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.
MariaDasilva 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
1. Please prepare your job resume using the template outlined by today’s Life Skills guest, Nan Quinlan. Send your 1st draft of your resume to me by Wednesday, March 9th, 12am. Don’t worry; you can’t make a mistake on your resume. This will be your first draft that we will work on to refine before you submit it to a potential employer. Thank you.
Here is my resume I recently sent to Nan Quinlan for her feedback. I’ll share Nan’s feedback on my resume when I receive it.
Successfully led the change of a company’s client value proposition and brand from a long standing ‘print and mailing services provider’ to a ‘marketing strategy and services provider’. Mercury Print & Mail became TWOBOLT. In the process, the company changed its corporate culture with the addition of new staff with new skill sets and attitudes to complement its long standing staff and the company’s printing, mailing and fulfillment service culture. This transformation remains a work in progress since its launch in 2010 with ROI just beginning to show positive fiscal results.
Held a number of positions in a 1980s, multiple franchise, cable television startup, from Sales and Marketing Manager to General Manager until the company was sold to a national MSO. Responsible for leading staff, developing marketing and sales campaigns, managing community relationships with community cable advisory boards and franchising for new community licenses. Created and deployed a FREE service tier model to facilitate sales in mature markets and drive service upgrades. The company was a multi-million dollar ROI for the owner.
Established and developed a ‘Life Skills’ program at an inner city high school in Rhode Island. The program focused on 5 basic concepts: ‘leadership’, ‘change’, ‘brand’, ‘success’ and ‘hope’. Associated skills were introduced and developed: personal brand development, networking, collaboration, empathy, story telling/sales, creativity and communication. 10 textbooks have been authored using history to introduce and develop program concepts and their related skills. The program engages area companies and organizations like Gilbane, CVS Health, TeeSpring, TACO Inc, Roger Williams University, AMICA Insurance, Cox, AAA Southern New England, etc to facilitate the program’s mission. For more information, please see the program web site: hopelifeskills.com. The Hope High Life Skills program has been in place since 2004. The result of this effort continues to create and enhance opportunities for lifetime success for Hope High students while providing perspective and inspiration to the business partners involved.
Founded “Runversation”, a local thought group with President John Maeda of the Rhode Island School of Design. The group met weekly for a three mile run, followed by stimulating conversation over coffee and tea at an area café to talk about 21st century ideas and challenges like leadership, creativity, education, 3D printing, augmented reality, Purls, QR codes, post-apocalyptic movies and other topics related to the interests of the group. This experience has provided me a network which fuels my curiosity.
Created the board game “Hegemony: A Game of Conquest and Diplomacy”. The game focuses on player appreciation of the inter-dependency of today’s global marketplace using actual country human, technical and natural resources and each participant’s ability to negotiate with other players to secure their ‘empire’s success. I need to do something with this creation.
Degrees from Marist College (BA –History) and Providence College (MEd)
Experience:
TWOBOLT: 2000 to present. President & CEO. 50 employees. Strategic marketing consultation,
analytics, graphic design, plastic membership cards, offset and digital printing, mailing services,
fulfillment, web-to-print, e-fulfillment.
Teacher: Middle School and High School; Laredo, Tx; Attleboro, Ma
Author of 10 educational books
Inland Cable: 1980 1999. General Manager, Massachusetts cable company
Father of three children (Tara, Colin, and Casey) and husband to wife, Jane.
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.
1. Please read pages 1 through 40 in your exciting, new textbook, “The Future“. After reading this author’s perspective on the ‘future’, please tell me
if you are “optimistic” or “pessimistic” about your opportunities for success in your future.
Then, tell me why you feel either “optimistic” or “pessimistic” about your opportunities for future success, of course, in a well written paragraph with perfect spelling, good grammar and no run-on sentences. Thank you.
2. If there is something you read in “The Future” text which seems preposterous, seemingly impossible to happen in the future, please tell me, in a well written, succinct paragraph, what it is and why it seems ‘unlikely’ to happen. AND, if there is something you read which is ‘likely’ to happen and you’re excited to observe or experience in your future, tell me, in a very well written, succinct paragraph, what it is and why you are excited to observe or experience it. BE SMART ABOUT YOUR PREDICTION; GOOGLE what you believe is ‘unlikely’ AND ‘likely’ in order to give credence to your belief before you write your paragraph!!! This kind of research always enhances your brand.
3. Please tell me, in a well written, succinct paragraph, something you read in “The Future” text which has made you pause and reflect upon how you are preparing for this eventuality.
4. Please watch this recent video on robots NOW being produced by a Massachusetts’ technology company, Boston Dynamics. Please tell me, in a well written paragraph, how the continuing developments in robotics will affect the kind of jobs available in the workforce:
List jobs which exist today, in 2016, which will probably be eliminated by smart robots.
List new jobs which will soon be available to appropriately trained people because of the introduction of smart robots.
5. Please tell me when Wednesday, 12am, is. Describe when 12am occurs.
Does it begin the day at midnight?
Is it in the middle of the day at noon?
6. Hope Life Skills Annual Pawtucket Red Sox Networking Event: Please answer the following questions:
Are you interested in attending this event? yes or no
What are the 2 best dates for you to attend?
