Gracian de Paul

Letter to Parents

“Hold the image of the life you want

and make that image become fact.”

Norman Vincent Peale

Thank you for choosing Gracian de Paul as an important part of your child’s development! This program began because of my concern as a teacher in an inner city program in Memphis for young children and teenagers. My observations deeply troubled me, because my students obviously needed more than the contemporary music classes I was teaching. They needed someone interested and concerned about addressing the important issues pertaining to their development; issues such as self-esteem, character values, and common courtesy. The youth of America are exposed to a very harsh, self-serving and rude world – a world that has lost many of the values that our grandparents taught us in years gone by. It is with JOY that I have created this special program that will educate and inspire our youth to recapture those values and apply them to their lives today.

As creator and director of Gracian de Paul, it is my heart’s desire and mission to offer our youth the most inspiring, pivotal program parents could ever find to teach them to become quality people. Young people must be inspired and challenged to reach higher, to ‘visualize and realize’ their dreams, believing that there is a special purpose for their lives. This kind of encouragement can bring about a delightful transformation to even the most difficult child. Each child who studies Gracian de Paul will be opened up to a healthy self-image because of its dynamic creative and motivational studies. This weekly ‘jam-packed’ study is filled with contagious enthusiasm and topics intended to grab your child’s attention and put to immediate use these valuable skills. I look forward to hearing what you and your child have to say when your child has completed Gracian de Paul.

Sincerely,
Jeanne Sheffield

* * *

Student Manual

Hello and welcome to Gracian de Paul! My name is Jeanne Sheffield and I am so thrilled and excited for YOU! You have decided to choose Gracian de Paul to be your study guide in two very important areas in your life – your Character Development and the practice of good Etiquette!

My goal as the director of Gracian de Paul is to inspire you to become a person of integrity and a person with confidence, poise, and grace in all situations. When you learn to integrate these wonderful values you will develop the attributes of a genuine “quality person”, a person complete and happy within. We are living in a world that often pairs us with rude, self-serving people, those who have forgotten good manners and even common courtesy. It can really be hard to remember our own good manners and courtesy when faced with such mean behavior! Have you asked yourself, “what can I do to make things better?” The answer begins with You. It begins with the choices you make each day. Your life touches so many people. What you say and how you live your life make a big impact on others. God gives us the freedom to choose each day what we will do with our lives. I’m so glad you have chosen to spend quality time learning with Gracian de Paul. My desire is that what you learn here will be one of the more rewarding experiences of your life.

But before we go any further, let’s look at the meaning of the word grace and you will understand why I chose the title of this special study to be Gracian de Paul. Grace means to have favor: the favor of God, not for anything we have done or will ever do, but because God loves us unconditionally. Grace means to have beauty. It means to have a beautiful spirit within. It also means to possess charm, poise, and expression.

While planning this study for you, I could not think of anyone more suited than the Apostle Paul to be your mentor and teacher. Paul, as you may already know, lived his life as a devoted Christian who wrote over half of the New Testament. Paul was also a great and inspiring teacher of the word of God and was held in high esteem for his character and integrity. Now do you see why I chose the name Gracian de Paul? It is the Apostle Paul that we will want to emulate as he teaches us to walk in the footsteps and grace of Jesus Christ. We will be following Paul’s guidelines to becoming a true quality person as we grow in our character studies. We will also have a great time studying proper etiquette and creating good habits as we leave the old ones behind.

You are going to experience these graceful attributes for the next several weeks when you study your Gracian de Paul chapters covering such topics as “Cool Manners Make Big Impressions” and “Checking My Character Within.” You will begin to see a noticeable change in how you view your life and those around you. I know you will be excited to share with others how to be a kinder, gentler, and more thoughtful person.