From My Heart to Yours…

Love In Abundance, Inc began as a result of the pleas of once innocent children of divorce or separation who believed a difference could be made for them if others made the choice of actually listening to them instead of dictating what they should be doing (without taking into consideration the fact that the damage often felt & expressed was not of their own volition).

Listening; truly listening to students others have labeled “at-risk”, “troubled”, “problematic”, or any number of negative titles (that carry for the student a negative connotation), has allowed Love In Abundance entry into the heart of so many students who are just students who want others to see them as equally deserving students.

Talking with and listening to our students has taught us that many students find some manner of solace behind the label “being a kid”, because responsibility is a little scary and being a kid provides the allowance of more “fun”. In taking the time to assist these students in discovering some of their internal strengths (while attempting to alter their definition of fun), LIA has helped a great deal of students broaden for themselves life possibilities that extend beyond their current life view.

In an effort to continue in this path, and as a psychologist and sociologist with a passionate fondness for research, being engulfed in education research has allowed the following research projects conducted over the past two years:

• 5th–9th Grade Students Attitude Toward Education via Lotus of Control
• College and University Professors Perception of Incoming Students, &
• The Influence of Pierre Bourdieu Sociological Perspective Capitals in the lives of Successful African American Female Executives

The results from each research project has worked to create two new literary products that allow students to continue to expound on possibilities they may not have previously given themselves permission to envision.

College Must Begin in 8th Grade Pre-College Planner (CMB8thG)”; is a 504 page academic journal with a year long set of tools to assist students in becoming academically and socially adept. The overall objective of the planner is to increase each student’s ability to write a truly profound scholarship essay for the pre-college program of their dreams, which happens to be the 1st of 6 perceived deficits according to the surveyed college and university professors. Bourdieu’s sociological perspective Capitals provides the self-analysis tools to aide the student in becoming socially adept. A series of what-if scenarios provide each student the opportunity to evaluate for him/herself the end result taken in areas such as: etiquette, listener type, & personal commentary vs. persuasive conversation just to name a few. The planner is structured for the school calendar and every month addresses a different area of academic and/or social need; while continually introducing the concepts of reward and reciprocity. The goal is to assist each student in discouraging a mindset that demands a reward without having done any work in advance.
As a result of the information from the planner deriving from lessons learned from students Love In Abundance previously served, I would like the planner offered in the public school arena. The planner includes 6 scholarship awards and 6 honorable mentions totaling $15,000 a year, for one boy and one girl in middle school, ninth grade, and high school for successful adherence to the boundaries outlined in the planner. If accepted in the schools, I would like to offer the above-mentioned scholarship for each school district, with an additional scholarship becoming available for each additional group of 5,000 students.

“College Must Begin in 8th Grade All-Inclusive Resource Guide” is over 1,000 pages of guidance that begins by inciting each student to accept an ideology that denotes the necessity of making decisions pertinent to their life and future based on their truth, and in the midst of any current impediments.  It directly and indirectly forces students to examine why hiding behind the assertion of "I'm just a kid" will not only limit present opportunities, but future opportunities as well.  This resource guide very thoroughly addresses the following:

1. The necessity of having firm control of the four societal investment Capitals: Economic, Social, Symbolic, and Cultural;
2. Other 7th-9th grade students questioning, “Why do we need to begin talking about college now?”;
3. Current college students addressing some of the concerns they wish someone would have told them prior to reaching college; and
4. Successful business professionals providing insight because they are where the students are venturing to go.

Career Planning is offered based on subject matter prior to the student reaching the actual pre-college programs offered at institutions of higher learning. The objective for which is to assist students in understanding the need to be adequately prepared to enter the pre-college program of their dreams by having some idea of the career they are interested in. Foreknowledge, based on exploring several careers, also provides the student with the ability to write the most prolific and persuasive essay to enhance acceptance when applying to any pre-college programs by the summer leading to the students sophomore year.

Different students need different things to give themselves permission to succeed, so these products offer applications to assist students in finding their own niche in the midst of any current deterrents. It is my position that when you have vowed to provide the tools necessary for life advancement without bias, belittling, or discrimination; you provide others the ability to discover whom they are based on their innate desires instead of reducing whom they are to someone else’s reduced version of themselves.

I need your help to help Love In Abundance in continuing to be a help to these students and others, so check out the ‘How You Can Help’ section and pick your own way to lend a hand.

With much love, thanks, and appreciation,
Vickie Gunnells-Hodge
Founder/President