Marta Aparicio Celebration and Networking Day

The Social Studies 2.0  – Life Skills class begins with student hosts welcoming and introducing today’s guests to the Central High School class:  Central High School Senior Alonnie Stoval introduces Marta Aparicio, former student of Mr Cronin’s Life Skills class at Hope High School and now United States of America State Department Diplomat serving in the United States Embassy in the Central American country of Honduras and previously in the United States Embassy of the Asian country of Laos.   Central High School senior, Chris Feliz, is poised to introduce Providence Mayor Brett Smiley to the class.

Central High School sophomore, Henry Pardo, introduces former United States Congressman NOW President of the Rhode Island Foundation, David Cicilline, to the class audience.

Social Studies 2.0 – A Life Skills program teacher, Stephen Cronin, opens the day’s class by reminiscing about his former student, Marta Aparicio‘s, numerous accomplishments:  her emigration to the United States as a 12 year old from the central American country of Guatemala, valedictorian of her 2010 Hope High School class, her full scholarship and her 3.45 GPA double major graduation from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., her Master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City, her acceptance into the United States Diplomatic Corps and the fact Marta Aparicio remains a hard working, principled, kind, and dedicated person.

Mayor Smiley congratulates Marta on her significant accomplishments while acknowledging her willingness to help others especially those whose journey is similar to her own, and closes by expressing his appreciation for representing the City of Providence as the person she is.

Rhode Island Foundation President, David Cicilline, reminisces when he recognized Marta’s significant high school accomplishments at the 2010 Rhode Island Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce Banquet and her internship in his Congressional Office while Marta was a student at Georgetown University.

After sharing her personal story from her Guatemalan immigration to serving in the United States State Department as a United States Diplomat, Marta Aparicio answers questions from the Central High School students.

THEN A CATERED LUNCH AS STUDENTS
NETWORK
WITH INVITED GUESTS

Estiben Calderon, Brianna Albizures Arevalo, and Reggie Castro network with Marta over lunch

Jobs & Career Day: Fidelity Investments

Today’s visit was to the sprawling, Smithfield, Rhode Island campus of the Fidelity Investment company, an international financial services company. The company was established in 1946.  As of December 2022,

the investments Fidelity manages for its clients has a combined value of
$10.3 trillion.

Fidelity operates a brokerage firm, manages many large mutual funds, provides investment advice to their clients as well as retirement services, index funds, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, asset custody, and life insurance.

The mission of today’s class was to provide

information on a variety of career options

working in a large, international, financial services company as well as an opportunity for students to practice specific like skills like

personal brand development, pushing out of comfort zones to
build networks of successful, influential people, storytelling, questioning, listening and observation,
and
meet & greet techniques.

Travis Escobar, Community Relations Manager at Fidelity Investments, welcomes the Central High School students outside of one of the main buildings (900 Salem) on the Fidelity campus

Students showed their IDs, registered and given identification badges at the front desk of the Fidelity building.  Security was organized and emphasized.

Chevalee Graham takes the initiative introducing herself to Mr Escobar and extending her business card to him.   Great networking, Chevalee!

A NETWORKING WORKSHOP

The Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class  – mantra has and continues to be

EVERY PERSON HAS A BRAND,
i.e. THE PERCEPTION OTHERS HAVE OF YOU.

GREAT BRANDS CREATE GREAT NETWORKS.

NETWORKS OF SUCCESSFUL, INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE
HELP US THROUGHOUT LIFE
IF
THEY HAVE A POSITIVE PERCEPTION  OF OUR BRAND.

LIFETIME SUCCESS IS OFTEN DETERMINED BY
THE QUALITY OF THE BRAND AND NETWORK.”


Today’s class featured a panel of successful professionals
from a diverse field of professions:
medicine, counseling, psychology, engineering, higher education, and administration.

Today’s Panel of Successful, Influential professionals

The class began with each panelist introducing themself with a brief story of where they’re from and the success they now enjoy and concluded with NETWORKING among guests and students over a catered LUNCH.

Central High School senior, Alonnie Stoval, exchanges her business card with Doctor Jamall Pollock, Associate Dean at Brown University.

