Today’s Life Skills class guests were Dan Rivera, Senior Director Product Flow and Supply Chain at CVS Health and Lou Mercado, Vice President of Inventory Management at CVS Health.

Maria Dasilva speaking with Lou Mercado about a proper introduction to Maria’s classmates at the beginning of today’s Life Skills class.

Juan Corona and Dan Rivera after Juan’s welcome to Dan and a discussion about a proper introduction of Dan to the rest of the Life Skills class.

 Today’s Life Skills’ hosts were Maria Dasilva and Juan Corona who welcomed both Dan and Lou to Hope High School and introduced both men to their Life Skills classmates.

Maria Dasilva introduces Lou Mercado to her Life Skills classmates at the start of today’s class as Juan Corona and Dan Rivera look on.  Juan introduced Dan Rivera to the Life Skills class immediately following Maria’s introduction of Lou Mercado.

Life Skills students introduce themselves and welcome Dan Rivera and Lou Mercado to today’s class following Maria and Juan’s introductions.

Today’s conversation began with both Lou Mercado and Dan Rivera describing their responsibilities at CVS Health, an international, $150 billion dollar company located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

  “Dan and I are responsible for getting every product you find in the CVS store from the factory

Rob Rock (left) is welcomed to Hope High School by Life Skills’ student, Elijah Akindolie, at the beginning of today’s class.

Rob Rock, the Director of Elections for the State of Rhode Island, was today’s guest.  Rob’s story was about finding a rewarding career or job.   “Every person has asked themselves at some point in their life

‘how do you know what job or career you’d like in the future‘.   I had no idea

Rob Rock sharing his story with the Hope High Life Skills class.

in high school what kind of career I’d like to pursue.   It wasn’t until my freshman year at East Carolina University (ECU), sitting in an elective class on politics and government, that I first thought about a job in public service, in government.”   Rob then went on to explain the impact a seminal event in United States history had on his career interest.  “I enrolled at ECU in August of 2001. 

Less than a month later, the 9/11 terrorist attack took place. 

Today’s guest was Natalie Hogan, a ‘Futurist‘ at Hasbro, the international toy and game company.   Our Life Skills host was Valentina Gomez-Rincon, who welcomed Natalie to Hope High and introduced her to the Life Skills class.

Valentina (right) welcomes Natalie to Hope High School before the start of the Life Skills class

Valentina (right) introduces Natalie, the ‘Futurist From Hasbro‘, to the Life Skills class

Gisabel Salcedo (right) welcomes Natalie to Hope High and the Life Skills class after Valentina’s introduction

Elijah Akindolie welcomes Natalie to today’s Life Skills class as Maria Dasilva waits to do the same.

 What in the world is a ‘futurist‘?

Natalie explained her role at Hasbro.  “I facilitate conversations among smart Hasbro employees to talk about tomorrow!   In other words, I bring creative employees, from engineers to designers, together to talk about what they believe the games and toys people in different parts of the world will be interested in 3 to 5 years in the future”.

Natalie shares her story with the Life Skills class.

What training or college major prepared you to be a ‘futurist’?

“It’s been a series of experiences and education starting with my high school extracurricular activities;  they prepared me for working on group goals and collaborating with others to create plans for reaching those goals.  These activities also taught me leadership skills.  Went to Community College to study ‘glass blowing’.  Then, on to RISD (The Rhode Island School of Design) to study ‘sculpture’.  Along the way, I focused on a personal brand that implied

Today’s guest was Misty Delgado, an Attorney at the Rhode Island Center for Justice.   Our host for today’s class who welcomed Misty to Hope High and introduced her to the Life Skills class was Ayobami Bankole.

Ayobami (left) and Misty before the Life Skills class

Ayobami introduces Misty to the Life Skills

“I certainly took the path less traveled, you might say the more challenging route to success” Misty explained.

“I was a runaway and a high school dropout. 

I was a child in a dysfunctional family.  I was in the DCYF system. I became a parent in my freshman year of high school. Then, one day in a high school class, I listened to a guest speaker named Richard Rose, an attorney, and followed up with him after class.  That day I started building

Today’s guest was Michelle Saunders, a Senior Talent Development Business Partner at Sensata Technologies.  Our Life Skills class host who welcomed Michelle to Hope High and introduced her to the Life Skills class was Jeff Kinnie.

