Project SEARCH graduates use experiences on the job

By JEN COWART
Posted 2/20/19

By JEN COWART Editor's note: This is the fourth installment in a yearlong series about the Project SEARCH collaboration between Blue Cross & Blue Shield of RI and the Cranston Public Schools. Jordan Vazquez and Garen Megrdichian graduated from Cranston

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Project SEARCH graduates use experiences on the job

Posted

Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in a yearlong series about the Project SEARCH collaboration between Blue Cross & Blue Shield of RI and the Cranston Public Schools.

Jordan Vazquez and Garen Megrdichian graduated from Cranston High School West in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

After receiving their diplomas, both applied to and were accepted for Cranston Public Schools’ Project SEARCH program, a yearlong internship program modeled on a national initiative.

The program helps to provide career exploration, job training, soft skills and hands-on job experience to participants who have significant intellectual and developmental disabilities and are looking to transition into competitive employment.

Cranston’s Project SEARCH program partners with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, which is home to the program’s classroom and the three internship opportunities each participant receives. Additionally, the participants are able to take part in the day-to-day goings on at BCBSRI, such as utilizing the gym and its classes or eating in the lunchroom with co-workers.

In the years since graduating from the program, Vazquez and Megrdichian have successfully obtained initial jobs and have continued to use the goal-setting skills learned in Project SEARCH to plan for their next career moves.

Vazquez’s internship opportunities included conference room setup, security and janitorial services, while Megrdichian’s internships were in the call center with grievances and appeals, the copy room and in conference room setup.

“In between, if it wasn’t busy, I’d also help in other departments,” Vazquez said.

Megrdichian spoke about his experience in the call center internship.

“It was very busy every day,” he said. “I’d take notes on what had been done and what still needed to be done.”

Both say they enjoyed all of their internship placements and felt they were well prepared to move into the job market upon graduating from Project SEARCH.

“I interviewed last summer with the Cranston Public Schools and did well,” Megrdichian said. “I knew that my experiences would help me when I was out in the workforce, and I’m looking forward to reaching my goals.”

He has since been working in various departments at Cranston Public Schools, with a variety of responsibilities.

“I start by checking in with a time card and I start making the math modules copies, and then I go to human resources and I do filing in alphabetical order,” he said. “I go to plant operations to help with the invoices, and I just go from department to department to do work. I’d like to continue in this job like this for a while longer, and then I’d like to look for another job. My next goal is to update my resume, apply for another job and to think about what my future will be like.”

For Vazquez, a bus monitor for Cranston Public Schools since 2017, his days begin early in the morning when he begins his bus runs for George J. Peters and Stone Hill elementary schools. He has a short break in the afternoon before heading back out for the afternoon run. He also has a job at a local karate studio and has found that he enjoys working with children quite a bit.

“I’ve learned how to work with kids and I always make sure their ride is safe,” he said. “Hopefully in the next year, I can look for a long-term job with more hours and higher pay in other places.”

Vazquez credits other aspects of the Project SEARCH collaboration with BCBSRI as having been beneficial to him as well.

“When I first started with the program in 2015, I participated in Blue Across Rhode Island, where you travel across Rhode Island doing volunteer projects,” he said. “I also participated in a Spanish class called ‘Lunch with Friends,’ which was in Spanish, and we played a game that was like hangman and we had to learn what word it was in Spanish. For me, that was a tough situation and I was nervous, but I stood up and I was the first person to stand up and do it.”

Megrdichian reflected on his initial hesitation in applying for Project SEARCH.

“When I first started, I went on the tour of the program at Blue Cross and I didn’t think I could do it,” he said. “Then I changed my mind and thought that it was the right thing to do. When I came in on the first day, I was very excited. I got to know my colleagues at BCBS and got to know Kelly and Donna [who run the program at BCBS].”

For both graduates, participating in the program required them to utilize RIPTA, the public bus system in Rhode Island, to travel from Cranston to Providence each day.

“At first, I was nervous, but during the summer of 2015 my job coaches at Perspectives taught me and the other interns how to take RIPTA from my area into Kennedy Plaza and then to BCBS. I’ve also gone with the interns from Kennedy Plaza to the Exchange City, and I got so good at knowing which routes go where, and which stops are which, that I even help my grandmother get around.”

Both Megrdichian and Vazquez credit their time in the Project SEARCH program as having had a significant impact on their lives. Both look forward to continuing to utilize the skills learned there as they continue on their career paths.

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