Most of our in-person sessions are held on the campus of the University of Southern California. However, we are excited to announce that two of our 2022 POS sessions will be held at the Los Angeles office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to give our participants exposure to the corporate environment. During these sessions, PwC will provide a panel of young professionals from their staff who will make a presentation to current participants about their personal and professional experiences thus far. Additionally, one of our monthly sessions will be a field trip to Junior Achievement (JA) Los Angeles, where we will visit JA Finance Park and participate in a four-hour simulation focused on financial literacy, family budgeting, investing, and making and understanding financial decisions required in every household.

Our current program continues to be enhanced by our previous eight years of program operations. POS alumni who are currently in college or have graduated from college eagerly volunteer to give back by sharing their experiences with current participants. These young men share powerful and impactful stories, including their life before they participated in the POS program, their experience while in the program and their journey since completing the POS program. We are confident that their stories will have a positive impact on our current participants.

We continuously strive to effectively communicate program content to our participants. In this regard, we have incorporated the use of Kahoot, a game-based learning platform that makes learning fun. Subsequent to each POS session, we develop a series of true/false and multiple-choice questions to review material previously presented at an in-person session to the group. Each participant competes to quickly answer each question in an effort to get the highest score. The score earned by each participant is tallied after each session, and the participant with the highest and second highest total scores are each awarded a monetary prize at the conclusion of our 2022 program.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you, our subscribers, for your much appreciated financial support and words of encouragement. We are continuing to explore ways to expand the number of young men we can serve on an annual basis.

I hope you find this newsletter informative, and I encourage you to contact me any time with questions or suggestions for future newsletters.

Don Dyer, Executive Director

The Benefit of Becoming An Involved Parent

supports the idea that what we do during the time we spend with our teens is almost more important than the amount of time we spend with them.

Did you know that many research studies have found that a parent’s behavior can either increase or decrease an adolescent’s risk for delinquency and other problem behaviors? How we interact with them, how we discipline them and how we guide them all play a role in shaping who they become. They pay attention not only to what we say but what we do as well. They pick up on what we value and what we believe is important by watching how we spend our time and energy.  The saying, “Actions speak louder than words,” supports the idea that what we do during the time we spend with our teens is almost more important than the amount of time we spend with them.

Research studies also show that mentoring programs that involve parents and caregivers are very likely to have positive outcomes for youth. In fact, much of the positive impact of participation in a mentoring program may be due to the role the parent plays. The stronger the parent’s connection and involvement in the mentoring program, the more likely the mentor to mentee relationship will lead to a positive outcome. Your involvement shows your son that this is something that you consider important. It demonstrates not only your investment in ensuring that he gets there and arrives on time, but your willingness to walk along side him as he creates these new relationships as well.

As parents, we have the primary responsibility of teaching and guiding our children. By being actively involved in our teen’s mentoring program, we can reinforce the skills and program messages that they learn in each meeting because we will learn them as well. By attending the sessions with your teen, having discussions about the information afterwards, and even talking about the connections and friendships that you both have made in POS can help strengthen the level of communication and connection you share.

There is no downside to becoming actively involved in POS as your teen participates in it. Resist the urge to just drop off your son. We urge you to come in and stay while; your presence will benefit both you and your teen.

Erica Holmes, Psy.D.

Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are my goals SMART?

• How much time do I need to achieve my goals?

• What is the value I will gain from setting up SMART goals? In

  other words, will I be building the foundation I will need to bring

  about opportunities for a successful career?

Examine your current use of your time. Is there an opportunity to change how you are using the time that may bring you closer to achieving your goals?  Of course, some time on social activities is part of life; however, are you putting too much time gaming on your phone, texting, or hanging out with friends? If so, you are doing so at a cost. Excessive time spent in these activities means you are losing valuable time that could be spent getting to your ultimate goals for a successful life.

There will be large, overall goals and small sub-goals that lead to the achievement of a larger overall goal. For example, a person who wants to achieve a college degree but doesn't read or write as well as needed for college will be ill-prepared. A sub-goal, then, is to first improve their reading and writing to be able to achieve the larger goal.  As that person improves and completes the sub-goals of reading and writing better, it moves that person closer to the larger goal of attaining a college degree. Then, that person can establish their next goal of finding success in a career and in life.

Everyone has opportunities to be successful in life. Setting SMART goals positions the path in the right direction.

Joseph Ellick

actions and are resolute in solving problems in a highly effective manner.  Because of the aforementioned reasons, these men are the cornerstone and a vital asset to the long-run viability of the POSMP organization. 

From an intellectual standpoint, POSMP men engage in critical thinking and have the ability to identify and analyze complex ideas. According to the leading experts, there are over 20 characteristics of highly intelligent people.  POSMP men meet and exceed all of them. They have extensive knowledge and experiences in many areas of study and know how to “think outside the box.”  For more information about their intellectual profile, I invite you to meet our POSMP men.

POSMP men are true professionals who have the ability, knowledge, experiences and values that allow them to play a very productive role in the organization and greater society.  They have confidence, as well as a sense of purpose, and are sincere in their interactions with the leadership team, colleagues and mentees.

POSMP men are the epitome of highly successful men who have accomplished their goals through hard work and dedication and have undeniable habits and traits of people who achieve success and maximize their potential.  It is my honor to be a colleague and member of POSMP and to have this shared experience with the others on our team. We will all do whatever is necessary to help our young men become successful, positive contributors to society.

Dr. Ollie B. Hadley