First career steps for RRPS graduates
Students with disabilities intern at Presbyterian Rust hospital
A national job training program for students with disabilities began offering its first Rio Rancho-based internships last month.
Project SEARCH, a 30-week student internship program, is collaborating with Presbyterian Rust Medical Center to offer students hands-on experience with multiple departments at the hospital.
The program is in coordination with Rio Rancho Public Schools, the Adelante Development Center, the New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the New Mexico Department of Health and the University of New Mexico Center for Development and Disability.
The program is offered to students ages 18 to 22 who have graduated from either Cleveland High or Rio Rancho High and have continued with each school’s postgraduation program for students with disabilities.
Jerry Reeder, RRPS executive director of special services, said the program’s 11 students had to go through an application and interview process before being accepted.
“We’re lucky enough to have Presbyterian become our partner,” Reeder said. “Currently (the student interns) all graduated from high school but they’re still attending Rio Rancho Public Schools and so we will have another graduation ceremony at the end of this school year.”
Presbyterian Rust is the first and only location where Project SEARCH is offered in Rio Rancho. The program is also available at the University of New Mexico Hospital and Embassy Suites in Albuquerque and the Hilton Garden Inn in Gallup.
The national program first began at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in 1996.
Students enrolled in the program will work three 10-week courses, rotating between shifts with the hospital’s environmental service, food services, the OBGYN clinic, administration, safety and security departments.
“They’re building a career portfolio while they’re here alongside these internships,” said Theresa Griffin Golden, secondary education director with Rio Rancho Public Schools.
“They build a résumé (and) any letters of recommendations they get from department managers that they’re working with all goes in their career portfolio … so that at the end of this they’re prepared with a résumé and know how to seek out and get a job and, hopefully, get gainful employment.”
The student interns meet in a classroom in the hospital each morning before separating to work in their assigned departments alongside each department’s mentor.
Robert McCachren, a Rio Rancho High graduate, took notes last week as his mentor Jude Griego led a safety orientation presentation for new employees. Griego, the safety coordinator at Rust, said he plans to help McCachren improve his public speaking skills so he can lead the orientation presentation without his mentor’s help.
“Teaching him new skills to enter the workforce, I think, is really key,” Griego said. “I want to get him exposure to business meetings, leadership meetings, so he can kind of see how those things are run.”
McCachren said he was glad he enrolled in the program.
“I wanted to apply because the last thing I wanted to do was sit at home and not have anything to do,” he said. “Every day is a new adventure for me.”