After spending time interning in both the Labor and Delivery and Environmental departments at Licking Memorial Health Systems, Ada Johnson is considering jobs, both at the hospital and in the community. 

But she feels confident that she’ll be ready for both, because of her experience with Project SEARCH.

“Project SEARCH is the greatest!” she said. “It will help me to get a job!”

In its seventh year in Licking County, Project SEARCH gives young adults with disabilities the opportunity to spend an entire school year at LMHS, gaining the training and soft skills they need to transition from school to adult life. Throughout the year they complete three internships in different departments of the hospital.

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

The five interns in this year’s program are finishing up their second rotation and will transition to their final rotation in early March. LCBDD caught up with a few of them earlier this month.

Paige McCracken, a student from Newark High School, said she’s enjoyed the opportunity to intern in Labor and Delivery. 

“It’s been very fun,” she said. “I like helping the moms and seeing the babies!”

Jonah Wentzel-Mowen, a student at Licking Heights High School, spent time in the Purchasing department before starting in the Culinary department. He got to experience a Project SEARCH first, becoming the first intern to help with patients’ meal orders and then pick up their trays,

After Project SEARCH graduation in the spring, he’s hoping to have the opportunity to work in the food service industry and write on the side.