Michael Marino Guest Speaker
At the 2016 Dan Marino WalkAbout Autism at Sun Life Stadium, Team Cypress Bay raised the most money for the cause, having brought in $12,780. Because of their success, the Team was to be gifted a prize of their choice. They all chose to invite Michael Marino, Dan Marino’s son, to come and speak about his experiences with Autism.
To give a bit of background information, Dan Marino is active in the Autism-awareness community because his son, Michael Marino, has autism. He started The Dan Marino Foundation, Inc., which the WalkAbout Autism is a part of, to help spread awareness about Autism and provide support for the Autism community at large. So, when Team Cypress Bay, which was mainly composed of Cypress Bay’s Social Skills students, raised the most funds, it was only fitting for them to want to hear Michael Marino speak. For one, it was an interesting experience to meet and converse with the man responsible for the starting of the WalkAbout Autism. It was additionally beneficial for the students to ask Michael questions about his own struggles with Autism and how he overcame them.
On April 25th, 2016, Michael Marino visited the Social Skills students at Cypress Bay High School. Everyone ate Anthony’s Coal Fire Pizza, Michael spoke about his life, and the students asked him a number of questions. Michael gave in-depth descriptions about how he overcame bullying, how he learned to make new friends, and even how he began dating and ended up engaged. Michael seemed truly honored to help the students feel more comfortable navigating everyday life with Autism. The event had an effect on each of the student’s lives, as it opened up a world of possibilities for many of them. Knowing that someone with a disability similar to their own successfully made friends and built a committed relationship allowed many of them to feel that these things are undoubtedly possible for themselves. HDS thanks Michael Marino greatly for his time and effort; he has positively influenced the lives of these students.
The First Tee End-of-Program Luncheon
On April 24th, 2016, The First Tee of Broward program concluded for the year at the end-of-program luncheon. Officially, the mission of this organization is to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values, and promote healthy choices through the game of golf. In teaching golf to teens and students, The First Tee hopes to aid them in learning the non-physical skills necessary to, for one, successfully play golf, but, also, to succeed in general life endeavors. Discipline and perseverance, for instance, are values held by nearly every professional golfer, but they are not only applied in the golfing realm. Virtues such as these can be utilized across all facets of one’s life (work, school, family, etc.). The First Tee hopes to help its participants realize the skills paralleled between golf and life and implement those skills into their everyday lives. And, judging by the conversations between the students at the luncheon, The First Tee’s goal was accomplished.
The HDS Foundation and Global Business Brokers teamed up and sponsored this lunch to thank the Cypress Bay High School Social Skills students, along with others in the community, for their participation in the program and the leaders of the program for their time and effort. Professional golfer Dustin Stearns and The First Tee of Broward program director Jack Bloomfield both attended the event. Additionally, one parent of each participant, along with the participants themselves, were invited. Those at the luncheon seemed to enjoy the food and company greatly, and the students were all overjoyed to receive accolades at the award ceremony. The program participants and their parents also showed appreciation to Dustin and Cristina for continuing to help teens with autism and intellectual disabilities. As a result of the success achieved throughout the program, The First Tee of Broward is going to be arranged annually, and the HDS Foundation and Global Business Brokers will continue to sponsor it. The organization also plans in the future to extend the age range of allowed participation to even younger groups than this past one, eventually welcoming ninth graders and younger. HDS is thankful to have been a part of The First Tee this past year and is excited to continue collaboration in the years to come.
The HDS Foundation Participates in CLE Mock Interviews
The HDS Foundation, which is known to have strong ties to the special-needs community, was asked by the College Living Experience (CLE) to assist in giving mock job interviews at the CLE Fort Lauderdale location to individuals with disabilities looking to soon become parts of the working world. CLE hosted this event in efforts to provide support to students with disabilities who wish to progress professionally, socially, and educationally. Specifically, CLE aims to assist these students in developing skills related to four specific areas that affect life in many ways: academics, independent living, social skills, and career development. Through careful instruction pertaining to the previously listed topics, CLE hopes to sufficiently prepare its students for their futures of independent living, away from parental control and college. It is no wonder the HDS Foundation partnered up with CLE – both entities possess, essentially, the same overarching goal.
