It was day when everyone felt good.

Just a few of the attendees at the August 21, 2015  CVS Health Hope High Life Skills Intern Presentation Day on the CVS Health corporate campus in Woonsocket, RI; from left to right: Joseph ‘Linc’ Murray (Senior Advisor Inventory Analytics), Shaun McKim (Senior Advisor, Inventory Analytics),Mike Martel (Director, Pharmacy Inventory Management), Fernando Perez (CVS summer intern-Hope High School Senior), Hafzat Akanni (CVS summer intern-Hope High School Senior), Jean Rodriguez (Hope High Life Skills program alum and CVS Health intern), Manny Rivas (CVS summer intern-Hope High School Senior) and Amy Propatier (Pharmacy Inventory Manager)

For the Hope High Life Skills students, it was about a summer work experience in ‘supply chain management‘, ‘computer programming‘, ‘analytics‘ and ‘corporate communications‘ at CVS Health, a  $140 billion dollar, international company.   For the CVS Health staff, it was observing the return on their personal investment mentoring some of Providence’s best and brightest young people who might eventually be future ‘supply chain managers’, ‘pharmacists’, ‘analysts’, ‘programmers’, ‘corporate communication specialists’, ‘lawyers’ and maybe even a ‘CEO’ at CVS Health or some other Rhode Island company or organization.

Opening remarks by CVS executives Lou Mercado, Vice President of Inventory Management, and Donna Mumma, Senior Director of Pharmacy Inventory Management and Analytics, addressed the mission of the internship program and the benefits of  strong personal brands and networks of successful, good people.   “You control your personal brand.  The best brands get the best and most opportunities for success.

Your brand will either open or close doors of opportunities throughout life. 

You’re part of this internship program because of the positive perception of your brand.  How well you maintain your positive brand will ultimately determine the quality of your job and career  opportunities and, eventually, your future success.  One of the reasons CVS Health continues to be a successful company is because of the CVS Health brand.  The people you see in this room and throughout this campus and in every CVS Health store you visit are responsible for the strength of the company brand.  The same can be said of your brand.  It depends on your commitment and the quality and commitment of the people in your network”.

Donna Mumma, Senior Director Pharmacy Inventory Management and Analytics and Lou Mercado, Vice President of Inventory Management

Following Lou Mercado and Donna Mumma, each student proceeded to the front of the room to speak to the audience and their CVS Health mentors about their summer internship.

Hafzat Akanni began the intern presentations. Hafzat, as usual, presented with great poise and professionalism.  She’s had experience recently addressing over 400 people at the National Youth Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C.

Hafzat outlined her intern projects.

Fernando Perez reviewed observations gleaned from his analysis of a wide range of CVS Health data points.  Fernando utilized a software application called ‘Tableau” for his presentation.  “Tableau” is interactive software many companies use today for “data visualization of business intelligence”.

Manny Rivas begins his presentation recognizing his summer mentors at CVS Health followed by a list of responsibilities and lessons from his internship.

Manny Rivas defines ‘supply chain management’ for the audience

Jean Rodriguez, Hope High alum and part of the first class of CVS Health interns from the Hope High Life Skills class, shares his perspective on his second summer as a CVS Health intern. Part of Jean’s responsibilities was mentoring this class of Hope High summer interns.

Jean also shared some of his analysis on a number of data points.

The body language of the audience often indicates the quality of the presentation. Looks like the Hope High Life Skills students presented well. They make us proud.

Donna Mumma closes the presentations acknowledging the contributions of her team’s mentorship of  the Hope High Life Skills students as well as the impressive work ethic and accomplishments of each student.

Fernando Perez with one of his IT mentors, Ashish Singh, CVS Health IS Lead Engineer, during the post presentation luncheon.

“Well, Steve (Cronin), another summer internship and another group of outstanding students from Hope” Donna Mumma shared with me at the end of the day.

“The brand of Hope High School is strong here.  

Your students are amazing.  Because of their brands, we’d like to continue offering internships to the Hope High School Life Skills students next year.   “You know, Donna”, I responded, “these students understand the responsibilities of brand.  They understand they represent their family and school brand.  By representing Hope High’s brand well, they create opportunities for future ‘Life Skills’ students at CVS Health.  It’s a pretty mature perspective for people so young.  I agree;  they are an impressive group“.

from left to right: Fernando Perez, Hafzat Akanni, Jean Rodriguez and Manny Rivas

Donna also reminded the students about the network they’ve developed at CVS Health.

“We’re part of your network now. 

You’ve earned our respect.  Stay in touch.  Reach out to us with questions.  We’re here to help.  I know we’ll be visiting Mr Cronin’s class next year and we hope to see you all then.“

Thank you,

Donna, and all the wonderful people who have mentored the Hope High Life Skills students for the past two summers.

Fernando Perez (center) with his summer intern mentors: left to right – Elena Gavrikova (Director, Inventory Analytics CVS Pharmacy), Shaun McKim (Senior Advisor, Inventory Analytics) and Joseph ‘Linc’ Murray (Senior Advisor Inventory Analytics)