Victoria Mealer-Flowers is the Student-Athlete Development Senior Manager, Community Engagement and DEI programs at Brown University networking with Central High School senior Henry Pardo and Nurisbel Santana as Alonnie Stoval joins their conversation during the networking lunch.

Engineer Yemi Onipede networks with a ‘fist bump’ with Angel and Diego Cortez while Central High School senior Chris Feliz looks to Hamid Akinfolarin, a Civil Engineer.

Doctor Yvorn Aswad, medical doctor who received his degree from UCLA and a native of South Central Los Angeles who now makes his home in Providence, Rhode Island, shares his personal story with the Central High students.

Luckson Omoaregba, the Director of Pathway Programs at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, networks with Central High School seniors Chris Feliz and Angel.

Here’s a more complete biography of each member of our Professionals panel:

Today’s Homework: March 6, 2020

1      Please tell me ONE thing you took from our conversation with Jeshua Zapata today.  It could be something you learned;  something that inspired you;  something that made you think about the future you aspire to.   Send your answer to my email address before 11:59pm, Wednesday, March 11, 2020.

2.   Meg Stowe, the Director of Innovation at Rocky Hill Country Day, has invited YOU and ME to a special event, i.e.Venture Cafe’s Hack Education Connect on March 19 from 5pm to 8pm, at the VENTURE CAFE on 225 Dyer St in Providence.  Students from a number of area schools will be part of in-depth conversations within small groups about their successes and challenges in and out of school.  Students will lead the discussion groups.  The format will be similar to our FUTURE FORUM. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN GOING??  yes or noIF YES, WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAD A GROUP DISCUSSION OF SEVERAL STUDENTS?   More details will be coming next week.  YOU MUST HAVE TRANSPORTATION FOR GETTING TO THE CAFE AND GETTING HOME.   PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO BY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020.   SHOULD BE A GREAT EVENT;  YOUR DECISION WILL BE SOMETHING SIMILAR TO WHAT JESHUA DID BY PUSHING OUT OF HIS COMFORT ZONE WHEN HE ENROLLED AT BRYANT UNIVERSITY.  A LEARNING EXPERIENCE.

 

 

Today’s Class: March 6, 2020

Today’s guest was Jeshua Zapata,

the President of Xzito, a full service marketing agency focusing on delivering measurable results for his customers through expert, creative marketing using new technology and, as a result, increasing the ROI (return on investments or business success) of his clients.

Today’s host was Josiah Diaz,

who welcomed Jeshua to Hope High School and the Hope Life Skills class.

Josiah (right) introduces Jeshua to his classmates to start today’s class.

Josiah‘s classmates introduce themselves to Jeshua and welcome him to the Life Skills class.

Jeshua begins his story of success from his humble beginnings part of an immigrant family in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to pushing out of his comfort zone enrolling among more privileged students at Bryant University majoring in business, developing a network of successful people, and then fulfilling his entrepreneurial dream by starting his company, Xzito.

I didn’t let my humble beginnings in Central Falls and attending a school with a terrible brand like Central Falls High School prevent me from being the person I wanted to be.  

Today’s Class: February 21, 2020

Johnny Montanez sharing his success story with today’s Hope High Life Skills students.

Today’s guest was Johnny Montanez,

former Hope Life Skills student, 2010 Hope High graduate, and presently the CEO of Coin Theory Media Group, a United States based multimedia production company, specializes in producing Cinematic Commercial Content for business owners across the North American region including Canada and Mexico.

Today’s host was Elliott Burrell,

aspiring music and film producer.

Elliott Burrell (red sweatshirt) welcomes Johnny Montanez back to Hope High School and the Life Skills class prior to the beginning of today’s class.

Elliott introduces Johnny to his classmates to begin today’s class.

Following Elliott’s introduction, Innocent Byiringiro leads the procession of students introducing themselves and welcoming Johnny back to Hope Life Skills.

Johnny begins his story from his Providence Washington Park neighborhood to his personal brand building journey and networking of hip hop stars, film producers, fashion designers, entrepreneurs, millionaire business people, and DOCTORS.

