They learn valuable skills such as dressing for success, arriving to work on time, and interacting with supervisors and mentors. Students strengthen communication skills and gain confidence in their abilities. Employers, in turn, gain access to future loyal employees and increase disability awareness in the workplace. Most importantly, students learn through their own experiences that they have what it takes to enter the high tech workforce. Site visits, mentoring, shadowing, and paid summer internships all provide students with opportunities to learn more about careers in scientific, engineering and technology-related fields.
Students also work at state agencies, local city governments and local companies.
Working with teachers, parents, and mentors, students develop career goals and take the steps necessary to achieve them. The program is in over 18 states and is emerging in 10 more. It is estimated that the Program serves at least 1,000 high school students with disabilities a year, nationwide. They are designed to address the alarmingly high unemployment rate of minorities with disabilities. 1 U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Technology Policy.