Today’s guest was Lois Kelly,

the Founder and Managing Partner of a consulting company called Foghound!

Lois inspires and teaches people and organizations like the CIA and companies like Fed Ex to see possibilities

within their reach — and advocate for change. She believes every person, every team has way more potential for greatness than they realize and that ability for change has become an essential competency for everyone in today’s unpredictable and increasingly non-hierarchical work world.

Today’s host was Ariel Hall.

Ariel Hall (left) welcomes Lois Kelly to today’s Life Skill class before the class begins.

Ariel leads Lois into the Life Skills classroom to meet her classmates.

Today’s guest was Richard Lewis, the Director of Sales & Marketing

of Flow and a senior at Syracuse University majoring in Entrepreneurship and Business Management.

Today’s host was Gerardo Castaneda.

Gerardo Castenada (right) welcomes Syracuse University senior, Richard Lewis, to Hope High School outside the Hope Life Skills classroom prior to the beginning of class.

Gerardo introduces Richard to his Hope Life Skills classmates at the beginning of the class.

Justin Cordeiro (right) welcomes Richard to class after Gerardo’s introduction

The class accepted the challenge of imagining we were in

the Syracuse University cafeteria

as freshen students, sitting with Syracuse senior, Richard Lewis. The conversation began with Syracuse University freshman, Stephen Cronin, asking if he could sit down and speak with upper classman, Richard.  Soon after, Stephen asked Richard if he could bring two of his freshman friends, Mohamadou Mbaye and Aimon Foreman, into the conversation.  Richard said “of course“.  Soon after, Kyra Ferrage joined the group.  And then, freshman Sara Jackson came to the table asking if she could join the conversation.   Here’s what unfolded.

Today’s guest was Antoinette Muhammed,

Providence College junior, 2014 Hope High School graduate and 2013 Hope Life Skills student.

Today’s Hope Life Skills host was Zidany Fatuda.

Zidany (right) welcomes Antoinette outside the Life Skills class.

Zidany escorts Antoinette into the Life Skills classroom.

Zidany introduces Antoinette to today’s Life Skills class before Antoinete begins to share her story.

“I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do in my life. 

After being chosen to represent the Hope Life Skills class for a week in Washington, D.C. at the National Youth Leadership Forum in Medicine the summer after my Junior year and then being selected for a Life Skills class internship at CVS in pharmacy during the summer after my Senior year at Hope, I really thought I wanted to be a pharmacist.  I enrolled at Providence College with this goal in mind”  Antoinette told today’s class.  “But after a few semesters at Providence as a biology major and meeting several new classmates from different countries, different states in America and with different majors,

I changed my mind.  I started to think about different career opportunities

Antoinette begins to share her story with our Life Skills class.

in health care.  I am now focusing on an Administrative or Management position in health care.”

Antoinette spoke about pushing out of her comfort zone to meet new people and professor classroom expectations.

“It’s a challenge to put yourself out there in a strange environment like college;  it makes you nervous.  But, as I look back on it, I’m glad I did.  I learned so many things that have changed my perspective on the future and, as a result, influenced my decisions for today.”

Antoinette spoke about the rigors of college.  “There is so much reading and writing.  The more reading and writing you do now in high school, the better prepared you’ll be for college. 

I think the biggest challenge in college is managing your time. 

Although you have a lot of academic work with your courses, you also have a lot of ‘free time’.  I found you have to use your ‘free time’ wisely if you want to stay in school.”

The class concluded with our Life Skills networking time for students who wanted to add Antoinette to their network and continue the conversation with her.

Ingris Izaguirre Maradiaga greets Antoinette during the networking portion of today’s Life Skills class.

Today’s class was different

from others this year.  No host to welcome a guest.   Just

a conversation to review the first part of the year and what teacher and students could improve upon

to ensure greater success going forward.

Teacher Stephen Cronin begins the conversation by asking students ‘what can I, as your teacher, do to improve our Life Skills class?’

Students shared feelings about the guests who had visited our Friday morning classes.  They also suggested extra days to complete homework assignments.

Mr Cronin explained his goals for guest appearances.

“My objective is to find successful people in a wide variety of jobs to expand your horizons of the different jobs that are available to you.   Secondly, I look for people with personal stories that will resonate, inspire and empower you.”  

The question was then

asked the Life Skills students – ‘what can you do to improve your performance?

What can you do better – from completing all your reading and writing assignments and coming to school for every class on time, all the time?  And when you can’t come to class all the time on time, can you always make sure you text me of your absence or delay’? 

As a result of the class conversation and suggestions for improvement, Mr Cronin agreed to

extend the weekly homework assignment due date from Tuesday at 11:59pm to Thursday morning at 3:45am!

Furthermore,

students agreed to share with Mr Cronin the kinds of careers and jobs they have an interest in

so he may find successful and interesting people in those careers to come to class to share their stories.

Today’s Hope

Life Skills class guest was Theresa Moore, the President of T-Time Productions.

T-Time Productions creates and produces unique programming and content for various media platforms including television, online, mobile, film and tablets.  T-Time productions include “Third and Long”, the history of African Americans in Professional Football from 1946 to 1989 and “License to Thrive“, a celebration of the 35th anniversary of Title IX which premiered on the ESPN networks in March 2008.  The documentary has been featured on “Good Morning America” and has been used in classrooms and on college campuses across the country.

Our Life Skills class host was today was Aimon Foreman.

