NAVIGANT CREDIT UNION PRESIDENT & CEO, KATHY OROVITZ, COMES TO CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL’S SOCIAL STUDIES 2.0 – LIFE SKILLS CLASS

Like so many serendipitous moments in life,
a young person’s path suddenly intersects with a charismatic, successful leader
providing clarity and inspiration to their career goal.

This is what happened to Central High School Junior, Junior Brownell, when Navigant Credit Union President and CEO, Kathy Orovitz came to Junior’s Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class as a featured speaker.

Central High School junior, Junior Brownell, meets Navigant Credit Union CEO and President, Kathy Orovitz, before the start of the day’s class.

Junior Brownell acknowledges his excitement meeting Ms Orovitz and his aspiration for a banking career after introducing Ms Orovitz to his classmates to begin the day’s class.

Following Junior’s introduction of Ms Orovitz, Junior’s classmates welcome Ms Orovitz to Central High School and their class with a firm handshake, good eye contact, a smile, and warm greeting.

CAREER NETWORKING WORKSHOP

A panel of pediatricians, nurse practitioners, engineers, computer scientists, entrepreneurs, radiologists, anesthesiologists, bankers, and police officers from different places on the globe – China, Singapore, Peru, and several American states – share their personal and career stories with students in the May 15, 2025 Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class.

Pediatric Nurse Practioner – Katie Snape  (far left) – began the presentations by sharing her career and personal story with a few interesting and humorous anecdotes.    AnesthesiologistDr Ji Chao (immediate right)  and  Banker Deivi Elias await their turn.

Computer science Engineer and Entrepreneur – Toye Onikoyi – shares his career and personal story as Providence Police Officer Daniel Hernandez (left) and Computer Science / Robotics / AI Engineer – Etebom Samuel listen in.

Psychologist Katherine ‘Katie’ Ingraham shares her story as Radiologist Scott Collins (right) and Pediatrician Dr Sydney Tucker are poised to share their story.

Boston University bound / Super Central High School senior, Rexella Bishop shares the details of her multiple summer internships at the Brown University Medical facility and encourages other students to apply for the same experience.

Central High school junior, Julio Cartegena, asks the panel about career options in Computer Science.

Cyber Security and Computer Science: Career Opportunities and Technology’s Impact on all

Central High School’s Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class visited the beautiful campus of Roger Williams University

in Bristol, Rhode Island to

meet with professors, students, and facility maintenance personnel for conversations about careers
the students were curious about.
Furthermore,

the conversations also explored

technology’s impact on careers and jobs.

Shakour Abuzneid, Ph.D, ‘futurist‘ and professor of Cybersecurity & Networking, presents career information on the growing industry of CYBERSECURITY.   Professor Abuzneid also shared his vision of technology’s impact on different jobs and careers in the near and distant future.

Michael Walsh, Director for Student Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging  spoke about his roles as advocate for students throughout their enrollment at RWU.  Mr Walsh also spoke about a number of keys to success for meeting the challenges of higher education and taking advantage of the many opportunities a college education offered students, especially, TIME MANAGEMENT and NETWORKING.  Both topics are introduced and developed in the Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills syllabus.

Brown University Students Share Their Entrepreneurial Story

A conversation about starting a company
as well as
the similarities and differences between
a 17 year old’s life and education in Providence, Rhode Island
and
a 17 year old’s life and education in the People’s Republic of China and India.

Following the Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills program protocol, Central High School students Julio Cartagena (top left) AND Junior Brownell (bottom left) welcome today’s guests Jerry Zheng (bottom right) and Adithya Sriram a(top right) to Central High School and today’s Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class.   Part of the protocol is exchanging BUSINESS CARDS to add both Jerry and Adi to their student NETWORKS.   Jerry is an avid BASKETBALL and NBA fan majoring in ECONOMICS at Brown University.   Jerry is from the city of Beijing, China.     Adithya is from the city of Chennai, the capital of the state of Tamilnadu in southern India.  Adi is majoring in COMPUTER SCIENCE at Brown University.  Adi shared a description of India’s most popular sport, CRICKET.

JULIO leads Adi and Jerry into the classroom for their introduction to the rest of the class.

Junior introduces Jerry to his classmates at the start of today’s class.

AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) INSTRUCTION FROM INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Katarína Lukácsy is a Senior Engineering Manager at Atlassian,

an Australian proprietary software company that specializes in collaboration tools designed primarily for software development and project management. Atlassian has its global headquarters in Sydney, Australia with United States offices in San Francisco,California. The company has over 12,000 employees across 14 countries. Atlassian currently serves over 300,000 customers in over 200 countries around the world.

