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Today’s Homework: October 23, 2015

1.  Establish an account profile (free of charge) on LinkedIn.com.  Once established, connect with me, Stephen Cronin, on LinkedIn.   Please complete this assignment by Tuesday, October 27, 2015.  Thank you.

linkedin_logo_12.  Read the article distributed in class today titled “The Brand Called You” written by Tom Peters and previously published in Fast Company Magazine.  In no more than a 5 sentence paragraph with perfect spelling, good grammar and sound sentence structure, state your impressions of author Tom Peters’ concept of ‘Personal Brand‘.   For instance, what parts of Tom Peters’ position on Personal Brand did you most agree with?   Was there anything Tom Peters wrote about on Personal Brand you were not aware of or surprised you?   Was there anything Tom Peters wrote about on Personal Brand that you would immediately embrace and do as you continue to build your Personal Brand?  Was there anything about Tom Peters’ concept of Personal Brand you disagreed with ?  Please have this assignment emailed to me by Tuesday, October 27, 2015.  If you were not able to attend today’s class, make sure you get Tom Peters’ article from me next class and email your response to me as soon as possible.  Thank you.

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Today’s Class: October 23, 2015

Improvisation!

Students will eventually learn that the creative skill of ‘improvisation‘ with its prerequisite attitude of ‘perspective‘ will serve them well during their quest for lifetime success.

Today’s guest was John Garcia, Development Officer at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island.   Upon discovering early this morning that Friday’s school schedule had been changed to accommodate an important all school activity, a conversation among Principal Hunt, John Garcia and Stephen Cronin created an opportunity for some students to still meet and speak with John Garcia.

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John Garcia (center) with Elijah Akindolie (right) and Isaac Demola (left).

John’s story was inspiring and informational.

John’s parents were Portuguese immigrants.  Portuguese was the language spoken in his home. John spoke about his transition from Portuguese to English during his early years of education, from big challenges to eventual academic success. “It was a challenge initially;  success really came down to hard work and perseverance.  I believed education would help me become a successful person.” John said.

And, then, John shared one interesting anecdote with Elijah and Isaac.  “I was not initially accepted into my primary college.  They said my grades were not good enough.   So, I asked for a meeting with the Admissions representatives at Bryant University to tell the other part of my story.  As soon as Admissions learned how involved I was outside of the classroom, in different clubs and activities,

the brand perception of John Garcia changed. 

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Today’s Homework: October 16, 2015

1.  Please read the profile of Preston Tucker in your “Brand” textbook (pages 107 to page 114).   After reflecting on the information you’ve read, state, in one sentence, your opinion why Preston Tucker’s dream of creating a successful car company to challenge Ford and General Motors in the late 1940s was unsuccessful.  Thank you.

2.  Complete Activity 14 in your “Brand” textbook on page 141.   Please keep in mind your answer should be ‘well written’.  ‘Well written’ means good sentence structure (no ‘run on’ sentences, perfect spelling and good grammar).      If you don’t have a textbook yet, access the Brand textbook on our web site to the right of our post.  Thank you.

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Today’s Class: October 16, 2015

Today’s Life Skills class guest was Adriana Dawson, the Director of Employer Outreach & Engagement at Roger Williams University.   Our Life Skills class host, welcoming Adriana to Hope High School and introducing her to the Life Skills class, was Valentina Gomez-Rincon.

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Valentina leads Adriana into today’s Life Skills class at Hope High!

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Valentina introduces Adriana to her classmates

Adriana’s story was about ‘tough choices’ and finding ‘courage’ to make them.

“My parents were Colombian immigrants.  Spanish was my first language;  in fact, when I started school in America, I didn’t speak English.  It was a challenging transition trying to  fit in with my classmates my first school year”  Adriana explained.  But Adriana did fit in and became a successful student through high school.  “My parents made it clear education was important” she said.  “They understood education changes lives by creating opportunities for lifetime success“.

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Today’s Homework: October 9, 2015

Here is your homework assignment for this week.   Send your answers to my email address no later than Tuesday, October 13th, 11:59 pm.  Make sure your answers are well written with good sentence structure, proper grammar (punctuation, capitalization and no ‘run on’ sentences) and perfect spelling.  Thank you.

There is a very specific reason why I am asking you to respond to each of these questions.   Our homework is not ‘busy’ work; it has a specific purpose related to our class objectives.  If you are curious, feel free to ask me anytime about the reason for any assignment or class.

