Good to Know Newsletter

This spring our Project SEARCH interns at Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport were visited by Secretary Caleb Frostman from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD). The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation is one of the departments within DWD and is an important partner of our Goodwill.

Karina Tweedell (Project SEARCH Instructor) and Abigail Smith (Skills Trainer) gave Secretary Frostman a pre-security tour of the airport. Along each tour stop, he met each of the interns who prepared a speech to share with Secretary Frostman. Each intern had the opportunity to share about their experiences in Project SEARCH, about their previous rotations, and where they were placed to work for third rotation.

Secretary Frostman had a lot of questions for the interns who happily obliged with a well thought out response. Josue A. one of the Airport interns answered the Secretary’s question of how he liked being in Project SEARCH. Josue responded by saying, “I really enjoyed my experience with the Paradies Warehouse. I liked learning how to use a pallet jack.” Josue reflected on how he presented in front of the tour group and had the following thoughts, “I felt confident talking in front of the tour group and thought I did well.”

After the tour, team members from Goodwill, Milwaukee Public Schools, our business liaisons at the airport and DWD sat down together to discuss the process of implementing Project SEARCH at the airport last year, differences between last year and this year, and the program’s successes and challenges.

After reflecting on the Secretary’s visit, Karina had the following thoughts, "It's been an honor to host Secretary Frostman at our unique Project SEARCH site. We appreciated the interest he and his team took in learning about the program and our interns."