Today’s Class: September 20, 2019

Today’s class focused three topics – 

#1.  transparency.  This year’s students welcomed 6 students from last year’s class to ask them what they liked about last school year’s Life Skills class and what they didn’t like about last year’s class.   #2.  Mr Cronin’s shared his vision of a Future  students will encounter in 2024, what the marketplace will look like, the impact technology and Artificial Intelligence will have on jobs and lifestyles, and how this class is created to help them prepare for the opportunities and challenges students will encounter in this technology influenced future.  #3.  Mr Cronin’s first impressions of this year’s class after the first class and first homework assignment.

Stephen Cronin focuses on 3 topics to start this week’s class

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Today’s Homework: September 13, 2019

  1.  Create your Name Card, by indicating your FIRST NAME ONLY, in big, bold letters and bring it to the next class.
  2.  Indicate the ‘business card’ design you prefer, i.e.   #1.  the business cards we have used for several years     OR    #2. the new design I circulated in class today. click on this link for the business card template of the Hope Life Skills card we’ve used for the past few years – Business Card template–         OR     – Press on this link for the different design: Business Card HOPE LIFE SKILLS2
  3.  Read the article I distributed in class today or click on this link to the article “THE BRAND CALLED YOU” by Tom Peters  (https://www.fastcompany.com/28905/brand-called-you).  After reading this article – #1.   give me the name of a person you think has a great personal brand and describe your perception of this person’s personal brand.     #2.  what do you think is the best thing others perceive in your personal brand.  LET ME Be CLEAR;  I WANT TO KNOW ‘WHAT OTHERS ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT YOU’  NOT WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO THINK ABOUT YOU.     #3.  If I were to offer you a well paid position working in my company,  please identify ONE of your QUALITIES that would bring value to my company; in other words, this quality of yours would definitely help my company be successful.   #4. if you could change one thing about the way others perceive you, i.e. your personal brand, what would that one thing be.      #5.  YES OR NO – do you use social media – Instagram, Facebook, TWITTER, etc?     #6.  If you do, if people only knew you from what you posted on social media, what would their perception be of the personal brand you have created on social media?  LET ME BE CLEAR;  I WANT TO KNOW ‘WHAT OTHERS ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT YOU’ NOT WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO THINK ABOUT YOU.      #7.   Yes OR No – are you happy with the perception people have of the personal brand you’ve created by your social media postings?
  4. Send your answers to my email address no later than Wednesday, September 18, 11:59pm.   Please – perfect spelling.  Use short sentences with proper punctuation (capitalization, periods, commas, exclamation points, questions marks,  etc.    I look forward to reading your answers.  Thank you.
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Today’s Class – September 13, 2019

Stephen Cronin explains the Goals of the Life Skills class to the 2019 – 2020 class.

“The Goals of the Hope Life Skills program are –  

#1.  build student self-esteem;  confidence.   #2. introduce the concept of “personal brand“,  in other words, the way others think about and/or perceive us, AND understand how a person’s brand EITHER creates opportunities for success for life OR eliminates opportunities for success for life.    #3. Have students use their brands to build networks of successful people who can advise and help them for life.   #4.  Introduce students to jobs and careers they are presently interested in OR jobs and careers they may not know about  #5.  teach and develop important communication skills especially collaboration, presentation, personal greeting, and writing skills.”

Stephen  Cronin explained to the students his commitment to their success. 

“I am like your personal coach committed to helping you become a successful person for life by introducing and developing important skills and attitudes that most successful people use and constantly look to improve upon throughout their lives.  I will work hard to help you become a successful person.

I will do this as long as you fulfill my expectations which are –

#1 come to class on time, all the time.  For days when extraordinary circumstances prevent you from being coming to class and being on time, you text, call, or email me asap to explain reasons for your tardiness or absence.   #2.  Do YOUR HOMEWORK all the time and on time.  For days when extraordinary circumstances prevent you from completing your homework on the due date, you MUST text, call, or email me asap to explain reasons for your inability to pass in your homework on the due date AND THEN TELL ME the date you will most certainly complete your homework and turn it in to me.   #3.  ASK QUESTIONS – they are more important than answers!   All questions are important; there is no such thing as a dumb question.     #4.  say “THANK YOU” , always, when someone does something for you. Follow up ‘thank you‘ emails and hand written notes and cards help you build a great brand with people you network with!!    #5. PUSH OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.   FOR EXAMPLE – Go on class field trips and introduce yourself to the successful people at the event. Ask for their business cards and give them yours!    ANOTHER EXAMPLE – Volunteer to be a class host-for-the-day by welcoming a class guest to our class and Hope High before the class starts THEN escort the guest into our classroom to introduce him or her to your classmates before the class starts. PUSH YOURSELF!!!!   #6.  Know MISTAKES are part of life and can present you with a great opportunity for learning something important that will make you a stronger and wiser person!   Don’t give up!!!!!  Keep working hard AND YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL.   #7.  NETWORK CONSTANTLY!”

