Friday, September 13, 2019
Every year, high school students with intellectual and developmental challenges enroll in Project SEARCH, an internship program that pairs them with paid positions at Beaumont Hospital, Troy and other local workplaces. Project SEARCH benefits everyone involved - students, employers, and the community at large. Twelve new interns started their positions at Beaumont this past August.
These internships help students gain independence and develop new skills. After a student is hired, Project SEARCH staff work closely with department management to develop on-the-job accommodations, such as visual aids, and identify areas for advancement once the intern has expanded his or her knowledge and skillset.
At present, 82 interns have graduated from Project SEARCH and 60 of these graduates were hired at the end of their internship. Twenty-eight of them stayed at Beaumont. Overall, Project SEARCH boasts an 84 percent retention rate.
For many interns, the experience has helped them learn, grow, and build confidence. Project SEARCH 2018 graduate Jacob Rhen wrote this poem reflecting on his time at Beaumont:
Future
I never knew what I wanted to do I never knew how to live.
I had dreams but that’s all they were.
Frozen.
At a certain point I had no point.
Everything I am is everyone around me.
It’s like a balloon popped inside me.
Everything I was.
Everyone I knew.
But now I have a point.
Know my everything is everything
My everyone anyone.
The future is not anyone else you are the future.
No one can make you anything but you.
A palace of cards.
everyone anyone.
Each heart is a little piece of us and now we have a future.
Make every heart your everything and anyone your everyone.
Project SEARCH is a collaboration between Beaumont Hospital, Troy; Oakland Schools; the Troy School District; Michigan Rehabilitation Services, New Horizons Rehabilitation Services; Bureau of Services for Blind Persons; Community Living Service; Macomb-Oakland Regional Center; and the Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority, and supported by the generous philanthropy of our Beaumont donors, like the Fisher family.