UAMS Celebrates Ninth Project SEARCH Graduating Class
| On their way to their May 16 graduation ceremony, the Project SEARCH graduating Class of 2022 interns provided valuable assistance to UAMS this winter during the omicron surge of COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we asked UAMS departments about placing one of our interns with them, each one said, ‘Yes, please.’ They were under a lot of stress with individuals out sick or quarantined from their departments. Our interns were able to help them fill in where they could,” Le Ann Robertson, UAMS Project SEARCH instructor/coordinator, said after the graduation.
Project SEARCH Arkansas ACCESS Initiative in partnership with Arkansas Rehabilitative Services (ARS) is a nine-month internship program for young adults with developmental disabilities. Interns participate in the program and work in various departments with the goal of gaining necessary skills to obtain competitive employment. Six of the seven of this year’s graduates already have secured employment in a variety of occupations.
Dorian Camp speaks at the graduation ceremony. Each of the seven graduates briefly addressed the audience at the graduation.
“I am convinced the world is going to be measurably better as these seven young men and women leave Project SEARCH and go out into the world,” said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA.
The chancellor also noted that the interns completing the program were the ninth graduating class, and that UAMS in October 2021 received national recognition for its long-term commitment to Project SEARCH . The National Rehabilitation Association gave the university The Roger Carter Award of Excellence, which honors an employer who has demonstrated exemplary achievement in the recruitment, hiring and retention of persons with disabilities throughout all levels within a company.
UAMS was the first employer in Central Arkansas to receive the award and was the first university-affiliated Project SEARCH program in the state, Patterson said.
About 80% of the 89 interns who have gone through the program at UAMS have found jobs waiting for them on graduation.
Patterson quoted a statement from one of the graduate’s parents: “Nine months ago, we dropped off a quiet, reserved teenager. Today, Project SEARCH delivered back to us a vocal, stronger young man eager about life.”
Intern Dorian Camp showed some of that confidence and his own sense of humor when he, like the other interns, had a chance to speak at the ceremony.
“I was responsible for writing tickets on illegally parked cars,” he said. “My favorite part was writing a $100 ticket on a car parked illegally in a handicap spot near the Emergency Department as my very first ticket. I am not making that up.”
Each intern did three rotations in different jobs over the nine months, and in addition to Parking Operations, Camp also worked in patient transport and in the pharmacy warehouse.
“I knew I was going to learn a lot going into this program, but I still learned more than I anticipated. I’m very thankful for that,” he said.
Tanner Chapman, right, was the keynote speaker. Project SEARCH graduates, left, are Zachary Ingram, Eli Falls and Gerald Thomas. Thomas has been hired for a full-time job at Cintas where Chapman is the senior human resources manager.Evan Lewis
In addition to Camp, the other members of the Class of 2022 are Olumide Amole, Eli Falls, Kate Fussell, Zachary Ingram, Gerald Thomas and John Hunter Tibbs.
Tanner Chapman, MBA, was the keynote speaker at the ceremony. He is the senior human resources manager at Cintas Corp. in Maumelle, an employer partner of the program.
During a tour of Cintas, Chapman introduced the Class of 2022 to an alumnus of Project SEARCH who works there.
“Watching him providing feedback to the interns going by on the tour, he showed them what he does and how he feels working there and being included,” he said. “It was one of the biggest joys of my year so far.”
Last week, a member of this year’s graduating class became a co-worker. Thomas started a full-time job with the company, which provides to businesses products and services such as uniforms, cleaning and restroom supplies, testing and safety courses.
“Once they get that job, we see that they find an independence within themselves,” said Jenny Adams, Project SEARCH Arkansas, ACCESS Initiative director. “They realize, ‘Now that I have met this goal. I can meet other goals that I have too.’ They step up and take those next steps. They are taking driver’s tests and beginning to get cars. They are getting their own apartments and even getting married. We have changed lives as a program.”