At Shippensburg University, students are helping students with disabilities achieve their dreams in the workplace.

A program called Hire Me has been implemented at SU, and the special education majors are leading the way. The Hire Me program allows kids from Big Spring and Shippensburg high schools to come on campus and learn basic job skills to help them in the future.

Big Spring School District contacted Tom Gibbon, SU’s interim department head of special education , to help the pilot program soar. This program not only helps children with disabilities gain more skills, but it also helps the students at SU.

SU students Casey Bellamy, Rachel Stevenson and Courtney Marchut helped shape this program into something that can grow even larger next year. They worked as job coaches and not only helped guide the students with disabilities in the workplace, but also helped grow their problem solving skills, critical thinking skills and social skills. The job coaches guided them in stocking shelves, cleaning tables and learning skills within the Reisner Dining Hall and the Ceddia Union Building book store.

This program is a beautiful thing, not only for the students with disabilities but also for the workers. Hire Me gives education majors, and anyone interested in helping out with the program, the experience of working with people with disabilities and helps grow a further understanding of how they work, Bellamy said in a presentation.

The experience gives a better outlook on what a student with a disability can do. Too many times, students with disabilities are limited as to what they can do after they are done with schooling. Hire Me gives them a chance to break their limitations, Bellamy said.

The Hire Me program targets the students’ wants and interests and implements them in the workplace. A great example is, if the child is interested in lifting, then SU students can bring them to ShipRec — SU’s recreational facility, according to an employee at ShipRec. This gives them an opportunity to work with something they love and learn how to work in a controlled environment.

Soon after they have mastered the skills or have shown improvement, the job coaches start to let them become more independent. This gives students with disabilities the real life experience of a job, Bellamy said.

With only two job coaches and five students with disabilities this year, Hire Me hopes to expand to five job coaches and 10 students working on new areas on campus.

“I’ve fostered a passion and it has helped me and the students for our future,” said Bellamy.

For the upcoming year, SU is hoping to get students from Shippensburg Area School District, gain student workers and have it be a paid job, while also helping children with disabilities soar.

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