_______________________________
_______________________________
Would you like to be considered for throwing out the first pitch of the game? yes or no
Please name a person(s) you’ve met in class AND/OR a career or job type you would like someone with experience to come to this event for you to meet and learn about a career or job in this field:
example: a graphic designer
example: Jeshua Zapata from Xzito Marketing agency
____________________________________
____________________________________
Please send me your answers electronically by Wednesday, 12am, March 2.
1. We spoke today about the importance of reading; not only, to prepare ourselves for the realities of college, but also for the realities of lifetime success. Today’s guest, entrepreneur and marketer, Jeshua Zapata, the Founder and President of Xzito Creative Solutions, LLC (www.xzito.com) made this very clear in his comments. “I was assigned to read 30 to 40 pages per class as a student at Bryant University. And, I was taking 5 classes per semester and each class met at least twice a week! And today, as the owner of my own company, I must read constantly, daily, to keep up with the changes in the marketplace and my business. You must read all the time if you want to become and remain successful. The world is constantly changing and you must keep up with the changes or you’ll be left behind.” I have a responsibility to you all to prepare you for the realities of college, your career and life and, as a result, I will start assigning your more reading. If I didn’t do this, I would be letting you down. Here is your assignment to be completed by next Wednesday, February 17th, by 12am.
Read pages 1 through 50 in your new textbook, “The Awakening: Massasoit’s Journey of Change, Renewal and Destiny”.
Complete Activity 8 on page 61. (Don’t be confused; there are 2 Activity 8s. Do the one on page 61.
What is your interpretation of the “Life Without Learning” poem? (This poem also appears on page 7 in the textbook.) What is the lesson the poet is trying to teach with this poem?
Do you agree with the poet’s message or lesson? yes or no
Explain, in a well written paragraph, why you feel this way.
1. Despite the fact there is no class today because of the snow, I’d would still like you to watch this video on the award ceremony of a recently completed tennis tournament in Australia, The Australian Open. It was a historic and exciting final in the women’s division as a German, Angelique Kerber, beat the heavily favored American, Serena Williams, in three sets. We speak often in class about personal brand and how people make judgements about us based on how we conduct ourselves when they meet us or observe us from afar. As a result, our challenge is to always be aware of this possibility and, then, be disciplined to act in a way which builds a positive brand for ourselves and those we represent: a brand that creates admiration and respect rather than scorn; a brand that opens doors of opportunities rather than shutting them; a brand others wish to associate with and not avoid; a brand which others want to add to their network. This video displays how one person, the winner Angelique Kerber, conducts herself in victory. Be the observer of Angelique Kerber at the Australian Open. Then, share your perspective of Ms Kerber’s brand based on how she conducted herself at the award ceremony. List 4 adjectives which describe your perspective of Angelique Kerber’s brand and, then, in a well written paragraph, explain what you observed in Ms Kerber’s demeanor during the award ceremony that caused you to choose the adjectives you did.
Please email your answer by next Tuesday, February 9th.
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
1. Go to page 140 in the “Story of Change” text book. Answer questions 1,2,3, and 4. Thank you.
2. For those of you given the first draft of our next textbook, “The Awakening: Massasoit’s Journey of Change, Renewal and Destiny“, I look forward to your constructive criticism of this document. Thank you for accepting this task. I will take it seriously. Please feel free to tell me if there is anything you disagree with. If there is part of this story you find confusing, please let me know. At the same time, please tell me if there is anything you agree with. If there is a perspective in the draft you find helpful or enlightening, please let me know too. Point out spelling and grammatical mistakes. You are expected to act as my teacher. I look forward to your constructive criticism. My goal is to refine what I’ve written to improve the expression of my ideas. Thank you again.
Please complete your assignment by next Sunday, January 17th, 9am.
Because of the assembly next Friday, January 15, our Life Skills class is cancelled. Our next class will be January 22nd. Make the most of your assembly on the 17th about after school activity choices. They seem interesting. I hope you find one to join.
Today’s guest was Collin Bailey, Senior Director for Strategic Procurement Contracts at CVS Health Corporation. Today’s Life Skills class host was Djovan Davega who welcomed Collin to Hope and introduced him to our Life Skills class.
Collin (right) is welcomed to Hope by Djovan Davega before the start of today’s Life Skills class.
Djovan introduces Collin to his Life Skills classmates.
Collin shares his story with the Life Skills class.
Collin’s story began on the Caribbean island of Jamaica and then onto the United States, New Jersey specifically, when he was five years old. Collin’s life seemingly revolved around sports, mainly football and basketball. He played high school and AAU ball with athletes who went on to play Division 1. “Eventually,
I realized I wasn’t going to play professional basketball and academics had to be taken seriously if I was going to be successful.
So, I started studying harder than I ever had. Got my undergraduate degree and then went on to Roger Williams University Law School to become an attorney” he said. He also took risks, measured risk, by moving away from his New Jersey home for school at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island and then later for a consultant job at CVS Health, at their corporate office in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. “The CVS job was initially not expected to be a permanent job. But I took the job seriously.
