On National Senior Citizens Day, North Florida School of Special Education interns showed their love and appreciation to some very special senior citizens at Palm Garden Rehabilitation of Jacksonville.
Students from Project SEARCH, an internship program for young adults with intellectual and developmental differences, helped the Life Enrichment department put together goody bags and certificates to show how much the residents at Palm Garden are cared for and admired. Students at the school also wrote and made beautiful cards for the residents. The six students in Project SEARCH delivered the cards and goody bags to the residents on National Senior Citizens Day.
The staff and residents at Palm Garden have been very supportive of NFSSE students and Project SEARCH. The staff, led by Executive Director Jan Davis, have all been extremely generous with their time and expertise and we look forward to a very successful first year!!
About Project SEARCH and NFSSE
This is the pilot year of Project SEARCH for the students at NFSSE. Palm Garden Health and Rehabilitation of Jacksonville has partnered with North Florida School to become the Project SEARCH host business. Six students are currently enrolled in the internship program. They spend every school day at Palm Garden. Students rotate through three different internships to explore a variety of career paths. This year our students have the choice to work in five different departments: laundry, housekeeping, nursing, dietary and Life Enrichment (Activities).
Project SEARCH is a comprehensive program model that began at Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital in 1996 and has grown to 500 programs across 45 states and 9 countries. The Project SEARCH training program is a 9 month internship program for people with developmental and learning differences whose goal is competitive employment. This program offers students total immersion in the workplace which facilitates the teaching and learning process as well as the acquisition of employability and marketable work skills.