Search for success

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Tara Fadenrecht
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Moving from high school to a work environment with little experience or without a basic skillset can be a difficult transition to make. This transition can be even more intimidating for students with disabilities.

Project Search is a program at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, that teaches job, social, financial and many other skills to students with disabilities.

McConnell has teamed up with the Derby School system to recruit students between the ages of 18 and 21 to take part in the 10-month internship program.

The employment rate for students with disabilities graduating from high school averages about 33 percent. The goal of Project Search is to pair students with entry level jobs in which they can gain a skill set and be able to compete in an open job market, said Kelsey Riff, 22nd Force Support Squadron exception family member program family support specialist. 

"Their success rate is at least 60 percent employment," said Riff. "In a lot of areas, including Kansas, it gets closer to 70 percent."

There are currently seven students enrolled in the internship program who spend their time at McConnell, instead of a traditional classroom setting. They are learning skills that will help them succeed in the workplace as well as their personal lives.

Students spend most of the day at their internship sites getting hands-on experience and learning basic skills such as answering phones and getting along with colleagues, said Riff.

The Twister Café here is just one of the many sites that McConnell offers as an internship opportunity. The intern helps to prepare food, clean dishes, and pick up after customers, said Nicki Seeley, Project Search lead teacher.

"These sites have really embraced our students in helping them learn on-the-job skills for future employment," said Seeley. "That's what we are trying to do; teach them transferrable job skills so they can go out in the community and get a job to be independent."

She also said that daily living skills, such as nutrition and personal finance, are subjects that are taught in the classroom. Students learn job interview techniques, how to create a resume and how to fill out an application.

The students learn skills in many different areas of their lives but not all of these skills are tangible.

"The confidence in the students has risen quite a bit," said Seeley. "They have made the transition from high school student to employee and they appreciate that.  They see what they can do on their own, both in the job force and at home." 

Seeley expressed the impact that Team McConnell has on the students and the importance of having the program available here.

"The personnel at McConnell have high standards for professionalism and quality of work," she said. "There is not a better place for our kids to learn those qualities."

McConnell is the first of any military installation to incorporate the use of Project Search.

"I'm hoping that this program will not only just be at this base, but that it will spread to other bases and give military children, who have disabilities, a better shot at getting a job and having a more fulfilled life," she said.