Sydney Flanagan is a singer, songwriter, musician and performing artist.   She is presently a sophomore at Dighton Rehoboth Regional High School.   Sydney visited our ‘Life Skills’ class yesterday to share her story.  Gisabel Salcedo was our class host, welcoming Sydney and her father, Matthew, to Hope and introducing them to her ‘Life Skills’ classmates.

Sydney Flanagan (right).  Matthew Flanagan (center) and our host, Gisabel Salcedo, listen as Sydney began her story.

Sydney’s story is about a person finding their “Element“;

as creativity expert, Sir Ken Robinson, has told the world, a person finds their ‘Element’ when they’re doing things they like to do and they do it well! Robinson contends the “Element” experience enables people to be themselves, to be excited about what they’re doing and, in the process, achieve the highest level of personal satisfaction.  Sydney told the class “I found music.  It’s always been a part of our home.  My Dad’s a musician…. I enrolled in the School of Rock and met a lot of new people who also have a passion for music…. I felt a little nervous in the beginning….  Because we all love music, I made friends quickly…….We practice together, collaborate to write songs and perform in different clubs in the area……  music has helped me push myself out of my comfort zone to do things I once questioned I could….. I feel good when I’m playing, singing and composing with my friends.“

Sydney performing one of her songs for the class. She explained she composed this particular song in 90 minutes, just in time to play it for her father as his gift on Father’s Day.

Today’s guest was Nick DeCesare, the Creative Director at TWOBOLT.    Today’s ‘Life Skills’ class host was Joan Tueros who introduced Nick to the class.

Joan Tueros (right) introducing TWOBOLT Creative Director Nick DeCesare (left) to today’s Life Skills class.

The class’s conversation with Mr DeCesare focused on

the creative process and the importance of pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone to access and express our creative abilities.

Nick DeCesare sharing his story with the class. Zachary Reyes (seated to Nick’s left in the photo), Joan and Gisabel Salcedo (far right in the photo) listen intently.

He claimed “everyone has creative abilities.  Some people are just better at finding, developing and using them.”

Today’s guest was Adriana Dawson, the Director of Employer Outreach & Engagement at Roger Williams University.

Isabel Romero (left) served as today’s class host welcoming Adriana to Hope High and introducing her to the Life Skills class.

Adriana’s story was one of success and

the mistakes along the way that made it possible.

Today’s guest was Nan Quinlan, former Manager of Training and Development at TACO, Inc in Cranston, Rhode Island and presently a consultant on job search strategy and preparations.  TACO is one of the largest, most successful and progressive companies in Rhode Island.

The topic of today’s class was preparing for a successful job interview.  

Nan Quinlan (seated left at the table) begins her mock interview of one of our students.    Olimpia Aldana Perez sits in the background playing the company receptionist who escorted Alyssa into Ms Quinlan’s mock office for the interview

Lou Mercado, CVS Health Vice President – Inventory Management.  Donna Mumma, CVS Health Senior Director of Pharmacy Inventory Management and Analytics .  Ashish Bhandari, CVS Health Analyst, Rx Inventory Management.   Jean Rodriguez, 2014 Hope High graduate, Freshman at Rhode Island College and Inventory Management intern at CVS Health.  Antoinette Muhammed, 2014 Hope High graduate, Freshman at Providence College and Pharmacy intern at CVS Health.  Matt Lague, Lincoln High School graduate, Senior at the University of Rhode Island and Inventory Management intern at CVS Health.   They all came to the Hope Life Skills class today to share a perspective and extend an invitation.

When asked about the Hope High brand, Donna Mumma responded the following way:   “I can only judge Hope High’s brand by the Hope graduates I’ve met, namely Antoinette Muhammed and Jean Rodriguez.   As a result,

I perceive the Hope High brand as one of good people who work hard with a ‘fire in the belly’ to be successful, who persevere, are dependable, curious and intelligent with the courage to step out of their comfort zone.”

Donna Mumma (right) and Richard Quinilla Gonzalez

Lou Mercado (right) and Chevell Burgess

Ms Mumma also came to Hope High today with an offer for

a paid ($15 per hour, 24 hours per week) summer internship at the CVS corporate office for two Hope High Life Skills students.

Randy Martinez is a Director of Diversity Strategy and Management at CVS Health.

He came to Hope High School today to speak about tough choices.

Randy Martinez (with suit and tie in the center of the group) sharing his story with today’s Life Skills class. Zachary Reyes, seated to the right of Randy Martinez in this picture, served as today’s host welcoming Randy to Hope High and introducing him to the Life Skills class.

“Tough choices to protect our brand.  Tough choices about who’s in our personal network.  Tough choices about how we spend our time.   Tough choices about forsaking short term ‘fun’ for long term ‘success‘.

Tough choices to make sure commitments are kept and responsibilities are met.“

John Sinnott (left) and Hafzat Akanni. Hafzat served as today’s host welcoming her fellow Irishman, John Sinnott, to Hope High and introducing him to today’s Life Skills class.

It began with two people from the same place, albeit different times, meeting for the first time.

An engineer and former NFL football player and an outstanding student athlete.  One from Gilbane Building Company, the other from Hope High School.

Both from Ireland.

Hafzat introducing John Sinnott to her Life Skills classmates at the beginning of today’s class.

John Sinnott, the engineer and former football player.   Hafzat Akanni, the outstanding student athlete.

John’s comments to ‘Life Skills’ teacher Stephen Cronin after the class about Hafzat’s introduction – “Stephen, I was immediately impressed with Hafzat.  You can tell she’ ll be successful.  Her poise, the confidence and humility she expressed during her introduction with me;  great eye contact, a genuine smile and good handshake made me feel welcome to your class.  And the respect she gave me during the class introduction, she has a great personal brand!   By the way, it seems all the students present themselves well.  

What great brands, not only for this class

Manny Rivas introducing himself to John Sinnott while Alyssa Korol-Korolevskiy awaits her turn to network with John Sinnott during the networking period of today’s class.

but for Hope High. I’m impressed.“

Rodrigo Zetina-Yglesias. He’s presently the Director of Operations for the Benrus company(https://benrus.com) and the former Operations Manager of Alex and Ani. He was also an intern at the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and has been a member of several organizations, most notably, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Rodrigo presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  But what is most notable about Rodrigo is his goal of becoming

the President of the country of Guatemala.

Rodrigo Zetina-Yglesias (left) introduces himself to one of the Hope students during the networking session of today’s Life Skills class.

Richard Quinilla Gonzalez (with arms folded in the center of the group) introduces Lexy (to Richard’s right in the picture) and Lucine (to Lexy’s right in the picture) to his Life Skills classmates

Two guests graced our ‘Life Skills’ classroom today, Alexandra ‘Lexy’ Marsh, a senior class Vice President at Roger Williams University and Lusiné Ovanesyan, a designer from Akamai Technologies, Inc. a cloud services provider headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Both women spoke about a life perspective shared.  Lexy and Lusiné both acknowledged being curious and naturally comfortable trying new things, extending themselves out of their comfort zone, to discover and learn, to pursue the ‘What Ifs’ they’ d often dream about.