Theresa (left) and Aimon exchange business cards after Aimon welcomed Theresa to Hope High

Aimon leads Theresa into the Hope Life Skills classroom

Aimon introduces Theresa to her Life Skills classmates

Ingris Izaguiree Maradiaga welcomes Theresa to Hope Life Skills following Aimon’s introduction

Theresa begins her story as the Valedictorian and All State athlete at East Providence High School and onto Harvard College

Theresa told the students of her focus on always trying hard.  “Whether it was track and basketball or the classroom and now with my own company, I have always given my maximum effort.”  As a result, Theresa was awarded an athletic scholarship to Stanford University and an academic scholarship to Harvard.  This focus on hard work gave Theresa the courage and confidence to start her own company.

Today’s guest was Nan Quinlan.

Nan was the Director of Training and Development at a large, international company located in Cranston, RI called TACO, Inc. Nan has been coming to the Hope Life Skills class for over 10 years teaching job interviewing skills and resume writing.  Nan is presently a senior career consultant at a management consulting company called Transition Solutions.  Please check Nan’s Linked In page for more information about her career.

We had two hosts for today’s class, Aimon Foreman and Gerardo Castenada.

Aimon welcomed Nan to Hope High School prior to the beginning of class.  Aimon then introduced Nan to Gerardo who introduced Nan to the Hope Life Skills class.

Aimon (right) Nan (center) and Gerardo in the corridor after introductions and greetings before class.

Gerard and Aimon escort Nan into the classroom after their pre-class greetings and introduction.

Gerardo introduces Nan to the entire Hope Life Skills class to begin today’s program.

Ingris Izaguirre Maradiaga welcomes Nan to Hope Life Skills following Gerardo’s introduction. Mohamadou Mbaye, Imani Turner and Ralph Waite await their turn to do the same.

Our mission for today’s class was preparing students for successful job interviews.

Our guest today was Junior Jabbe,

the Executive Manager of Corporate Operations at Banneker Industries, in North Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Our Hope Life Skills host today was Delsairey Almonte.

Delsairey welcomed Junior to Hope High School before introducing him to the entire Life Skills class.

Delsairey welcomes Junior Jabbe from Banneker Industries to Hope High School prior to class

Delsairey introduces Junior to her Life Skills classmates

Deyreyni Ferreras welcomes Junior to the Life Skills class following Delsairey’s introduction

Junior began his story as a troubled middle school student in Maryland.  “I got in trouble a lot and didn’t put a lot of effort into my studies.   My grades were poor.”  But in high school, Junior’s life changed with a chance meeting “with a giant teacher who confronted me in the corridor.  He was 6′ 7″ and weighed close to 300 pounds.  Big!   He asked me if I played football.  I told him ‘no’.  He said ‘now you do.  Report to the gym after school today because you’re now on the high school football team!‘  For the first year, I was the worst player on the team.  But the next year,

Our Life Skills guest today was

Carolina Correa, the Major Gifts Officer and Young Leaders Circle Manager at the United Way

of Rhode Island.  Our Life Skills

host today was Ingris Izaguirre Maradiaga.

Ingris (center) welcomes Carolina (left) to today’s Hope Life Skills class as Ingris’ classmate, Ofelia Giron Argueta, looks on.

Ingris introduces Carolina to her Life Skills classmates

Gerardo welcomes Carolina to the Life Skills class following Ingris’ introduction.

Carolina began her story from her youth in Medallin, Columbia to her emigration to Pawtucket, Rhode Island at the age of 13 to escape the escalating violence in her city after her father’s tragic death.  “I faced challenging changes in my life.  Not speaking English.  Trying to fit into a new neighborhood and schools.  Snow! 

I essentially told myself I had to change.   I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. 

I met new people.  I joined a swim team at the Boys and Girls Club.  I carried a dictionary with me to learn new words.   I asked lots of questions.  And, with my courageous Mom’s encouragement, I worked very hard in school to get good grades.“

Today’s Hope Life Skills guest was Jason Roias,

Hope High School and Hope Life Skills graduate, presently a student at the Community College of Rhode Island, co-Founder of Hungry Fridays community service program, member of the 2014  ‘Jorge Elorza for Major’ campaign and networker extraordinaire.

Our Hope Life Skills host today was Jorge Paz.

Jorge Paz (right) welcomes guest Jason Roias to the Hope Life Skills class outside room 112 prior to the beginning of class.

Jorge introduces Jason to his Life Skills classmates to start the class.

Ingris Izaguirre Maradiaga welcomes Jason to the Life Skills class following Jorge’s introduction.

Jason shared several details of his remarkable personal story.   From growing up and eventually leaving his parents’ dysfunctional home during his junior year at Hope High to live with his brothers and having to get a job to contribute to the rent, utilities and food for the Brothers Roias apartment off Branch Avenue in

Today’s guest  was Narine Lemme, a Business Transformation Leader/Master Black Belt at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in Boston, Massachusetts.   More succinctly, our

guest, Narine Lemme, is a company change agent!

Narine’s role in her company is to create a focus on getting better; in other words, continuous improvement. She helps her work colleagues improve the way they do things in order to better serve their customers.  After she collects and analyzes the data from her observations and has earned the trust of her fellow staff members, she leads the staff through the changes she has recommended.   These changes are intended to have benefits, not only for the customers and the company’s profitability but also for the employees.  Companies need to be profitable to serve their customers and employees well.  “Win – win. In other words, the goal is for everyone to benefit”  Narine said.

Today’s Hope Life Skills host was Kyara Ferrage.

Kyara (left) welcomes Narine to Hope Life Skills prior to the beginning of class outside of Room 122.

Kyara introduces Narine to her Life Skills classmates using excellent presentation skills like good eye contact, a pleasing, confident voice and open palms extended in a welcoming manner.  Fantastic!

Jorge Paz welcomes Narine to Hope Life Skills following Kyara’s introduction. Jorge uses excellent greeting skills –  good eye contact, firm but not crushing handshake and a welcoming smile. The power of our smile!

Narine began our conversation speaking about her upbringing in Russia (then called the  Soviet Union)