Category Archives: Today’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.

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A Story of Courage and Perseverance

Claudia Cardozo, Latina Immigrant, entrepreneur, consultant, author, mentor, and mother of a young professional.

Claudia advocates for self-acceptance and self-love. Having experienced abuse and neglect during her childhood and lived in a low-income boarding school, she grew up with a tendency towards self-criticism and workaholism. Now, she helps others develop a healthier internal dialogue, leveraging the wisdom of lived experiences to shape a better life. She encourages young people to critically question their thoughts and not blindly accept everything, recognizing that our thoughts are influenced by our environment and conditioning. By cultivating a GROWTH MINDSET, we can manifest the lives we truly want. More about Claudia’s journey at https://loveisthepath.org/

WHAT IS A GROWTH MINDSET –   A growth mindset is the acknowledgement that you most certainly have abilities and intelligence AND they can be developed and improved over time through hard work, continuous learning, and perseverance (grit).

Spanish:
Claudia Cardozo, Inmigrante Latina, empresaria, consultora, autora, mentora y madre de una joven profesional.
Claudia aboga por la aceptación y el amor propio. Habiendo experimentado abuso y negligencia durante su infancia, y vivido en un internado para jovenes de bajos recursos, crecio con un tendencia a la autocrítica y el trabajo excesivo. Ahora, ayuda a otros a desarrollar un diálogo interno más saludable, aprovechando la sabiduría de experiencias vividas para moldear  una mejor vida. Claudia anima a los jóvenes a cuestionar sus pensamientos y no creer ciegamente en todo, ya que estos están influenciados por nuestro entorno y condicionamiento. Al cultivar una mentalidad más saludable, podemos manifestar la vida que realmente deseamos. Más sobre Claudia en la página: https://loveisthepath.org/
¿QUÉ ES UNA MENTALIDAD DE CRECIMIENTO? Una mentalidad de crecimiento es el reconocimiento de que ciertamente tienes habilidades e inteligencia Y que se pueden desarrollar y mejorar con el tiempo a través del trabajo duro, el aprendizaje continuo y la perseverancia (valor).

 

Liz Acevedo Pimentel (right), aspiring interior designer and businesswoman, acts as class host introducing herself to guest Claudia Cardozo and to her Central High life skills class.  Notice Claudia is sharing her business card information with Liz after Liz gave Claudia her business card.

Liz accompanies Claudia into the Life Skills classroom

Liz introduces Claudia to her classmates to open today’s class. Notice how Liz’s classmates stand showing their respect to Claudia.

Walvyn De Pena Reinoso welcomes Claudia to Central High school with good eye contact, a smile and a professional handshake.   Walvyn De Peña Reinoso le da la bienvenida a Claudia a Central High School con buen contacto visual, una sonrisa y un apretón de manos profesional.

Claudia shares her inspiring personal story with students from an orphan in Colombia to a successful American business woman.

Alex DeJesus practices perfect personal brand development and networking skills with Claudia after class.

 

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Young Entrepreneurs

Class Host, Central High School senior Dinorah Valentina de la Cerda (left), introduces herself to guest entrepreneur Zainabou Thiam and welcomes her to Central High School

Anthony Wilds and Zainabou Thiam. High School seniors. Risk taking entrepreneurs.  Hard workers. Time managers. Curious – no fear to ask questions. Business owners.  College bound.  Owners of impressive PERSONAL BRANDS and master NETWORKERS. Their message to our Central High School students – “you can be successful. There is no secret sauce for success.  We’re doing what all successful people have done to become the successful person we want to be”.

Hope High School sophomore class host, Donnell Lange (right), introduces himself to guest entrepreneur Anthony Wilds and welcomes Anthony to Central High School.

Valentina introduces Zainabou to her Central High classmates to start today’s class.

Donnell introduces Anthony to his classmates to start today’s class.

Following Valentina’s and Donnell’s introduction of our guest entrepreneurs, Jessica Baquiax leads her classmates to welcome Zainabou and Anthony

Zainabou and Anthony begin to share their stories before answering questions from the class.

Liz Acevedo Pimental stands to show respect to our guests and then, with great eye contact, asks Anthony and Zainabou about their money management plans

NETWORKING TIME – Kapinga Kapanda introduces herself to Zainabou during the networking opportunity at the end of class and asks her questions about starting a business

NETWORKING TIME

 

 

 

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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

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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!

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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:

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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 no.  IF 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.

 

 

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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.  

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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! 

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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.

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