Erica Laros is welcomed to Hope High by members of the Life Skills class. In the photo above, Walter Jimenez welcomes Erica to today’s class.

Today’s guest was Erica Laros, an attorney

who is the Founder and President of her own Law Firm, Laros Law, Trusts and Estates Attorney.

Our Life Skills class host today was Eveline Silva, aspiring lawyer

who will represent the Hope Life Skills class at the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law and CSI in Washington, D.C. beginning on July 22nd.

Eveline greets Erica to Hope High prior to the start of today’s class.

Eveline introduces Erica to her classmates at the start of today’s class.

Tatiana Brito introduces herself and welcomes Erica with a firm handshake, good eye contact and smile, and a friendly greeting following Eveline’s introduction.

Erica begins to share her story of becoming an attorney and then starting her own law firm.

 ” I really didn’t know what I wanted to be.  I was a history major in college.  I eventually figured things out after pushing out of my comfort zone, trying paid and unpaid internships and jobs,

constantly networking,

before ultimately figuring out what I wanted to do professionally”  Erica explained.  “I’ve found that

self confidence has a lot to do with figuring out what you’d like to do in your life. 

This may sound illogical but part of the process for becoming more confident is continually

Today’s Hope Life Skills Class guest was Ray Nunez, the Program Coordinator at Leadership Rhode Island.

Our host today who welcomed Ray Nunez to the Life Skills class was Eveline Silva.

Eveline Silva welcomes Ray Nunez from Leadership Rhode Island to Hope High School

Eveline introduces Ray Nunez to her classmates at the start of today’s class

Following Eveline’s introduction, Lisanyis Gonzalez and her fellow classmates welcome Ray Nunez to today’s class.

 Leadership Rhode Island is an organization which focuses on maximizing the potential of  individuals, organizations, communities and, in the process, the entire state of Rhode Island by bringing people together to share their stories.

One of Leadership Rhode Island’s services is a personal strength assessment.  

Today’s guest, Ryan Roslonek.

Today’s guest was

Ryan Roslonek, Coast Guard Academy graduate, Coast Guard veteran, Business Solutions Architect/ Corporate Senior Manager, coach, and father.

Today’s host was Ayo Onajide.

Ryan (left) is welcomed to Hope by Ayo outside of the classroom before the start of the class.

Ayo leads Ryan into the classroom for his introduction

Brown University Head Softball Coach, Katie Flynn (right) and Brown University Pitcher, Kait Camacho-Orona (left) share their personal stories of coaching and playing softball at Brown University.

Brown University Head Softball Coach, Katie Flynn and Brown University student athlete, softball pitcher, Kait Camacho-Orona

were today’s Hope Life Skills class guests.

Our exemplary class host for today’s class was Rosa Rodriguez.

Rosa welcomes Coach Flynn and Kait to Hope High School and the Life Skills class before the start of today’s class.

Rosa introduces Kait and Coach Flynn to her classmates at the start of today’s class.

Following Rosa’s introduction, Mariana Guerrero Pimental welcomes Coach Flynn with a smile, good eye contact, firm handshake and a warm greeting as Tatiana Brito does the same with Kait in the background.

Edwin Piverger connects with members of the Hope Life Skills class today.  From left to right – Lisanyis Gonzalez, Eveline Silva, Rosa Rodriguez, Nayely Furcal Marte and Walter Jimenez.

Today’s guest  was Edwin Piverger, Talent Acquisition Manager for Pet Food Experts

(www.petfoodexperts.com) a distributor of pet foods and accessories to pet stores in the northern states of the United States of America.  Edwin is responsible for identifying and recruiting talented people to his $260 million  company located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Today’s host was Jonasia Brown.

Jonasia Brown welcomes Edwin to Hope High School and listens how he would prefer to be introduced at the start of the class.

Jonasia introduces Edwin to her classmates at the beginning of today’s class.

Following Jonasia’s introduction, Laisha Mendez introduces herself to Edwin and welcomes him to Hope Life Skills as Catherine Visono and Oladidupo Ojekunle prepare to do the same.

Rosa Rodriguez (right) welcomes Kaydi McQuade to Hope High School prior to today’s Hope Life Skills class.

 Today’s guest was Kaydi McQuade, a partner at Back Pocket Resources.

Kaydi runs a temporary work agency, also called a temp agency or temporary staffing firm, that finds workers for companies looking to hire.  Some companies need short-term workers. Other companies may be looking for permanent employees.  Companies sign contracts with employment firms like Kaydi’s staffing/work agency to find all kinds of workers.  Temporary employees are often needed for cyclical jobs for short term, busy periods of the year.

Today’s host was Rosa Rodriguez.

Rosa introduces Kaydi to her classmates at the beginning of today’s class.

