FUTURE FORUM #4 – a collaboration among a diverse group of caring corporate futurists and exceptional Rhode Island high school students looking to solve a chronic, societal problem while enjoying each other’s company topped off by some great food.   From left to right above, Sarah Cunningham (Rocky Hill Country Day), Nehemias Rojas (Hope High School), and Donghoon Ryu (LaSalle Academy) network during the day’s lunch.

Hope High School hosted its 4^th annual FUTURE FORUM on Thursday, December 12^th, 2019.

FUTURE FORUM 4’s topic of conversation was ‘public education’, specifically, Providence, Rhode Island, public education.

25 corporate ‘futurists’ from companies and institutions like DataRobot, Bank of America, Working Planet, Gilbane Construction Company, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Revival Brewery, Barclays Investment Bank, Alex & Ani, NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Brown University and CVS Health joined students from Hope High School’s Life Skills program as well as students from Rocky Hill Country Day, LaSalle Academy, St Raphael’s Academy, and Juanita Sanchz High School at this year’s event.  Corporate futurists facilitated collaborations among small, diverse groups of students from the participating schools to create specific, near term improvements to the quality of education in the city’s public schools.

Arnell Milhouse, Inventor, CEO of Career Devs University, and Entrepreneur in Residence at Brown University’s Nelson Center and featured in the photo above on a hover board, was FUTURE FORUM #4’s keynote speaker

The FORUM’s keynote speaker was Arnell Milhouse,

Inventor, Co-Founder and CEO of Computer Science CareerDevs University, and Entrepreneur in Residence at Brown University’s Nelson Center.   Mr Millhouse began the FORUM leading a design thinking presentation that students used in their FORUM workshops to identify ways to address the critical needs of Providence students in the urban schools.

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza opened the FORUM

sharing his inspirational personal story of challenges and success.

Mayor Jorge Elorza gave an opening address to start FUTURE FORUM #4

“Providence Public Education has been an issue of concern in Rhode Island for decades” states Steve Cronin, the Hope Life Skills and FUTURE FORUM coordinator.  “The FORUM provided an interesting dynamic for Providence Public School students to collaborate with private school students, facilitated by successful professionals from a variety of industries, and create potential, measurable, near term improvements in their public education in Providence, Rhode Island.  It’s an opportunity for Providence’s public school customers, the students, and people in their personal networks, to create solutions to improve their public education.  It was very interesting  to hear what the customers, the students, had to say.”

John Sinnott, a Vice President Gilbane Building Company, and noted graphic designer, Nick DeCesare, (Signature Printing Creative Director and Owner of Third Effect Marketing and Design) facilitate a collaboration among students from LaSalle Academy, Hope High, St Raphael Academy, and Juanita Sanchez High School to identify improvements to Hope High School education which could be implemented on January 1st, 2020

5 Hope Life Skills students represented Hope High at this year’s problem-solving

‘Hack the Power’ Global Hackathon at the Rocky Hill Country Day School

last Friday evening and all day Saturday.

Hope High’s Ambar Tavaras, Omayra Corporan, Lydia Watkins, Hector Guererro, and Jose Quintanilla

were active collaborators at the Hackathon.  Other schools participating in the Hackathon were Rocky Hill Country Day, East Greenwich High School, Chariho High School, The Met School, Bishop Hendricken, The Wheeler School, and Narragansett High School.

The event was officially called the  “Rhode Island Hack for Global Good” with a theme of “Solution 2 Pollution.”   The Hackathon objective was for groups of 10 to 12 students from different schools collaborate to create potential solutions that someday might solve some of the planet’s critical pollution problems. The solutions from the more than 40 student participants included genetically engineered bio-luminescent trees harvested from nuclear power plant coolant water, apps that measure personal energy consumption and CO2 scrubbers on car tailpipes.

Hope High School students with the Hackathon co-founder and Rocky Hill Country Day senior, Cortlandt Meyerson. From left to right – Omayra Corporan, Cortlandt, Amber Tavaras, Hector Guererro, and Lydia Watkins.

Hope High Life Skills student, Jose Quintanilla, asks a question to Jonathan Turley, a nationally recognized professor and scholar with extensive legal writings on constitutional law and legal theory, at this summer’s National Youth Leadership Forum on CSI and Law. Professor Turley was ranked 38th in the top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” in a recent study.  Turley was also found to be the second most cited law professor in the country. He has been repeatedly ranked in the nation’s top 500 lawyers in annual surveys.  In prior years, he was ranked as one of the nation’s top ten lawyers in military law cases as well as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40. In 2016, he was ranked as one of the 100 most famous (past and present) law professors.  Besides representing the Hope High School Life Skills class at the Forum, Jose also has a paid internship at the corporate offices of CVS in Woonsocket, RI.