So, on April 18th, 2016, members of the HDS Foundation and Housing and Development Services made their ways over to CLE Fort Lauderdale to help deliver mock interviews. Each participating student chose which jobs they wanted to interview for beforehand, and each interviewer had a script to read from, providing instruction about the questions to ask and the quirks to watch for in relation to the responses provided by the students and the mannerisms they employ. There were two interviewers in each room, and the students rotated rooms after each interview to answer questions that applied to a different job than the one they had previously dealt with. Before each rotation, the interviewers offered individual feedback to the students. Such pieces of constructive criticism included the need for some to maintain stronger eye contact with the interviewer and for others to appear less tense. After all interviews were complete, everyone met in one large room to have lunch provided by CLE. During this time, the students talked about the experience and how they felt about it overall. Many felt more comfortable with the job interview process as a whole and were glad to have gotten constructive feedback. In the end, the activity was highly beneficial for the participants. They had the unique opportunity to gain understanding about and prepare for job interviews, which, because of the large part they play in entering the work force, are daunting for many of the students. HDS is glad to have been able to work with CLE, and a number of other such organizations, to make a real impact on the lives of those in need.
Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center Gala
On Saturday, April 11th, 2016, the HDS Foundation participated in the Night of Stars, a 20th anniversary celebration for the Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center. This Recovery Center assists a defined group of people who generally need assistance; that is, women who are pregnant and/or mothering and who struggle with trauma, substance abuse, and mental health disorders. Susan B. Anthony, as an organization, strives to take women possessing the aforementioned traits in and lead them to the path of recovery, all while caring for their children. The Recovery Center cares immensely about that specific aspect (caring for children) of this large problem – they aim to help these troubled women get better without breaking families apart. They realize that foster care systems, and the difficulties and intricacies that come with finding lone children foster families, can be emotionally taxing on the child. So, in taking in entire families, the Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center is doing a service for mothers and children: the family is overjoyed to stay together, and the mother is additionally happy to be on the road to recuperation.
Realizing the positive impact the Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center has on the community at large, and having a tendency to be philanthropic, Cristina, founder of the HDS Foundation, decided to take part in the Night of Stars event. She bought out an entire table for the night, and HDS staff filled it in support. The Gala, as some referred to it, was a huge success, with much food eaten and many laughs shared. Between the silent and live auctions and ticket sales, as well as a number of donations, a large amount of funds was raised for the Broward County branch of the Recovery Center. As a result, more children in Broward can stay with their mothers, and more mothers in Broward can be taken in. The Susan B. Anthony organization, and all who played a part in this event, contributed to creating safer, happier, and healthier lives for many distraught women and children. HDS is glad to have been a part of it.
BRIDGES – Social Skills Class at HDS
On April 7th, 2016, the Social Skills class from Cypress Bay High School traveled to the Housing and Development Software main office in Weston, Florida for a tour of the grounds and a professional presentation given by HDS employees. This presentation aimed to give these students useful information about the various skills utilized by many work-force participants on a daily basis. Additionally, the HDS workers provided insight into job interviews. They gave their own input about how to best prepare for an interview and discussed effective ways to build a resume. Through these bits of knowledge, HDS hoped to assist the students in preparing for the eventual move over to the working world. Helping them further understand and feel comfortable with the facets of that world is a vital part of preparing them sufficiently.
Upon arrival at HDS, the students got off the bus while Katherine Gilson, daughter of HDS CEO Cristina Miranda and student in the Social Skills class, began the tour and introduced HDS staff managers. This was a productive start to the day, as it gave the class background knowledge about individuals who remain highly involved in the company and prepared those in the class for what they were about to learn from these HDS leaders. Following the tour, the students were taken to one of the building’s conference rooms, where they ate Jimmy John’s sandwiches and listened to the presentations given by HDS staff. Within the prepared PowerPoints was information regarding the job search process, what exactly HDS does as a company and the services they provide, and a variety of hard and soft skills necessary for a few jobs.
As a result of their visit, the students recognized the importance of knowing their own strengths and weaknesses and how to use them effectively, both in and out of the workforce. HDS is glad to have been able to help the Social Skills students feel more comfortable with the working world and, so, more comfortable with their own futures.
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