FUTURE FORUM #4 – a collaboration among a diverse group of caring corporate futurists and exceptional Rhode Island high school students looking to solve a chronic, societal problem while enjoying each other’s company topped off by some great food.   From left to right above, Sarah Cunningham (Rocky Hill Country Day), Nehemias Rojas (Hope High School), and Donghoon Ryu (LaSalle Academy) network during the day’s lunch.

Hope High School hosted its 4^th annual FUTURE FORUM on Thursday, December 12^th, 2019.

FUTURE FORUM 4’s topic of conversation was ‘public education’, specifically, Providence, Rhode Island, public education.

25 corporate ‘futurists’ from companies and institutions like DataRobot, Bank of America, Working Planet, Gilbane Construction Company, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Revival Brewery, Barclays Investment Bank, Alex & Ani, NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Brown University and CVS Health joined students from Hope High School’s Life Skills program as well as students from Rocky Hill Country Day, LaSalle Academy, St Raphael’s Academy, and Juanita Sanchz High School at this year’s event.  Corporate futurists facilitated collaborations among small, diverse groups of students from the participating schools to create specific, near term improvements to the quality of education in the city’s public schools.

Arnell Milhouse, Inventor, CEO of Career Devs University, and Entrepreneur in Residence at Brown University’s Nelson Center and featured in the photo above on a hover board, was FUTURE FORUM #4’s keynote speaker

The FORUM’s keynote speaker was Arnell Milhouse,

Inventor, Co-Founder and CEO of Computer Science CareerDevs University, and Entrepreneur in Residence at Brown University’s Nelson Center.   Mr Millhouse began the FORUM leading a design thinking presentation that students used in their FORUM workshops to identify ways to address the critical needs of Providence students in the urban schools.

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza opened the FORUM

sharing his inspirational personal story of challenges and success.

Mayor Jorge Elorza gave an opening address to start FUTURE FORUM #4

“Providence Public Education has been an issue of concern in Rhode Island for decades” states Steve Cronin, the Hope Life Skills and FUTURE FORUM coordinator.  “The FORUM provided an interesting dynamic for Providence Public School students to collaborate with private school students, facilitated by successful professionals from a variety of industries, and create potential, measurable, near term improvements in their public education in Providence, Rhode Island.  It’s an opportunity for Providence’s public school customers, the students, and people in their personal networks, to create solutions to improve their public education.  It was very interesting  to hear what the customers, the students, had to say.”

John Sinnott, a Vice President Gilbane Building Company, and noted graphic designer, Nick DeCesare, (Signature Printing Creative Director and Owner of Third Effect Marketing and Design) facilitate a collaboration among students from LaSalle Academy, Hope High, St Raphael Academy, and Juanita Sanchez High School to identify improvements to Hope High School education which could be implemented on January 1st, 2020

5 Hope Life Skills students represented Hope High at this year’s problem-solving

‘Hack the Power’ Global Hackathon at the Rocky Hill Country Day School

last Friday evening and all day Saturday.

Hope High’s Ambar Tavaras, Omayra Corporan, Lydia Watkins, Hector Guererro, and Jose Quintanilla

were active collaborators at the Hackathon.  Other schools participating in the Hackathon were Rocky Hill Country Day, East Greenwich High School, Chariho High School, The Met School, Bishop Hendricken, The Wheeler School, and Narragansett High School.

The event was officially called the  “Rhode Island Hack for Global Good” with a theme of “Solution 2 Pollution.”   The Hackathon objective was for groups of 10 to 12 students from different schools collaborate to create potential solutions that someday might solve some of the planet’s critical pollution problems. The solutions from the more than 40 student participants included genetically engineered bio-luminescent trees harvested from nuclear power plant coolant water, apps that measure personal energy consumption and CO2 scrubbers on car tailpipes.

Hope High School students with the Hackathon co-founder and Rocky Hill Country Day senior, Cortlandt Meyerson. From left to right – Omayra Corporan, Cortlandt, Amber Tavaras, Hector Guererro, and Lydia Watkins.