Everything we do in this class, from the people you meet, the field trips we go on and the assignments posted on this site are all designed to reach our Life Skills objectives;

i.e. helping you develop the critical skills necessary to create as many opportunities as possible for you to become a successful person.  It’s all about helping you become the successful person you aspire to be.   Seguro!

1.  Read page 10 in your “The Development of the American Brand” textbook.  If you just joined our class today and don’t have a soft cover, personalized textbook yet, click on the textbook link entitled “The Brand Book” shown to the right of this post on the web site landing page.  Go to page 10 (Glossary of Key Terms).  Explain in a well written paragraph how the lessons on page 10 apply to this picture below I shared with you in class today.  Your explanation must be written with well constructed sentences, good grammar and perfect spelling.

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Photo of Pope Francis and Stephen Cronin during Mr Cronin’s recent visit to Charlotte, North Carolina.

2.  Read the profile of Cesar Chavez in your textbook beginning on page 65 and ending on page 71.  If you had the opportunity to go back in time to have dinner with Mr Chavez, what question would you ask him?   (Your question must be written with  good grammar and perfect spelling.)  Thank you.

3. Name a fictional character (super hero, monster, cartoon character, etc) you would love to have as a friend.   Then, tell me why you think this character would be a good friend for you.   Again, write well constructed sentences with good grammar and perfect spelling.

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Today’s Class: October 9, 2015

Our first guest of this school year was Dereck Mendoza, a Senior Research Technician at one of the  world’s largest and most successful property insurance companies, FM Global.    Our first class host of this school year was Maria Dasilva who introduced Dereck to her Life Skills classmates with great poise and clarity.

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Maria and Dereck prior to class today. Maria welcomed Dereck to Hope and our Life Skills class.  She then asked Dereck about his professional information before introducing him to the class.

FM Global has clients in more than 100 countries.  FM Global employes 4400 employees.

The company was actually started in Rhode Island by Zachariah Allen around 1835.  Dereck explained the company spends a significant amount of time on engineering loss prevention;  in other words,

doing lots of tests, “blowing things up, then collecting and analyzing data from the test to determine ways to help companies avoid accidents and catastrophes“.

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Maria introduces Dereck to her Life Skills classmates at the start of today’s class.

Dereck spoke about his initial

brand impressions of the class.  “I was impressed with Maria’s conversational ability.   She made me feel welcome

to Hope and this class.  And, she was very good at asking questions, in a nice way, to get the information she needed for my introduction.  She did a good job; impressive.”  Dereck added in an email to me later in the day “your class is the best group I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with.

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Today’s Class and Homework: September 25, 2015

Today’s class conversation was about ‘BRAND’, what it is, why our ‘personal brand’ is so important in our life and how it shapes our future. 

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An Apple billboard using the brand of Amelia Earhart, one of the most impressive and formidable personal brands of the early twentieth century.

Homework:

Part one:  Read pages 1 through 27 in your book “The Development of the American Brand in the 20th Century“.   Then, please explain, in a well written paragraph with perfect spelling and good sentence structure, how your classmates today perceive your brand.  Again, I am asking how others perceive your brand, not how you want your brand to be perceived.

Part two:   Read the profile of Amelia Earhart in your textbook from page 83 to 91.   Please explain why Apple thought their affiliation with Ms Earhart’s brand would strengthen their Apple brand.  Please make sure your explanation is expressed in well written sentences, no run-on sentences, and with perfect spelling.

Please send your answers to my email address:  scronin@twobolt.com.

Please send this homework to my address no later than Monday, October 5th.

Thank you.   I look forward to reading your answers.

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Class Field Trip: BIF 2015 – September 16 and September 17

For the 5th consecutive year, Hope Life Skills students had the opportunity to attend an

amazing convocation of inspirational, international story tellers at the Trinity Theatre in Providence at BIF 10.

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The BIF venue at Trinity Theatre: individuals sharing their life stories on the Trinity Theatre stage to inspire and empower hundreds of listeners to extend themselves out of their comfort zone to be the successful person each dreams to be.  Matthew Zachary, the storyteller on stage in this photo, shares his brain surgery story.   You can see a screen in the upper right corner of this photo, on the stage, which was a video showing the intimate details of the actual surgery opening Matthew’s skull to remove a cancerous tumor.  Matthew was awake during the entire operation speaking to the surgeons.

