School District Five celebrates Project SEARCH Class of 2018 graduates

For Immediate Release – June 1, 2018

School District Five celebrates Project SEARCH Class of 2018 graduates

COLUMBIA – Lexington-Richland School District Five held its graduation for Project SEARCH students on June 1 at Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge.

In August 2016, the district partnered with the Arc of the Midlands, Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge and South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation to launch the first Project SEARCH site in the Midlands. A national initiative, Project SEARCH is a business-led school-to-work transition model, developing internships for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are in their last year of high school.

Six students were among the graduating class of 2018.  For the third year in a row, all students from the Project SEARCH have earned employment through the program.

“Our goal in School District Five is to ensure that all students are prepared for the future and ready when they transition out of our schools,” said Dr. Angie Slatton, the district’s director of special services. “We are so proud to provide Project SEARCH to special needs students in School District Five and know that we are helping them make a smoother transition into careers and life after graduation.”

Interns completed internship rotations in a variety of departments throughout the hospital. Placement options included positions in the Intensive Care Unit, Imaging, the Medical/Surgical Floor, Environmental Services, Sterile Processing, Food and Nutrition Services, Pre-Operative/Post-Anesthesia Care, Supply and Distribution, the Laboratory, and Engineering. Students engaged in an inclusive work environment and learned department specific skills from their teams. They were included in department trainings, meetings and celebrations to experience every aspect of being an employee.

School District Five serves nearly 2,000 students with disabilities annually, providing a variety of programs for K-12 students. The Project SEARCH initiative is just one of the programs the district has implemented to ensure students with special needs and families have access to services. In May, four students with special needs graduated from the district’s new BOOM (Building Occupational Opportunities in the Midlands) program, which provides a semester-long construction course at Midland Technical College. The district also hosted monthly workshops for parents and a Job Olympics for students with special needs this school year.

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