"Potential is limitless": Program helping youth with disabilities find meaningful employment
PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. (CBS) -- A program inside the Phoenixville Hospital is helping youth with disabilities find meaningful employment.
Ani Hovsepian spends half her days at the hospital creating videos, "Editing photos, videos that's what I want for my career. Like to be in the film industry."
The other half she spends in a classroom dedicated to KenCrest Learning Center students.
Mark Hauck teaches the class, "The growth has been tremendous, they've been working very hard. We work every day at a lot of different skills that they can apply to their future careers."
KenCrest employment director Jessica Birkmire oversees Project SEARCH. It's a school-to-work internship program for youth living with disabilities. Birkmire says, "It's all about identifying a person's skill set, their interests, and what their potential is. Not just the limitations of what people perceive is their capacity because really their potential is limitless."
KenCrest has partnered with the Phoenixville Hospital on the program since 2010.
Rich Newell, president and CEO of Phoenixville and Pottstown hospitals says, "We are healthcare providers. We work with our communities and we have an opportunity to advance individuals and especially our youth, it's kind of a no-brainer, it just makes sense."
Students in the program take on jobs from the hospital's gift shops to marketing. And we can tell they are fast learners who know what they want. Hannah Moravinski says, "I work at employee health and what I do there is I basically organize files with ADHD-hyper focus."
Ani Hovsepian says, "I like interacting with coworkers, I like talking to people."
Hauck's class graduated last Thursday. Now as graduates, they can go on to enjoy meaningful careers, thanks to the lessons they learned in the class.