“I look forward to reading your homework.   I also look forward to seeing you in ROOM 112 next Friday.”

 

 

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Hope High School Student Summer Internship at CVS Health Corporate

Edwin Silverio (standing to the right), Senior Manager, Pharmacy Returns, at the CVS Health Corporate offices in Woonsocket, RI, introduces Hope High junior and member of the Hope Life Skills class, Jose Quintanilla, to members of the CVS corporate team on August 27th prior to Jose’s presentation about his summer internship experience.

“Mr Cronin, Jose saved CVS hundreds of thousands of dollars this summer in his role during the summer internship.   He did a great job.” 

Marcos Vecoli, Advisor, Pharmacy Product Flow and DC Compliance

Jose presents to members of CVS Health’s corporate team about his role, responsibilities, and results during his summer internship at CVS Health, a $200 billion dollar, international company.

 

“Mr Cronin,  Jose is an amazing young man.  The simple fact he gave a professional presentation today to 15 high level CVS Health corporate team members should not be taken lightly.   Furthermore, his ability to gather and analyze data and make intelligent deductions from his analysis, his communication skills sharing information with other team members and his respectful and intuitive questions leaves observers here very impressed.” 

Edwin Silverio, Senior Manager, Pharmacy Returns

left to right – Edwin Silverio, CVS Health Digital Department team member Fernando Perez, Jose Quintanilla, Stephen Cronin Hope Life Skills teacher, and Yael Torres, CVS Health contractor.   Both Fernando and Yael were Hope Life Skills CVS interns following their junior year in the Hope Life Skills class. AND, because Fernando, Yael, and several other Hope Life Skills students’ personal brands were so strong interning at CVS Health, the company has continued to request their employment at the corporate office.

 

Thank you!

Edwin Silverio, Randy Martinez, Mike Martel, Donna Mumma and several other members of CVS Health for the opportunities they created for Jose this summer and all the Hope Life Skills students who preceded him.   This CVS Health team continues to change lives and mentor Hope High young men and women for life time success.

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Hope Life Skills Students Attend The National Youth Leadership Forum

Hope High Life Skills student, Jose Quintanilla, asks a question to Jonathan Turley, a nationally recognized professor and scholar with extensive legal writings on constitutional law and legal theory, at this summer’s National Youth Leadership Forum on CSI and Law. Professor Turley was ranked 38th in the top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” in a recent study.  Turley was also found to be the second most cited law professor in the country. He has been repeatedly ranked in the nation’s top 500 lawyers in annual surveys.  In prior years, he was ranked as one of the nation’s top ten lawyers in military law cases as well as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40. In 2016, he was ranked as one of the 100 most famous (past and present) law professors.  Besides representing the Hope High School Life Skills class at the Forum, Jose also has a paid internship at the corporate offices of CVS in Woonsocket, RI.

Lucy Salado, Lisbet Gomez, and Jose Quintanilla represented the Hope High Life Skills class at the 5 day National Youth Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C during the third week of July.  Over 300 high school students from across the United States as well as different countries throughout the world convened in the nation’s capital for an experiential learning opportunity with America’s top attorneys, judges, professors, and law enforcement professionals about America’s legal system.   Jose, Lisbet, and Lucy experienced an in-depth exploration of America’s entire judicial process: from the discovery of a crime, through collecting and analyzing all of the evidence, to preparing for the courtroom process and taking part in the criminal trial.

Lucy Salado examines evidence from one of the staged crime scenes at the FORUM.

Lisbet Gomez examines all the leads at the scene of the crime.

Lucy, Jose, and Lisbet also had time to visit some of our nation’s most famous and popular sites.

