements about the parents/educators/ adults are not applicable to the parents/educators/ adults it is not applicable to.

Action Statement: Provide a group of aspiring young ladies (both knowingly and unknowingly) in Title One Schools, a systematic series of programs & services creatively structured, utilizing project based activities, in tandem with school objectives and goals, to assist each student in giving herself permission to adopt an alternative life path for her own level of success and self-sufficiency.

Love In Abundance Truth Statement: LIA acts as the village member aiding willing single, working poor, and blended parents in teaching their children those life advancing lessons able to help their child reach her individual life plateau. LIA understands that parenthood is one of the hardest jobs there is and at times, parents become overloaded with trying to keep everything the same or functional that they miss some things. Overlooking pertinent life lessons or essentials may not be intentionally done, but the ramifications may still be life limiting. In an effort to decrease the number of students living down to reduced life expectations, LIA takes pride in working with parents willing to work with us to secure the best overall tools for social, academic, and life advancement for each child and willing family member. LIA does not give the appearance of working around our parents or interjecting lessons prohibiting their child’s successful ongoing. Love In Abundance, the child’s school officials, and the parent(s) work collaboratively to assure our students are knowledgeable of their role in their life actually advancing. All preparation is in anticipation of students being prepared to enter a precollege program by the summer leading to the student’s sophomore school year.