Although Bashu Adhikari attended Watkins Memorial High School and Breanna White attended Licking Valley High School, they are preparing for the future by exploring the same career path. 

Both are in the process of learning more about working in a classroom with students with disabilities as a paraprofessional or teacher’s aide. 

No matter what job they choose, the leadership, work ethic, and willingness to try new things that they learned this year in Project SEARCH will help them along the way. 

In its ninth year in Licking County, Project SEARCH gives young adults with disabilities the opportunity to spend an entire school year at Licking Memorial Health Systems (LMHS), gaining the training and soft skills they need to transition from school to adult life.

Project SEARCH is a partnership between the hospital, the Licking County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, the Licking Regional Educational Service Center and Greenleaf Job Training Services, Inc.

Throughout the school year, selected students complete three internships in different departments of the hospital. 

When asked which internship was his favorite, Bashu had a hard time choosing between the Acute Rehab, Purchasing and Culinary.

When he first started in Purchasing, he had doubts that he would be successful, but it ended up being the experience he liked best. 

“At first I didn’t think I could do it, but when it came to the end, I did it!” he said.

Being in Project SEARCH helped Bashu learn more about professionalism and how to follow through until a job was done. Although he’s excited to graduate from the program on May 21, he said he will miss his fellow interns. 

Breanna said she has also enjoyed making friends and getting to know LMHS staff members. 

She started Project SEARCH in Acute Rehab, then interned in  the Labor and Delivery department before finishing in the Environmental department.

Her cleaning skills were so advanced that she was allowed to clean rooms after patients had been discharged — a first for a Project SEARCH intern. 

She said her favorite part has been being able to interact with patients and brighten their days.