COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Project SEARCH is a collaborative program between Baylor Scott & White and College Station ISD where students with disabilities can work different internships over a span of nine months to learn essential work place skills.
“Today is our bridging ceremony, which is what we call our graduation, and it’s a bridging ceremony because it's really bridging the gap from the school student world, into the adult world," explained College Station ISD Project SEARCH instructor, Beth Sherry. "So our students are not only completing services through College Station ISD, all of our interns have been hired and so they're really moving onto the adult world of having a job and the independence that comes with that.”
This morning's ceremony was a significant turning point for the project search interns' personal lives and professional careers as well.
“I was somewhere in the mix of happy and sad," said 19-year-old Project SEARCH graduate, Kenyatta Davis. "I'm happy that I'm able to graduate because it shows how much I've changed from the very first time I stepped into Project SEARCH but I'm also pretty sad about it because I wont be able to see the people I bonded with for longer.”
Though for some, it can be slightly bittersweet seeing someone that you've watched grow move on to bigger and better things.
“I actually taught Kenyatta when he was in seventh grade so from then till now he's a totally different person,” said Sherry.
Thanks to project search, these interns can enter the workforce with the confidence that they will have the skills to transition to the working world with relative ease.
Davis reflected on his growth, saying “I used to not communicate with people and after that rotation, that really helped me communicate with people and not only that, but also helped me with learning where things are and even going up to deliver food to the patients that also helped communicate with other people.”