Independence Academy senior Ali has built bright prospects for his future by constructing a large number of job skills through Lincoln Public Schools.
The loss of his sight hasn’t deterred the soon-to-be LPS graduate from compiling a strong resume for future employers. He has completed multiple tasks across Lincoln with the Independence Academy (IA) program and the Project SEARCH initiative. He has learned how to operate a towel-folding machine at a hotel, clean microwaves and windows at Bay High Focus Program and prepare lettuce for Lincoln Children’s Zoo visitors to feed to giraffes.
Ali said he enjoys having opportunities to work with people. He is currently participating in a Project SEARCH internship at Embassy Suites in downtown Lincoln. At the beginning of one morning shift, he greeted multiple co-workers by name as he moved throughout the back hallways of the hotel.
“I really like it,” Ali said. “I like being around people. These jobs are fun to do.”
Ann Hilton is a teacher of the visually impaired at Independence Academy and multiple other LPS sites. She first met Ali as a fourth grader when she was a paraeducator at Belmont Elementary School. She reunited with him two years ago at Independence Academy and has been impressed with his maturity and goal-setting abilities.
“He’s definitely been future-oriented, trying to take what he’s done and how he’s going to apply that to his future when he leaves,” Hilton said. “He and I have had really good conversations.”
Kim Hovendick has worked with Project SEARCH for 13 years and is helping Ali this year. The Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Nebraska Department of Education’s Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and Assistive Technology Partnership (ATP) programs, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Resources’ Division of Developmental Disabilities and many Nebraska school districts are Project SEARCH partners.
The program’s goal is to help students like Ali make successful transitions from school to adult life. LPS students work at the Embassy Suites, which is one of 11 Project SEARCH job sites across the state. Hovendick said Ali has been a standout worker.
“He’s willing to do many things,” Hovendick said. “He gets along really well with everybody. He likes to crack jokes with hotel guests and hotel employees, and he’s concerned for his peers and other co-workers here.”
Ali has mapped out the floor plan of all nine levels of the hotel. He uses a white cane to identify different features of each room he is in and where he needs to go for his next task.
“It’s pretty easy to navigate, but at first, I needed to practice,” Ali said. “The year before I came here, I practiced a couple of times. Now, I know where pretty much everything is, at least the most important spaces.”
Ali schedules his own rides to the hotel to begin working at 8:30 a.m. each weekday. He started his internship by learning many housekeeping and laundry jobs. One of his tasks was to place towels on a machine that automatically folded them. He searched for the tag on each towel, placed it in the correct position on a conveyor belt and listened for it to come back ready to go in a rolling container.
His second educational rotation involved folding keycard packets and filling snack packs for guests. He is currently working with hospitality activities such as polishing silverware, filling water goblets and cleaning up the ballroom after events.
Hovendick said the workplace immersion program has provided a firm foundation for Ali’s future.
“Ali has started to become a lot more independent,” Hovendick said. “He is trying things that he would never have tried at the beginning of the year.”
Ali said his previous Independence Academy experiences have also paid many dividends. Before beginning his time at the hotel, he worked at Bay High Focus Program and Lincoln Children’s Zoo. Both places gave him confidence and built leadership skills that he is now using with Project SEARCH. He is beginning to prepare for the next phase of life as a job candidate.
“My teacher helped me with polishing my resume and doing a job interview,” Ali said. “I did that a couple of weeks ago. I did a mock interview with three people, and that went really good.”
Hilton said Ali has become a role model for many other Independence Academy students because of those positive traits. She felt he will continue to make a significant impact on the lives of many people throughout Lincoln.
“When I’m at other IA sites, if I mention Ali, or if kids know that I’m a teacher for the visually impaired and know Ali, they’ll ask about him,” Hilton said. “They want to know how he’s doing, what he’s doing and ‘Tell him I said hi.’ It’s pretty neat.”
Congratulations, Ali!
We wish you the best in your future endeavors.
We are thankful our educators could help you Launch at LPS!
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