A group of five eastern North Carolina high school students with disabilities capped off a rewarding year interning at ECU Health Medical Center with a graduation ceremony Tuesday.
Dasani Cherry, Denise Clemons, Deshanti Morris, Jah’Terrion Sherrod and Joshua Tripp made up the eleventh graduating class for Project SEARCH, a rigorous yearlong internship program for students with developmental and intellectual disabilities during their last year of high school. The five graduates worked in various areas around ECU Health Medical Center where they learned tangible, marketable skills that can help them find competitive employment.
During the graduation ceremony Alexus Hyman, a receiving clerk at ECU Health Medical Center, told the students that their willingness to challenge themselves took strength.
“Sometimes the world may underestimate you,” Hyman told the class. “Sometimes they may only see you for your disability instead of your ability, but hear me clearly — your disability does not disqualify you. It gives you a different kind of strength built on perseverance, patience, resilience and heart.”
This year’s class was the first led by Jay Cotton, Project SEARCH instructor, who said he most enjoyed getting to know the students on an individual level where their unique personalities could shine through. He acknowledged that learning how to work with other team members and acclimate to the fast-moving pace of ECU Health Medical Center empowered students just as much as learning proper sanitation practices or how to use office equipment.
“These graduates had the chance to learn so much in a hospital setting,” Cotton said. “They learned people skills, developed a work ethic and saw how it feels to be in a workplace. When they got here, they were completely green to a job environment. They learned where to show up, how to navigate this big campus and its various units, how to get ready to work in the morning and clock in on their own. We showed them what to do, but they developed that independence as they worked.
“Along the way, they received encouragement in the knowledge that they can work and become employable young men and women. Even with their disabilities, they can still do what they need to do.”
Morris said she was nervous when she first started working at the Medical Center. She was not certain how to carry out her jobs, which started in the Medical Center cafeteria, then transitioned to guest services and ended in pediatrics at James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital at ECU Health Medical Center. With encouragement, repetition and time she said her confidence soared.
“I feel good about it now,” Morris said. “I’d like to find a job or go to college.”
Tripp is ready to find yet another job now that he has graduated from Project SEARCH. He already mowed lawns and worked on a hardware truck when he was not carrying out his internship duties.
“I’m ready, feeling prepared, come in here and get it done,” Tripp said. “I’m proud of what I do stocking stuff up, cleaning, taking the trash out. I’m ready to get a job and make that money.”
Project SEARCH is a partnership between ECU Health Medical Center, Pitt County Schools, McCloud & Associates, Inc., and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Employment and Independence for People with Disabilities.