At Greenville County Schools, nutrition team partners with special ed department to offer job training

To help prepare high-schoolers for potential careers in hospitality, special education students at Greenville County Schools have the opportunity to work as kitchen interns in the district’s Roper Mountain Science Center, a hands-on learning facility.

These interns, who are treated as full-time employees, help prepare and serve meals to those visiting the facility on field trips.

Over the course of nine weeks, participants learn knife skills, cooking skills, food safety and sanitation, said Amanda Drew, kitchen manager at Roper Mountain. They also study for and eventually take the ServSafe exam.

“Our goals are to help these students become employable, and we want them to be able to be good strong competitive employees in the job market and be able to get the jobs they want,” said Drew. “They’re amazing students, and most of them take up really well with the food and nutrition type of environment.”

Staging for success

This internship is specifically for students who are unable to earn a diploma and instead work toward an employability credential, said Joe Urban, director of food and nutrition services.

It’s part of a larger endeavor at Greenville County Schools—the G initiative—which helps students leave the district career or college ready, he said.

The interns study for and eventually take the ServSafe exam. / Photo courtesy of Greenville County Schools

As the day starts, the six interns put on their uniforms and join kitchen staff in food prep, such as washing fruit and panning hamburgers.

“A lot of them are a little intimidated by a big commercial kitchen, working on a team, because a lot of them have been kind of withdrawn and keeping to themselves,” said Drew. “So day one, we jump in as a team, and they learn pretty quick to adapt to that. But that has been one of the biggest challenges, is helping them build that confidence on the first day.”

In spite of such challenges, interns demonstrate a lot of improvement, she said.

“For me, that’s one of the most rewarding parts of this program—being able to watch these young people develop into amazing employees and awesome friends. The six of them become a really strong team together. It’s just awesome,” she said. “We do evaluations throughout the learning process so you can see a great improvement from start to finish.”

Lauren Couchois, culinary specialist for food and nutrition services at Greenville County Schools, said the program has been life changing for both the students and staff involved.

Program interns serve food to students visiting Roper Mountain Science Center on field trips. / Photo courtesy of Greenville County Schools

“A student came to us, and we were told, ‘He’s nonverbal, he’ll give you a thumbs up or thumbs down, hopefully he’ll learn something from this.’ Well, within the second week of working with us, he just stopped mid-task and said, ‘I just love being here,’ and we were all blown away,” she said. “These kids are often overlooked, not given the chances that they deserve, and sometimes they have the skills they don’t even realize.”

Traci Hogan, assistant superintendent of the district’s special education department, agreed.

“The adults have learned just as much, if not more, than the students do,” Hogan said. “I think many people have preconceived opinions about when you hear the word disability, what that expectation is, and I would say that hands down these partnerships are letting our students prove that they can reach the expectations that we set for them and often go beyond them. And it really makes for a better community—it certainly gives them the skill set they need to go and be employable.”

Surpassing the original goal

The program began last year, and since then, 30 students have participated.

Urban said the initial goal was to find employment for at least one student from each group, but in reality, many of the interns have become successfully employed.

Urban said Greenville County’s nutrition team hired five or six of the first-year participants, and a few students have accepted full-time positions in the district’s building services department.

“A quarter of the people who went through our program last year now have full-time jobs in the district that include life insurance, health insurance and retirement benefits,” he said. “What we’re training these people to do, we’re showing it works because we’re hiring them ourselves. And we’re not hiring them because they’re our kids, we’re hiring them because we know they can do the job and we have a need, and they’re filling it.