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| SCC’s Project SEARCH 2016 interns include front row from left: Marzena Bradley, teacher; Lorie Burnett, job coach; Charlotte Hill, intern from Whittier; Lisa Skiver, intern from Bryson City; Ned Baddy, intern from Cullowhee; Devonne Jimison, Program Coordinator and lead teacher. Back row from left: Elliott Jacques, intern from Sylva; Thomas Smith, intern from Cherokee; Mike Rogers, Webster Enterprises partner; Not pictured: Laura Smith, lead job coach. |
Sitting across the table from SCC’s newest Project SEARCH® interns, you can’t help but smile when you look around and see their beaming faces as they end their daily classroom time with Devonne Jimison, SCC’s Project SEARCH® coordinator and head out to their internships.
Project SEARCH® is a national non-profit program which partners with businesses to create internships for young adults with disabilities.
Three years ago, SCC partnered with Harris Regional Hospital to bring the program to Jackson County.
The program, now in its third year in Jackson County, allows men and women ages 18-30 with disabilities to gain marketable and transferable employability skills through the implementation of hands-on work experience during a series of three separate, 10-week internships matched to their individual interests, strengths, and abilities.
“What I love about this program is that there is a lot of freedom in accepting a diverse group of young people,” said Jimison. “As teachers, job coaches and counselors, we focus on each person individually and embrace who they are on their specific journey.”
This program allows students with a vast range of disabilities to transition from school into a work environment.
“From the starting point, we help them identify their goals, we make a plan and we begin work on making their dreams come true,” said Jimison. “The basic dream for all of them is employment and giving back to their community.”
Jimison believes this program offers hope for parents and caregivers when they see how diverse the interns in the Project SEARCH® program are. The range this year is from a student with down syndrome and a language barrier to a high-functioning student with autism, who also holds an additional job outside of the internship.
When asked what kind of impact this program has had on their lives, those beaming faces sitting across the table got even brighter when talking about what Project SEARCH® has done for them.
“This program helps you focus more on your abilities than your disabilities,” said Charlotte Hill, an intern from Whittier, whose future goals include being a chef.
“This program inspires people with disabilities and benefits us by helping us get a job in the community,” said Elliott Jacques an intern from Sylva.
SCC’s partners in providing the program locally include Harris Regional Hospital, Vahyah Health (formerly known as Smoky Mountain Center), Vocational Rehabilitation and Webster Enterprises.
For more information about Project SEARCH®, contact Devonne Jimison at 828.339.4486 or devonnej@southwesterncc.edu.
