From left to right, Kelli Kobbs, Joey Borja, Mikayla Mingay, Miyoko Gorges.

Think about the first time you rode a bike. Did you hop up on the seat, grip the handlebars, and speed off in a cloud of dust? Of course not! You probably stumbled, tipped, toppled, fell, and maybe even barreled over the handlebars. But, that didn’t stop you. You tried again until you could confidently cruise down the road.

MV Advancements takes that same approach to finding fulfilling employment. Our team wants to give those we support the opportunity to stumble, get up, and try again. Project SEARCH, the newest program at MV Advancements, is built around this principle.

Project SEARCH is an internship program where MVA partners with Friendsview, a retirement community in Newberg, to provide employability training in a variety of vocations and environments. Over nine months, interns work through three different department rotations at Friendsview to develop diverse job skills and explore different career paths.

The two interns, Mikayla Mingay and Joey Borja, are getting started in their second rotation. Mikayla is working in the Therapeutic Recreation Department and Joey is working in the Health Center Dining Department.

The Therapeutic Recreation department organizes and staffs all the events and activities for residents, like ice cream socials on Tuesdays, bingo on Thursdays, and sit and be fit on Fridays.

Being a part of all these activities has been a great learning experience for Mikayla. She creates flyers for each activity. She goes around and invites residents in person. She is at each event to oversee it and interact with attendees.

“We are so excited Mikayla has been able to get in there, and she seems to have a real interest in it,” Kelli Kobbs, Project SEARCH instructor, said. “It’s about getting that interaction with people and making sure the residents have something to do.”

This new role has helped Mikayla come out of her shell and build the confidence to interact with others. Customer service skills are something she struggled with in the past because of a lack of confidence. That is becoming less of an obstacle every day. Not only is she building confidence, but she is becoming invested in the work and has been more dedicated than ever.

Mikayla has even created her own activity where residents can come color and work on other art-related projects. She promoted the new activity, got some initial interest, and the first few sessions had a great turnout. Mikayla is excited to continue developing the activity.

Joey has also been learning a lot in his new rotation in Health Center Dining. In this department, staff prepare meals that are regulated based on the resident’s specific dietary needs. Rather than having a set menu for the day and laying options out on a buffet, as employees do at the Dining Center, individual meals are made for each resident to fulfill their health needs.

Keeping those health needs in mind, each meal has to be prepared with extra care and attention, and Joey has been learning a lot about how to cater to those needs.

“I do some portioning like pouring the juices, and portioning other things,” Joey said.

Portioning is key to the job. To make sure every resident gets what they need, each meal needs to be diligently laid out and measured. This amount of care going into each meal was an adjustment for Joey, but he has made strides to take on the challenge and has been getting better every day.

“I was nervous for the first day, but it went well. Now, I am calm,” Joey said.

As well as spending time in their different departments, interns also spend time every morning and afternoon in the classroom with their Project SEARCH instructors, Kelli Kobbs and Miyoko Gorges.

Over the nine months of the program, Kelli and Miyoko will cover nine different modules to get interns ready for the working world. Modules include skills like teamwork, workplace safety, financial literacy, communication, and self-advocacy.

Most recently, the team was working on communication skills. They made note cards with different job titles to help them practice knowing the chain of command and how to communicate with their boss versus with their coworkers.

Every Friday the group has ‘Health Matters Day’ where they go over all facets of a healthy lifestyle. This includes everything from healthy eating habits to budgeting for grocery shopping every week.

“It takes practice. None of us get it perfect the first time,” Kelli said. “We tried, then we tried again and that is what we allow them to do here.”

That is exactly what Project SEARCH is built for—to allow interns to try, then try again, then try again a third time—and that is why MV Advancements is so proud to lead this program.