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Today’s Homework: May 31, 2019

  1.  There are two questions for this week’s homework, the last Life Skills homework of this school year.
    1.   Tell me the grade you think you deserve based on the criteria we have spoken about and what I have written below to show the sophomores I will speak to in the library in June.
    2.   I would ALSO appreciate your feedback on the following grading information I plan on distributing to Hope sophomores who are considering enrolling in the Life Skills class next year.   Please tell me what you think about this explanation for grading in the Life Skills class.
    3. Please send me your answers to both questions by Wednesday, June 5th.  Thank you.

Presentation to Sophomores: Grade Criteria –Hope Life Skills

Your Life Skills grade will be based only on your ‘effort’.    Specifically,

  • if you come to class each week. For those classes you cannot come because of unforeseen circumstances, ALWAYS send me a text or email informing me of your absence or tardiness.
  • If you attend our special events and field trips.
  • If you always have your business cards when you come to class, on field trips, and special events and exchange them with people you meet.
  • If you do your homework each week. For the homework you cannot send me ‘on time’ because of unforeseen circumstances, send me a text or email informing me of your inability to send your homework to me when due and then you identify a date when you will send me the homework.
  • If you welcome our guests to class with a friendly greeting, a firm handshake, good eye contact, and a smile.
  • If you always show respect to our guests in class by your attentiveness and your body language, i.e. how you sit, if you pay attention while they speak, etc.
  • If you always do what you say you will do.
  • If you establish and maintain a LinkedIn site and you “Connect” through LinkedIn with the guests you meet during the year.

If you do all of this, you will always get an ‘A’ in this class.

Here’s the reason why your grade is based on your “effort”.    Studies have shown that ‘success in life’ is primarily influenced by ‘hard work’.  The reason young people in countries like Finland, Singapore, South Korea, and Poland do much better on international tests than Americans is ‘hard work’.   The students from these foreign countries and their families do not have some genetic advantage making them more intelligent; data has proven these foreign students simply have worked harder on their school work over a longer period of time than most American students(1).  By the same token, the reason American students from affluent families who attend private schools do better on standardized tests than students from less affluence attending inner city public schools is the same reason, i.e. these students also have focused and worked harder for a longer period of time on school work and academics.  We can catch up, by being more focused and working harder!!  We can even surpass those who have had a head start.  You’ll meet people this year in class who have……..

  • the information above on “success” comes from “The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way”, Amanda Ripley, Simon & Schuster

If you work hard and practice the skills and techniques of this Hope Life Skills class by 

  • attending class each week,
  • going on field trips and attending our special events,
  • pushing out of your ‘comfort zone‘ to extend a friendly greeting to our guests,
  • exchanging your business cards with guests
  • doing your weekly homework,
  • asking questions in class,
  • creating a LinkedIn site and connect with successful people during the school year
  • following up with the successful, honorable people you meet

YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE!   For sure!!!

Here are the Skills and Techniques you will be taught in the Hope Life Skills class:

  • ‘interpersonal skills’ which always leave a positive impression when you meet, greet, interact, and present to other people. Things like:
    • how to greet successful people you meet for the first time and create a positive ‘first impression’
      • a firm handshake,
      • a smile,
      • eye contact,
      • a friendly greeting
      • body language to impress and exhibit confidence
      • asking questions
    • the benefits of and how to stay in touch
      • follow up emails, text messages, or a card saying ‘thank you’ or ‘it was nice to meet you’.
  • Creating, developing, and protecting a great personal brand which others admire and respect, thus creating opportunities for success throughout your life.
    • A brand that represents ‘responsibility’, ‘dependability’, ‘humility’, ‘conscientiousness’, ‘interest in learning’, and ‘kindness’.
  • Building a network of successful, honorable, diverse people, many of whom come from different backgrounds and have different interests than you;
    • AND, always nurturing your network by staying in touch with people through LinkedIn or by sending an occasional email, text, or greeting card to ensure people in your network won’t forget your brand and will support you throughout your entire life.
    • AND, avoid adding people to your network who DO NOT HAVE the SAME VALUES as you.
  • Telling YOUR personal story –
    • in your spoken word (e.g. during a job interview or when meeting someone)
    • written word (e.g. resume, emails, LinkedIn postings)
    • through your body language (e.g. how you stand, sit, etc)

to create an impressive brand which helps

  • build a great network of successful, honorable people
  • realize ‘success’ is often about WHO you know rather than WHAT you know
  • get a recommendation for a job or internship
  • get the job or internship you want,
  • get accepted into the college of your choice,
  • get you the scholarship you need
  • establish a relationship with someone you are interested in.
  • learn about jobs you didn’t know existed, some
  • may not exist yet, and what it takes to get the jobs you have an interest in.

