WENATCHEE, WA - Nothing beats hands-on experience when it comes to gaining insights and building a repertoire of skills. This sentiment Stemilt knows well as four Stemilt Project SEARCH interns have taken on their last three-month internship in the program before graduating this summer. Help me congratulate Cody Shiflett, Hadley Haggard, Ayden Snyder, and Cristian Judd-Dittmer.

“Every intern has been showing increased confidence in their abilities,” Project SEARCH Instructor, Terry Brown, shares when speaking about how the interns have grown over their first two internships at Stemilt. “Hadley is showing more initiative and independence, Ayden has shown improvement advocating for his needs, Cody is working on non-verbal language and teamwork, and Cristian has tremendously improved his communication skills. Each one of them continues to prove to our staff, their families, the community, and most importantly, themselves, that they can do amazing things. We can’t wait to see them graduate this summer!”

Project SEARCH has a multidimensional approach. It provides education and training to young people with disabilities, helping them gain real-life work experience. This is combined with training for employability and independent living to help them successfully transition to productive adult life, a release states. The Project SEARCH program also helps young adults secure competitive employment with these real-life work experiences and training in independent living skills.

According to a press release, in their final internship, Cody will intern at the Stemilt retail store, Hadley at the Wenatchee Valley YMCA Early Learning Childcare, Ayden at Stemilt’s Euclid Production B Packing Line, and Cristian Judd-Dittmer at Confluence Health in their Food Service Department.

Graduation will take place on June 11, 2024, at the Numerica Performing Arts Center in Wenatchee.

Congrats to these amazing interns! May you all enjoy the last leg of this journey as you move toward graduation.