Jeff welcomes Michelle to Hope High prior to today’s class

Jeff introduces Michelle to the Life Skills class.

Maria Dasilva welcomed Michelle to class following Jeff’s introduction.

“My story today reinforces the importance of ‘attitude’. 

With a positive attitude and positive people surrounding you, reaching your potential and fulfilling your dreams are more certain than with a negative attitude and negative people in your network.  A positive attitude strengthens your spirit.  It enables you to get out of your comfort zone to learn and grow. You’ll essentially be able to will yourself to success.  With a positive attitude, mistakes and hardship are accepted as lessons to learn not something to be feared or embarrassed about.   A positive attitude and a network of positive people will create more opportunities for jobs and meetings with new, successful, well connected people.  And I’m a prime example for all of this being the case” Michelle told the class today.

Today’s guest was Kyla Paolucci, artist, graphic designer, coder and entrepreneur whose clients include World Wrestling Entertainment, Seventeen Magazine and now, Home Box Office (HBO).  The Life Skills host for today’s class was Travis Barbour.

Travis (left in photo) meets and welcomes Kyla prior to the start of class.

Travis introduces Kyla to the Life Skills students at the beginning of the class.

Elijah welcomes Kyla to class following Travis’s introduction.

The continuous theme running through Kyla’s story today was ‘change’.

“I was an athlete in high school.  Sports were my total focus. I was always in the weight room getting stronger and continually working out to refine my skills.  My favorite sport was soccer followed by track.  While I always enjoyed art, it was never a consideration for a career until I overheard a friend of mine saying she wanted to study advertising in college.   Advertising….hmmmm…..   Something instantly clicked. 

I got curious.

That tiny bit of information made me focus on what I was really interested in.  I quickly realized that art and design, things I was good at and enjoyed doing, could be an ideal job and an attainable goal.  I decided to attend a pre-college art program that helped students figure out if they really wanted to pursue an art and design career.  I found out I did.  When I came back to high school for my senior year, I still kept running but it was not the priority it once was.  I had changed and my goals shifted.  I applied to RISD (Rhode Island School of Design).  I was focused, ahead to my future, on a career in the arts and forming a new personal identity.   My brand was no longer ‘the jock’ but now ‘the creative’.  And I felt good about it.“

Today’s guest was Yasah Vezele, a Senior Engineering Test Technician at the Waters Corporation in Milford, MA.  The Life Skills class host welcoming Yasah to Hope High today and introducing her to the classmates was Chanda Nuth.

Yasah Vezele (left) and Chanda Nuth introduce each other outside the classroom prior to the start of the Life Skills.

Chanda introduces Yasah to her Life Skills classmates at the beginning of today’s class.

Elijah Akindolie welcomes Yasah to Hope High after Chanda’s class introduction at the beginning of class.

“Don’t ever give up!…Always persevere to try again.  Regardless of the misfortune or challenges you face, don’t give up!”

Yasah shared her story of growing up very comfortably in the country of Liberia as a young girl.  When she was 5, a civil war

Yasah shares her story of perseverance, from the war torn country of Liberia to the streets of Providence, Rhode Island

Our guest today was Anna Barcelos, the Director of Marketing for the international software company, Vector Software Inc.   The Life Skills class host of the day who welcomed Anna to Hope High and introduced her to the Life Skills class was Cris Quenes.

Anna (left side of photo) and Cris prior to today’s class.  Cris welcomed Anna to Hope High and spent time with her getting information he could use in his introduction of Anna to his classmates at the start of class.

Cris introduces Anna to his classmates at the start of today’s Life Skills class.

Immediately following Cris’s introduction of Anna to the class, Djovan Devega leads the class in their personal greetings and welcome to Anna.

Anna began her story describing her company, Vector Software Inc, and her responsibilities there.

Anna begins her story as Djovan and Chanda Nuth listen in.

“Vector is a software company. 

I know you’ve spoken about software in this class before.  In fact, I was told you have a rising software expert in this class named Fernando Perez.  Software, for those of you who don’t know, are mathematical formulas that give instructions to many different things in our lives today.   From operating instructions for our phone, microwave or car to programs that collect and organize