success stories

I began high school as a knucklehead; I was well on the road of being a dropout. I was doing things that jeopardized my future. For the first half of my freshmen year I barely went to school and when I did, I wasn’t focused on my work. My grades were poor; I wasn’t working to my potential. And, I wasn’t hanging around with the right people. But I changed all that!

In my junior year I enrolled in your Social Studies 2.0 - Life Skills class; it helped shape my way of thinking for the rest of my life. You’re a local businessman and president of a company. You donate your time to students from Hope High School to help us better ourselves and develop our personal brand to create good habits for the future. When I entered your Social Studies 2.0 class, I didn’t know about networking or what personal brand was and how it would help me. You helped me get to where I wanted to go, becoming a successful businessman. You saw the hunger for greatness I had; you knew that I was eager to learn. Through your help and mentoring, I left your class a businessman ready to take on the world.

The Social Studies 2.0 - Life Skills class opened many doors for me. From helping me create a resume which landed me my first job at Burger King to helping me gain networking skills which I used to meet Kerry Tuttlebee, who gave me a job in a student-led design team for the 360 High School and then you recommended me to the VP of CVS, Lou Mercardo, where I received a position for a summer internship. This was the same year where I received the Seth Magaziner Award and you were sitting in the audience supporting me.

This class has better prepared me for college and the obstacles in life. I learned the fundamentals of networking with people and representing my values and goals through my personal brand to the best of my ability, which thus gave me the confidence to face the obstacles life has to offer. Now, as I enter college in the fall and get essays, projects and test thrown at me, I will have the same confidence to overcome these obstacles with the same hard work and dedication I used to get to where I am at now.

Mr Cronin, I really appreciated the internship and learned a lot. One of the most important lessons was what I learned about ‘supply chain management’. I realized it wasn’t something I could be passionate about. I did, however, do a lot of networking at CVS and, if I’m fortunate enough to get an internship next summer, I’d like to try marketing. That seems interesting.

I absolutely loved the Social Studies 2.0 - Life Skills class. The two years I spent in the program cultivated my knowledge on business and gave me knowledge on how important personal brand is. By doing this class I gained knowledge on everything about life and how to network with people. The years I spent in the class were amazing, definitely worth spending the time because the information you gain from this class is second to none.

(Manny maintained his stellar academic and Life Skills performance into his senior year. As a result, Manny found himself choosing between scholarship offers from Babson and Providence Colleges.)

A letter from Manny Rivas to Mr Cronin

photo (previous page) - Manny presents a summary of his Social Studies 2.0 - Life Skills paid summer internship at the CVS Health corporate offices to members of the CVS Health supply chain team following his junior year.