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.
Nan Quinlan begins her instruction on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of creating a great job resume.
Today’s guest was Nan Quinlan, a Professional Training and Coaching Consultant and Contractor. Prior to starting her own consultancy, Nan was the Training and Development Manager at TACO, Inc in Cranston, Rhode Island.
Today’s Life Skills class objective was the creation of a great job resume.
Nan began today’s class distributing a ‘resume template‘ for students to follow as they created their resumes; in other words, what information you should have on a resume and the placement of this information on the resume.
Nan was very specific about the types of information employers look for and where this information should be located on a resume;
Nan responds to a question from Manny Rivas
a place for everything and everything in its proper place: name, address, email, phone, experience information, education, awards or special recognition, LinkedIn and, most importantly, a person’s summary statement.
“The words you choose are important on your resume.
Many companies use software to process resumes and the software is written to look for specific words which correspond to the qualities the company looks for in a specific job”
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. After reading New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof‘s, May 24, 2014 article entitled “Graduate of the Year” which I distributed in class today, please write a well written paragraph sharing your reaction to this story. CLICK ON THIS LINK BELOW TO READ THIS STORY. I know you will enjoy this amazing story.
2. The poem “The Story of War” appears on page 24 in your textbook entitled “The Awakening: Massasoit’s Journey of Change, Renewal and Destiny”. There is an attitude the poet hopes all readers consider and eventually realize after reading his poem. This attitude is a mindset, a way of examining things, we bring to every evaluation we’re asked to make. It’s an important mindset or attitude we need to be aware of when we make judgements about people, places, organizations, etc. Please explain as succinctly as possible the life lesson about this attitude or mindset the poet hopes readers consider and embrace after reading “The Story of War“. Please remember, a succinct answer, i.e. 1 sentence preferably but no more than 2 sentences for your answer. This is hard to do but an important lesson. Most of us are challenged to be succinct, in other words, ‘keep it simple‘ with our explanations or directions. This is a good test of your discipline and skill to ‘keep it simple‘. Thank you.
3. What is an infographic? In your own words, please write a succinct definition of ‘infographic’.
4. Have you ever seen an infographic (yes or no)?
If yes, please share the story of the infographic you have seen.
If no, please think again. Are you sure you haven’t you seen an infographic before? But, if you’re sure, I bet you’re wrong; you have seen an infographic! Think about it.
5. We had a ‘geography’ conversation today, a ‘where in the world is‘ and ‘how many are there‘ discussion. There are more than 7,000,000,000 people on the planet with the countries of China and India each having populations of over 1,000,000,000 (Billion!!). With this in mind, please answer the following questions:
What is the total population of the country of the United States of America? ________________________
What is the total population of the state of Rhode Island? _________________
What is the total population of the city of Providence? ___________________
What is the total population of the largest state in land area in the United States, Alaska? __________________
What city in the United States has the largest total population? ________________
How many people live in this city?___
please submit all answers to these questions to my email address by midnight, Wednesday, February 24th, 2016. Thank you.
Today’s guest was Jeshua Zapata, the Founder and President of Xzito Creative Solutions www.xzito.com, a branding and identity marketing firm specializing in web design and development, search engine optimization and process improvement. Jeshua’s Xzito team is a dynamic and diverse group of 21st century ‘creatives’ passionate about maximizing their clients’ success through innovative, data driven marketing strategies that increase their clients’ visibility, profitability and ultimate success. Our Life Skills host today was Ruben Blanco, like Jeshua, a 21st century creative thinker focused on developing his personal brand’s market visibility, profitability and lifetime success.
Ruben Blanco (right) welcomes Jeshua Zapata to Hope High School and exchanges his business card with Jeshua’s outside the classroom prior to today’s class.
Ruben introduces Jeshua to the Life Skills class.
Djovan Devega introduces himself to Jeshua prior to today’s class as well as thanking him for taking time from his busy company to share his story of success.
Chanda Nuth also took time to welcome Jeshua to Hope High Life Skills and thank him for coming.
“Success really comes down to a choice.
You eventually decide whether or not you wish to do what needs to be done to accomplish your goals and fulfill your dreams”. Jeshua shared his story of emigration to America at 7 years old from Colombia. He went on to Central Falls high school and then, with a scholarship, to Bryant University. “Each step along the way was always accompanied by challenges. Challenges of fitting in to a new country and speaking very little English. Moving on to Central Falls high school and trying to fit in with a new group of people and, then, the same thing at Bryant University.” Jeshua made decisions at each stop to extend himself out of his comfort zone to build a network of new people, “smart, successful people, many of whom were quite different from me but who kept teaching me valuable lessons about life and careers.” Jeshua spoke about decisions he made about the people in his network.
‘You can tell a lot about who you will become by the people you hang around with‘
Jeshua shares his story with the Life Skills class.
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