Lucy Salado, Lisbet Gomez, and Jose Quintanilla represented the Hope High Life Skills class at the 5 day National Youth Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C during the third week of July.  Over 300 high school students from across the United States as well as different countries throughout the world convened in the nation’s capital for an experiential learning opportunity with America’s top attorneys, judges, professors, and law enforcement professionals about America’s legal system.   Jose, Lisbet, and Lucy experienced an in-depth exploration of America’s entire judicial process: from the discovery of a crime, through collecting and analyzing all of the evidence, to preparing for the courtroom process and taking part in the criminal trial.

Lucy Salado examines evidence from one of the staged crime scenes at the FORUM.

Lisbet Gomez examines all the leads at the scene of the crime.

Lucy, Jose, and Lisbet also had time to visit some of our nation’s most famous and popular sites.

It was a good day to be associated with the Hope High school brand.

Several Hope juniors were part of a career and jobs day at CVS Health, a Woonsocket, RI, based pharmacy, pharmacy benefits, retail, and soon-to-be, with their Aetna acquisition, insurance company and 7th largest American company with approximately $200 BILLION dollars in annual revenue.  The reaction to the students’ engagement with the CVS staff was telling.   ‘Very professional acting young adults….. curious, inquisitive students …..I was surprised by the quality of their questions…..they were more aware of what’s happening with 21st century technology and its impact on an evolving global economy than anticipated:  artificial intelligence, the importance of data, autonomous warehouses and vehicles, and many of the software applications we’re using…..very courteous, respectful young people;  they even had business cards!!!!!…….they were networking throughout the day; impressive ….they were unafraid to engage in conversation and ask questions, even about our insights and opinions on a variety of topics;  one student respectfully asked if we’d provide some feedback on a data analytic project he was completing for school;  we said ‘of course; we’re curious’….. impressive young people……  ‘   It truly was a good day for the Hope High school brand.

Hope Life Skills 2019 class gathers before the ‘check in’ desk at the CVS Health Corporate Marketing office in Woonsocket, RI

Hope students introduce themselves to their CVS Health hosts.

Hope students enter the secured office space to begin the day’s activities.

Members of the 2017-2018 Hope Life Skills class representing Hope High School at the 2018 National Youth Leadership Forum on CSI and Law in Washington, D.C. (from left to right) – Walter Jimenez, Nayely Furcal, Eveline Silva, Laisha Mendez, Rosa Rodriguez and Lisanyis Gonzalez.

   “I learned so much”….. “This Forum in Washington, D.C. was amazing!”   ” I met so many interesting, nice people from everywhere!”….   “I visited George Mason University“…….  “I took your advice on stepping out of my comfort zone and spoke to more people which helped me become good friends with my roommates and others.”…..  “The CSI part of the program  was extremely interesting and I learned so much about how the law really works.   I volunteered to be the sketch artist at court which I really liked doing.”…..  “I enjoyed it all!  I made new friends.  The students at the Forum broke up into two groups, CSI and Law.  I did the law part. It was exciting going to a courthouse and witness a real trial.  As a project in my class, we separated into two groups, two defense attorneys and two prosecutors.”………. “The mock trial was great!  I really enjoyed meeting students from all over the United States. I got to see how different and similar we all were.   I really enjoyed the simulations. The simulation I enjoyed most was the case with the sketch of the crime scene.”………”Thank you for giving me an opportunity to grow and add to my network.  Prior to being in your class, I wasn’t sure that I could get out of my shell and talk to new people. Thank you for teaching me the values of being the best I can be at all times. Thank you for teaching me to be brave. Being in your class taught me the importance of my future.  Also, thank you so much for giving me the chance to travel to Washington; I met so many diverse people my age and I saw many beautiful and different parts of D.C.”….  “I was part of an amazing group; we all become a family.  Everyone felt welcome just like I felt since the first day.  It was a great experience that helped me open my mind to a different career…….I collected a lot of business cards and I gave many people my business card…..Thank you…”……….

Thank you to our many sponsors who have made a visit to the National Youth Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. possible each year.   This opportunity would not be possible without your unwavering generosity.

Finally, our Hope High School students made us proud once again.  Their intelligence, their responsibility, their willingness to step out of their comfort zones to maximize each opportunity, their engaging personalities makes the Hope High brand something to be proud of.

Mark Huang, Director of Economic Development for the City of Providence, addresses the audience at Future Forum 2

What happens

when you bring together twenty successful, forward thinking entrepreneurs, college professors, social activists, technologists, designers, health care change agents, marketers, trainers, oceanographers, and artists

with several of Hope High School’s best and brightest?

Take a look.