KATARINA CAME TO OUR CLASS TODAY as a ‘FUTURIST
AND
INSTRUCTOR FOR LLMs (Large Language Models) LIKE ChatGPt.

Julio Cartagena was today’s class host, welcoming Katarina outside the classroom to Central High School and our Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class.  Julio exchanged business cards with Katarina.   Coincidentally, Julio’s career aspiration is Computer Science.

Julio introduces Katarina to his classmates to start today’s class.

Providence College Nursing Students and Professors Visit Today’s Class

NASHLA ALCANTARA SANCHEZ asks her question to the Providence College student and professor panel

Every topic,

from career choices in the nursing profession and
the application process for the nursing program
at Providence College,
to the use of Robots and AI in nursing,

this class provided a lively and informative conversation between the Central High School students and the Providence College representatives during today’s Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class.

Central High School students, ANAHI RIVERA (left), CAYDEN CURRY (center) and IVELA SENCION COLON (right) welcome the Providence College guests outside the classroom prior to the start of the class.

Central High School junior and Nursing Career aspirant, KATHERINE SOLOMON, introduces Providence College Nursing Students, Adrianna Como (far left) and Megan Baker to her classmates before the start of the day’s class.

Marta Aparicio’s EQUATION for Lifetime Success

MARTA APARICIO – Foreign Service Officer with the State Department of the United States of America stationed at the United States Embassy in the country of Honduras, stands before Mr Cronin’s Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class at Central High School to share her personal story of success from her birth in the country of Guatemala to the classrooms of Hope High School in Providence, RI then onto the elite university of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. before her first State Department assignment at the United States Embassy in the Asian country of LAOS.

I + HW(2) + N + G = SUCCESS

Class HOST, NASHLA ALCANTARA, escorts Marta into the classroom to begin the day’s activities.

Nashla introduces Marta to her classmates to start the day’s class.

DOMINGO TIQUIRAM SAM se presenta a Marta y le da la bienvenida a Central High y a esta clase as other students wait to do the same.

An Introduction to a Nurse Practitioner Career

Central High School Junior Katherine Solomon welcomes Nurse Practitioner Liz Welch from Brown University Medical Associates to Central High School and her Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class outside the classroom before the start of class.  Katherine was chosen to be the class HOST after expressing an interest in Nursing and wanting to build a NETWORK of successful, influential, and honest nurses.

Katherine offers Liz Welch her business card while Liz reciprocates with her Brown Medical Associates business card.

Katherine Solomon introduces Liz Welch, Nurse Practioner – Adult Reconstruction at Brown University Medical Associates, to Katherine’s classmates to open the day’s class.

Central High School Students Impress at the 2024 Women’s Summit at Bryant University

Central High School students with the 2024 Women’s Summit at Bryant University featured speaker, Lisa Leslie, WNBA Hall of Fame inductee, 4time United States Olympian, ESPN personality, and Entrepreneur.

It was an opportunity for each student to showcase and promote their personal brand and the brand of Central High School. 

Moreover, the Women’s Summit gave the students the opportunity to network with over 1,000 successful women from industries as varied as banking, cosmetics, insurance, television / media, higher education, medicine, and more.

Mission accomplished!

Mr Cronin had many Summit attendees come up to him during the event to say things like

“Your students are so mature, so professional.”

“Wow!  I can’t believe your students have business cards and the way they greeted and networked with me was so impressive.” 

Rexella Bishop, standing before hundreds of attendees, asks a question to Lisa Leslie who immediately commended Rexella for the quality of her question.

Welcome to a Career in Medical Care

Some of the emerging, exciting, fulfilling jobs of the 21st century are in
MEDICAL CARE

Medical AssistantNursePhysician Assistant.  Sonographer (people who create ultrasounds,images, for pregnant women, as well as ultrasounds of the heart and other organs). Radiology technologist (people who use imaging tools like X-rays to examine broken bones to cancerous tumors. Radiology technologists are responsible for taking and reviewing these images and they deal directly with patients.) Biomedical Engineer (technology experts who develop “medical diagnostic machines, medical instruments, artificial organs, joint replacement parts and prosthetic devices” that improve the health and quality of life for others).   AND SO MANY MORE!

TODAY’S GUESTS ARE MEDICAL ASSISTANTS

from University Orthopedics who shared their personal stories and experiences in Medical Care CAREERS as well as their perspectives on the emerging IMPACT TECHNOLOGY IS HAVING AND WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE ON MEDICAL CARE.

from left to right – Medical Assistants: Jasmin Vinas, Ilna Fontes, and Nicole Giraldo

prior to the start of the Life Skills class, Central High School senior, Shermira Thomas, serves as the class host welcoming Jasmin, Ilna and Nicole outside the classroom.