 

  • Understanding “change” is important and beneficial during life
  • Understanding ‘mistakes’ or personal ‘failure’ can make you stronger, wiser, and more prepared to take advantage of your next opportunity.
  • Saying ‘thank you’ to those who help you along the way.

Here’s a famous saying from United States President Theodore Roosevelt about the value of hard work, trying hard, and perseverance.  I hope you find it as inspiring and thought provoking as I do –

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

― Theodore Roosevelt

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Today’s Class: May 31, 2019

Today’s guest was Michelle Nguyen, CFO, Shared Services at CVS Health, a $250 billion dollar, international company headquartered in Woonsocket, RI.   The Hope Life Skills host who welcomed Michelle to Hope High School and the Life Skills class was Selene Bun.

Selene welcomes Michelle outside of the classroom prior to the start of today’s Life Skills class.

After escorting Michelle into the classroom, Selene introduces Michelle to her classmates and encourages them to introduce themselves and welcome Michelle to their class.

Taking Selene’s lead, students greet Michelle and welcome her to their class. Robert Desilets introduces himself and welcomes Michelle to Hope High School as Kevin Castenada (green shirt) and Darwin Morales wait to do the same.

Michelle begins to share her personal story as a young girl relocating from poverty and discrimination in Viet Nam to the United States, growing up in a dangerous neighborhood in Philadelphia, going to a high school similar to Hope High before getting a full scholarship to attend Penn State University.

Michelle told the class she has average intelligence.

“My success in school and in life comes from hard work. 

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Today’s Homework: May 24, 2019

1.   Please list ONE adjective or descriptive phrase which describes your reaction to Arnell’s conversation with our class.  AND, DON’T TELL ME  “INTERESTING” OR “GREAT” OR “MUNDANE!”   COME ON – you’re better than this.  As Arnell challenged us today, “use your brain!!  The brain is like any muscle in your body.  If you push yourself and exercise it, it grows; it develops.  If you don’t push yourself to work harder, your brain will atrophy and, thus, you become the prey in the predator pyramid“.    Send your adjective or descriptive phrase to my email address by Tuesday, May 28th, 2019.

2.  Send a “CONNECT” request to Arnell Claude Milhouse’s LinkedIn site. 

3.  If you’re a curious person and want to exercise your brain muscle, check out Arnell’s TED TALK.

TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=silWG2dDRg0

AND  Talk at Google: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYv_tQDG3H4

 

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Today’s Class: May 24, 2019

Arnell stands beside his super-hero car upon arriving at Hope High today. Upon leaving the building after class and approaching his car, Arnell simply said “START” and the car started.

Today’s guest was Claude Arnell Milhouse,

Founder of Inner City Geeks, Co-Founder and CTO of Common Connect App, and Co-Founder and CEO of CareerDevs Computer Science Academy.

Our Life Skills host who welcomed Arnell to the Life Skills class today was Kevin Torres.

Kevin Torres introduces Arnell to his classmates at the beginning of today’s class.

Selene Bun welcomes Arnell to class after Kevin Torres’ introduction.

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Today’s Homework: May 17, 2019

1.   Please, identify something Raymond Perez said or did during today’s class that resonated with you; i.e. that caused you to reflect on something in your life.   This could be – the effort you are currently making for college acceptance, a scholarship, a potential job, your efforts to create opportunities for lifetime success, planning for your future, managing your time, hanging out with the best people with similar goals and values, the perceptions others have of your brand, your willingness to continually push out of your comfort zone to create new opportunities and relationships, your general attitude about your life. Please send your answer to my email address no later than Friday, May 24th, 2019, at 7am.  Thank you.    OR – If there was nothing Raymond said which caused you to think about your life, your preparedness for college and a career, your efforts to organize and manage your time intelligently, the quality of people in your network, and the image others have of your brand, simply state RAYMOND DID NOT SAY ANYTHING WHICH MADE ME REFLECT ON MY OWN SITUATION.   Please send your answer to my email address no later than Friday, May 24th, 2019, at 7am.  Thank you.

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