Francisco Gonzalez welcomes Kaydi to class following Rosa’s introduction

We had two guests today.   First,

Junior Jabbe, the newly named President and CEO of Banneker Industries,

an international supply chain company located in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Ayo Onajide inspects the business card of Banneker Industries President and CEO, Junior Jabbe (brown top coat) as both men exchange greetings before today’s class.   Walter Jimenez networks in the background introducing Ralph Waite  to Banneker Industries’ David Grant during the ‘before class’ networking outside the classroom.

Joining Junior was David Grant, a Bryant College graduate and fellow executive at Banneker.

Walter Jimenez welcomes David Grant and Junior Jabbe to Hope High School. Walter asks David Grant how he would like to be introduced, by Walter, to his classmates for the introduction portion of today’s class.

Today’s class introduced the

Hope Life Skills PAID SUMMER INTERNSHIP program.

While representatives from CVS Health explained the internship opportunities and the application process, Life Skills graduates,

Aimon Foreman and Yael Torres, shared their internship experiences from last summer at CVS Health.

Ashley Charles (left in photo) welcomes Matt Lague (arms folded to the right of Ashley), CVS Health analyst and Internship Program coordinator, to Hope High before the start of today’s class. Please note in the background of this photo Hope Life Skills student Oladipupo Ojekunle (blue sweatshirt) welcoming Kaydi McQuade, the President of Back Pocket Resources, a temporary worker placement agency, to today’s class.

Marianella Galan Jimenez (left with plaid shirt) welcomes former Life Skills students and CVS Health summer interns, Yael Torres (in the ROTC uniform) and Aimon Foreman, to today’s class.

That’s right, the FBI!!!

An FBI special agent visited our class today to speak about her experience at the Bureau.

Our Hope Life Skills host today was Laisha Mendez.

“First impressions mean a lot when the FBI is considering applicants to the agency.  We constantly observe how agent applicants handle themselves in different situations.  We evaluate their level of professionalism:   how they present themselves to others;  their eye contact, handshake, and their greeting to the person they meet;  how they sit in a meeting.  Did they show up on time?  Do they sit upright and pay attention or do they slouch in their chair and appear disinterested? 

The impressions this class created with me during our introductions today were exceptional. 

I have never seen this level of professionalism at any high school I’ve ever visited.  Impressive”  according to the FBI agent recruiter visiting today’s class.

Catherine Visono (left) and Jonasia Brown wait to be recognized by the visiting FBI agent for one of several questions posed by the class. For security reasons, we are not able to identify nor post any photographs of the FBI agent.

The FBI recruiter spoke about the application process.

“There are intense background checks

of every applicant.  We speak to your teachers, job supervisors, coaches and neighbors.  We do a criminal background check as well as researching your cyber presence;  this means, what you post on Facebook and Instagram and the various web sites you visit. 

We pretty much know everything there possibly is about you. 

Then, we make a decision, i.e. do we want this person in the agency?  Will they represent us well?   Can they be trusted?”

The recruiter spoke about the

importance of physical fitness, a college degree

and the wide variety of jobs offered in the agency. “There’s a strenuous physical and psychological test.  I went to

Quantico

for a few months for my physical test and New York for a multi-hour interview by 3 senior agents”  our visiting FBI agent stated.  “Most agents have college degrees. We have agents working in a wide variety of fields.  We have interpreters.  Cyber security specialists.  We have accountants.  Robot specialists.  Negotiators.”  

The agent then spoke about the advantages of the students in this class. 

“If you meet the academic, physical, and psychological requirements,

the FBI is looking for multi-lingual applicants and the agency also wants to be more diverse. 

This means the agency wants more women and people of color.” 

Today’s class finished with a networking opportunity where students exchanged business cards with our visiting FBI agent.

Today’s guest was Neil Amper, Vice President at Capstone, a commercial real estate company.   Our host today was Lisanyis Gonzalez.

Lisanyis welcomes Neil Amper to the Hope Life Skills class

Lisanyis introduces Neil to the Life Skills class

Walter Jimenez welcomes Neil to today’s class following Lisanyis’s introduction. Walter has perfect networking techniques: eye contact, welcoming smile, a firm handshake and a genuine greeting – “good morning. My name is Walter. Thank you for coming to our class.”  Ayo Onajide (black coat) and Johnny Ruiz (red jacket) follow Walter to do the same.

Neil begins to share his amazing story with the class.

 “I grew up very fortunate” Neil said.  “My family was very rich. 

We had an 8,000 square foot home with servants who lived in a special wing of our home.  I went to private schools.   We had our own plane.  Went on beautiful vacations.  I ran one division of our family’s company.  By the time I was 28 year’s old, I was worth $10, million dollars.  Until one Sunday evening, when

my father called me to tell me our company was bankrupt. We were out of business.