Today’s guest was Nan Quinlan,

a senior career consultant at Transition Solutions and the former Training and Development Manager at TACO Inc, a multi-million dollar, international company in Cranston, Rhode Island.

Today’s host was Arthur Bonga.

Today’s conversation focused on best practices for a successful job interview.

Arthur Bonga welcomes Nan Quinlan back to Hope High and, from Nan’s reaction, Arthur does a great job making Nan feel comfortable before the start of today’s class outside the classroom.

Arthur introduces Nan to his classmates at the start of today’s class.

Today’s guest was Omar Reyes, Assistant Director of Admissions at Rhode Island College.

Accompanying Mr Reyes were two Rhode Island College students, Olimpia Aldana and Alexa Estrada.   Today’s Life Skills hosts charged with welcoming Mr Reyes, Olimpia and Alexa were Arthur Bonga, Aaron Chy, and Isabella Caraballo to Hope High School and the Life Skills class.

Admissions Director Omar Reyes (back right) with his team prior to today’s class as Arthur Bonga (lower left white jacket), Isabella Caraballo (directly across from Arthur) and Aaron Chy (standing to the left of Director Omar Reyes).

Arthur, Aaron and Isabella introduce Director Reyes, Alexa and Olimpia to the Life Skills students to start today’s class.

Today’s guest was Vannessa Ramirez,

Hope Life Skills alum, Hope High School 2010 graduate and presently the Community Relations Chairwoman at Millennial Rhode Island and Good Fund Loan Officer.  Today’s Hope

Life Skills host was Khadiatou Njie.

Khadiatou (left) welcomes Vannessa back to Hope High School prior to the start of today’s class.

Khadiatou introduces Vannessa to her classmates at the start of today’s class

Today’s topic of conversation was about

the importance and strategy for optimizing talent;

in other words, getting the most out of our abilities and opportunities.  To do this,

we began by gathering data about each student

in a Life Skills survey.  We then

analyzed the data

we collected from each student. Next, we

made a decision about the credibility of the data.

Is the data credible?  Do we believe the data is truthful? Can we trust the data to make important decisions?

Our class discussion

transitioned to examine some of the resources available to each student to maximize their potential

in order to be the best they can be, to be the successful person each student aspires to be.

One of the resources we examined was ‘time‘,

that is, the ‘time’ each student has each day to use wisely to be the best they can be.

If we claim we have priorities in our lives, then we need to make sure we dedicate time each week to support and care for these priorities.

Today’s class was about “Brand”,

perceptions and misconceptions, the development, promotion and protection of great ones, and the confidence great brands instill.

We accomplished this with our conversation with

Abby Almonte, sophomore at Loyola University Maryland,

a 4,068 student Jesuit college in Baltimore, Maryland.

We had an opportunity to reflect on many brands today:  Loyola University Maryland, Abby Almonte, and our own.

Energy.  Passion.  Excitement.  Optimism.  Humility.  Kindness.  Trust.  Pushing out of comfort zones.  Change.  Diversity.  Empathy.  Asking questions.  Meeting new people.  Seeing new places.  Networking.  Networking.  Networking.  Building great brands and networks to open doors and create opportunities for life time success.

Hope High School junior Lucy Salado (left) and Abby Almonte prior to today’s class as Lucy welcomed Abby to our Life Skills class.

An interesting part of Lucy and Abby’s conversation before class centered on Abby’s perception of the Hope Life Skills student brand.  Abby was explaining to Lucy how impressed she was with the Hope Life Skills students who visited her high school, LaSalle Academy, her senior year. “Lucy, I couldn’t believe the Hope students had business cards! Whoa! The Hope students were so professional. I thought they really had their act together. Impressive.”

Today’s guest was Ray Nunez,

the Program Coordinator at Leadership Rhode Island.  Ray returned to the Life Skills class to review the results of the student strengths assessment survey, which the students took on October 19th, and answer any questions they might have.

Today’s host was Arthur Bonga.

Ray Nunez (right) was excited to see Hope Life Skills host, Arthur Bonga outside the classroom prior to the start of today’s class.

Jason Roias, Hope High School 2014 graduate, recent candidate for the Providence City Council and co-Founder of “Hungry Fridays” –

a community service organization feeding the homeless of  the city, was the guest of the Hope Life Skills class.  

Today’s Hope Life Skills host was Darwin Morales.

Darwin welcomes Jason BACK to Hope High

Darwin introduces Jason to his Life Skills classmates at the start of today’s class.

Aaron Chy welcomes Jason to today’s class with a disarming smile and great eye contact.

Jose Quintanilla (far right) presents his entertaining and enlightening marketing pitch for his team’s artificial intelligent (AI) company with his corporate team at FUTURE FORUM 3

FUTURE FORUM 3 was a conversation, an exercise, and an activity flavored with fun.

A conversation about Artificial Intelligence (AI)  and it’s impact on the world?  Yes, it was.   An exercise to develop creative thinking and collaboration skills?  What better way than students from 3 different high schools – Hope High, LaSalle Academy and Rocky Hill School – uninhibitedly sharing their creative ideas in a supportive, collaborative environment facilitated by successful, empowering professionals.  A networking activity to meet new people and build networks of diverse, successful, people to create lifetime opportunities for personal development and success?  The Forum proved to be a perfect venue for people to introduce themselves to each other, ask questions, exchange business cards, enjoy one an other’s company and display positive, personal brands over a delicious lunch.  Fun, you ask?  Where else could so many enjoy each other’s company, fly drones, don virtual reality goggles, and be amazed at the magic of one of our visiting futurists, Roey Tzezana!?!   And, we won’t forget the insight from one, Lisbet Gomez, from Hope High School.  “It will always be about the data!, Mr Cronin”.    I concur.

“Yes, it is, Lisbet!  Yes, it is.”

Yours truly opens FUTURE FORUM 3 with an introduction to two of the Forum’s featured speakers – (left) Dr Roey Tzezana, an Israeli “Futurist” and Artificial Intelligence expert and Melissa Cronin, a Managing Director at the international consulting company, Accenture, in their Technology Financial Services Division.

Today’s guests were Catalina Martinez, Regional Program Manager,

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography

and Nikolai Pawlenko,  a commissioned officer at the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, University of Rhode Island School of Oceanography.   Today’s hosts were Kevin Torres and Robert Desilets who welcomed Catalina and Nikolai to the Hope Life Skills class.

Kevin Torres (front left) welcomes Catalina Martinez while Robert Desilets (left background) welcomes Nikolai Pawlenko to Hope High School prior to the start of today’s class.

After escorting Catalina and Nikolai into the Life Skills classroom, Kevin introduces Catalina to his classmates while Robert waits to do the same with Nikolai.

Robert introduces Nikolai to his classmates.

Following the introductions, each student welcomes Catalina and Nikolai to Hope High School. Darwin Morales extends his hand to Catalina to welcome her to the class.

Catalina and Nikolai begin the class by describing their jobs at NOAA and the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.