In January, Juwan Mountain, an intern in the Project SEARCH program, received an Excellence Award from Environmental Services.
Project SEARCH now is in its second full year on the UNMC/Nebraska Medicine campus, and the interns have been receiving praise for their hard work at jobsite rotations throughout the enterprise.
“The interns help us file, organize, and execute processes throughout the department. We are appreciative of their time and effort put into every task assigned,” said Sarah Frink, a department mentor in the UNMC Department of Family Medicine, one of the med center jobsites.
Mountain’s Excellence Award was inspired when a patient had positive things to say about his performance when they filled out a comment card — he has been cleaning patient rooms for eight weeks. In addition to a certificate, he received a free lunch voucher.
“Being around the patients is nice,” Mountain said. “I like that I can keep myself busy even when I’m by myself cleaning. Project SEARCH is going to allow me to earn a good paycheck.”
Project SEARCH liaison Tara Harper said Mountain should have no trouble obtaining competitive employment at the end of the program.
“He’s an outstanding young man,” she said.
Harper pointed to many accomplishments in January for Project SEARCH. Another intern, Schala McGee, just received an offer of employment from Nebraska Medicine.
“She will continue working in the Clarkson Cafe approximately 25 hours per week,” Harper said. “If you get a chance to go over there for lunch and see her, please stop to congratulate her on being the first Project SEARCH intern this year to get hired on. We are so proud of her hard work and dedication.”