THUNDER BAY — Ken Skinner says a program aimed at teaching students with special needs the skills they need to find meaningful post-graduation employment was long a missing link in the education process.
Skinner, a teacher with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, says he’s already seeing a difference in his students, thanks to Project Search, a partnership with the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Community Living Thunder Bay. The initiative has seen seven students take on unpaid internship positions in a variety of different areas at the hospital.
“For a lot of students, when they leave our high schools, they have their credits and they have the skills that they’ve built, but there isn’t a lot out there for them, especially in the capacity of paid employment. So, I think this is the missing link for them that we’ve been looking for with our high schools,” Skinner said.
“They’re going to learn the skills and independence, being an adult leaving high school and getting a job and continuing on.”
Special needs students typically graduate between the ages of 18 to 21, and Skinner said the seven students chosen to take part in Project Search bought into the program almost immediately.
“We start off with the whole mentality that this isn’t high school anymore and we’ve got to work on our independence and our self-advocacy and we need to be ready to work and have work stamina,” Skinner said.
“The growth we’ve seen since we’ve started in September has been really incredible.”
Students applied for the program and were vetted to ensure they’d be a good fit and were placed in a variety of spots in the hospital, from human resources to housekeeping. They spend the first part of the day discussing the work they’ll be doing, then several hours on site at the hospital and wrap up with another classroom discussion and writing in journals.
Allison Sargent, a superintendent of education with the board, said Project Search was a full year in the making, noting it took quite some time to find a willing community partner able to take on placement students.
In the end, they were one of seven schools across Ontario to do so, after 14 boards were initially chosen for the Ministry of Education-funded project.
The benefits are enormous, Sargent said.
“I think the program for the students themselves is life-changing,” she said.
“They have an opportunity to develop the skills they need to gain employment, but meaningful employment. I also think it’s a really important program for our community. To have these students with intellectual or developmental disabilities working in our hospital, for our community members to see them, for the staff at Thunder Bay regional to see that they have abilities.”
Sargent said recruitment for the 2023/2024 program will begin in March and encouraged parents and students alike to consider signing up.