We cannot let where we come from define who we can be! 

Today’s Class: January 31, 2019

Our guests today were Ellisa Cox and Omi Hopper.  Both women are employed by Sephora,

a French international chain of personal care and beauty stores featuring nearly 300 brands of makeup products.  Sephora offers beauty products including cosmetics, skin care, body fragrance, nail color and haircare.  The company was founded in France in 1969 with its present headquarters in the French city of Paris.

Both women also have personal investments in other activities. 

Besides being a Manager at Sephora, Omi has her own makeup company called Bellisima (Facebook & Instagram: BellisimaMUA).   Ellisa is presently a senior at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

Today’s host was Hope High School’s own makeup artist extraordinaire, Lydia Watkins.

Lydia Watkins (left) welcomes Omi (center) and Ellisa to the Hope LIfe Skills class prior to the start of today’s class.

Lydia introduces Omi and Ellisa to her classmates at the beginning of today’s class.

Following Lydia’s introductions, students welcome Omi and Elissa to Hope High and the Hope Life Skills class.  Jarlene Carona leads the way by greeting Omi while Kately Taverez welcomes Ellisa in the foreground.

Omi and Ellisa begin to share their personal stories of stepping out of their comfort zone to pursue what they’re passionate about, developing and using their personal brands to build networks of successful people which helped both women create career opportunities.  Omi and Ellisa also shared their aspirations for their future.

The Days’ Classes: January 17 & 24, 2019

The past two classes have focused on writing a great resume.

We often speak about in the Hope Life Skills program

the importance of storytelling.  

Job interviews, networking events, and pushing out of our comfort zone to meet new people are just a few examples of opportunities for sharing our personal stories with others to create opportunities for success.   A resume is another example of an opportunity to tell one’s story for

creating opportunities for personal success.

Ms Nuri observes members of the Hope Life Skills class creating their resumes within the friendly confines Mr Cliff Boyle’s computer lab.

Mr Boyle advises Lydia Watson on formatting her resume.

Mr Cronin and Lydia review Lydia’s completed resume. Lydia then sent a pdf of her resume to the corporate offices of CVS Health for her upcoming interview for a paid summer internship at this $200 billion dollar, international company.  Lydia is interested in an internship working in the E-Commerce of Beauty/Cosmetics products.   Sounds interesting. Best wishes for success to Lydia.

Today’s Class: January 10, 2019

Today’s guest was Raymond Perez,

Hope High School and Hope Life Skills graduate and Syracuse University senior.

Today’s Life Skills class host was Juan Severino.

Juan Severino (left) welcomes Raymond back to Hope High School before the start of today’s class.

Juan introduces Raymond to his classmates to start today’s class.

Following Juan’s introduction, students individually introduce themselves and welcome Raymond to the Life Skills class. Omarya Corporan starts the process.

Raymond begins to share his personal story with the students.  He spoke about how he dealt with his family setbacks in high school, how he applied for scholarships that ended paying for most of his tuition and room and board costs in college, his networking in a predominantly Caucasian university, his experience as the manager of the Syracuse University women’s basketball team, the college courses he’s taking in data analytics, his present plan to go to graduate school, and his plan to be a successful, well paid professional.

“I’ve learned a few lessons since my days at Hope High. 

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is ‘NO EXCUSES’! 

Today’s Class: January 3, 2020

Today’s guest was

Abby Almonte. 

a business marketing and analytics major at Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

Today’s Hope Life Skills host who welcomed Abby to Hope High School and the Hope Life Skills class was

Mariely Brito Leonardo.

Abby (left) and Mariely prior to the beginning of today’s class.

Mariely introduces Abby to her classmates to start today’s class.

Nehemias Rojas welcomes Abby to Hope Life Skills following Mariely’s introduction as other students wait to do the same.

Lydia Watkins greets Abby to the Hope Life Skills class which eventually led to Abby offering to connect Lydia with a CVS Health executive in her network overseeing cosmetic purchasing at the company. Lydia told Abby about her passion for cosmetics and make up.