South Central Regional Medical Center, Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and Jones County School District proudly announce the completion of the 2021-22 year of Project SEARCH. A graduation ceremony was held Thursday, May 19 at South Central Regional Medical Center, to celebrate Kaitlyn Wallace. Wallace was surrounded by immediate family, instructors and workforce representatives to celebrate the achievement.  

Kaitlyn Wallace, 2021-22 Graduate of Project SEARCH

The program, which was started by the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, is designed to help students with intellectual disabilities move into the workforce after high school.

For the past year, Kaitlyn has worked her way through rotations in different departments of SCRMC. Along with on-site job duties, interns were taught business etiquette, interview skills, personal presentation and completed community service. During her time at SCRMC, Kaitlyn assisted in Environmental Services and Radiology.

Penny McNeer, Vice President of Human Resources, stated, “We are extremely proud of how much progress Kaitlyn has made throughout the year. We have all learned a lot this year and we look forward to following their progress in the coming months as she begins the next chapter in life. Kaitlyn has valuable skills to offer our community.”

South Central is excited to welcome the 2022-23 Project SEARCH class. McNeer stated, “We have 4 students currently enrolled for the upcoming year.”

Project SEARCH is a national program designed to help students with disabilities obtain competitive community-based employment is expanding to south Mississippi through a strategic collaboration of the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, South Central Regional Medical Center and the Jones County School District.

Brandi Nickles, MDRS representative stated, “Currently, we have 13 project sites in Mississippi and we will add 5 additional sites in the fall.”

Project SEARCH SCRMC offers students from the Jones County School District a ten-month internship position.  This opportunity allows the students to work on employability and functional skills in several areas including team building, technology, communication, job search skills and money management.

Kaitlyn Wallace (center) surrounded by representatives from SCRMC, JCSD and MDRS.