Each storyteller shared a story from his or her life journey, often about doubt and adversity, sometimes failure, but always ‘never give up’ to extend themselves out of their comfort zone toward ultimate success.

“One of the amazing things about this event was our ability to meet and speak with the storytellers

during breaks and at lunch” said Gisabel Salcedo.  “I was so excited about meeting singer/songwriter Dani Shay.   We talked about our love of music and the details of songwriting.  And, she was so nice and encouraging.”

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Today’s Class and Homework: September 18, 2015

It was Opening Day

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Hope Life Skills 2015-2016 class Opening Day Roster: from left to right – Travis Barbour, Manny Rivas, Ruben Blanco, KiKi Lassend, Maria DaSilva, Valentina Gomez-Rincon, Delvany Soares, and Raymond Perez.

for this year’s Hope Life Skills class as teacher Stephen Cronin outlined what students and teacher Stephen Cronin must expect from each other.   From protocols for students to follow when acting as host with each class guest, contacting (text, email or mobile phone) Mr Cronin whenever any student is tardy or absent and encouragement for pushing out of one’s comfort zone  to students expecting Mr Cronin to have well prepared classes, suggestions for interesting guests and on time all the time attendance by Mr Cronin, all

expectations for students and the teacher were presented and discussed to ensure a successful Life Skills class.

The essential expectation at all times –  mutual respect.

Homework:  Send Mr Cronin an email by Monday, September 21st, the following information for their student business card:

  • Front of the card:

    • Student name
    • Career/Life Aspiration or Current Status – (this could be a career aspiration like “computer programmer” or “lawyer” or “professional recording artist“. However, if a student is unsure at this moment in time, they can simply put their current status as “Student”.)
    • Phone number –  This is optional.  However, if a student is handing a business card to someone they would like to add to their network, there is a benefit for this person to have the phone number to text or call.
    • Email address –  Many people still use email especially in business.

  • Back of card (Optional)

    • An inspirational quotation

 

 

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The Summer Internship Program at CVS Health: Presentation Day

It was day when everyone felt good.

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Just a few of the attendees at the August 21, 2015  CVS Health Hope High Life Skills Intern Presentation Day on the CVS Health corporate campus in Woonsocket, RI; from left to right: Joseph ‘Linc’ Murray (Senior Advisor Inventory Analytics), Shaun McKim (Senior Advisor, Inventory Analytics),Mike Martel (Director, Pharmacy Inventory Management), Fernando Perez (CVS summer intern-Hope High School Senior), Hafzat Akanni (CVS summer intern-Hope High School Senior), Jean Rodriguez (Hope High Life Skills program alum and CVS Health intern), Manny Rivas (CVS summer intern-Hope High School Senior) and Amy Propatier (Pharmacy Inventory Manager)

For the Hope High Life Skills students, it was about a summer work experience in ‘supply chain management‘, ‘computer programming‘, ‘analytics‘ and ‘corporate communications‘ at CVS Health, a  $140 billion dollar, international company.   For the CVS Health staff, it was observing the return on their personal investment mentoring some of Providence’s best and brightest young people who might eventually be future ‘supply chain managers’, ‘pharmacists’, ‘analysts’, ‘programmers’, ‘corporate communication specialists’, ‘lawyers’ and maybe even a ‘CEO’ at CVS Health or some other Rhode Island company or organization.

Opening remarks by CVS executives Lou Mercado, Vice President of Inventory Management, and Donna Mumma, Senior Director of Pharmacy Inventory Management and Analytics, addressed the mission of the internship program and the benefits of  strong personal brands and networks of successful, good people.   “You control your personal brand.  The best brands get the best and most opportunities for success.

Your brand will either open or close doors of opportunities throughout life. 

You’re part of this internship program because of the positive perception of your brand.  How well you maintain your positive brand will ultimately determine the quality of your job and career  opportunities and, eventually, your future success.  One of the reasons CVS Health continues to be a successful company is because of the CVS Health brand.  The people you see in this room and throughout this campus and in every CVS Health store you visit are responsible for the strength of the company brand.  The same can be said of your brand.  It depends on your commitment and the quality and commitment of the people in your network”.

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Donna Mumma, Senior Director Pharmacy Inventory Management and Analytics and Lou Mercado, Vice President of Inventory Management

Following Lou Mercado and Donna Mumma, each student proceeded to the front of the room to speak to the audience and their CVS Health mentors about their summer internship.

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