Bon Secours St. Francis recently celebrated the graduation of seven Project SEARCH interns.
Project SEARCH provides internships to high school students with disabilities to prepare them for employment after graduation. A special ceremony was held May 12 at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena for the 2025 interns who completed the program.
Bon Secours St. Francis Downtown partners with Greenville County Schools and South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation to offer the program. Project SEARCH has helped 80% of its interns gain employment after graduation since the program launched in 2017.
The interns gain hands-on work experience through hospital internship rotations. Allison Fleahman, workforce coordinator at Bon Secours St. Francis, said hospital internships help build transferable skills, boost confidence and foster independence.
“They leave the program not only better prepared for the workforce, but with a stronger sense of self-worth and the belief that they can succeed in any environment,” Fleahman said.
Throughout the program, the interns also receive daily instruction in daily living skills, functional literacy, functional math, job search skills, self-advocacy, soft skills, communication and technology. The students learn in the Joseph J. Pazdan Project SEARCH Center, which includes classroom instruction and training spaces.
For more information about Project SEARCH, visit blog.bonsecours.com/news/project-search-program-feature-greenville.
