Dunlap High School STEP

First day of school and we already have students hard at work. Adam is doing his job in the DHS kitchen making the grab n go’s for lunches and Connor is helping today. This job includes putting a sandwich, a fruit, a veggie, a cheese stick, and a bag of chips into a baggie and then taping it shut. He has to separate the bags into different bins for the different lunch periods and then puts everything away in the fridge/freezer.

Last week Adam was working hard at Scott’s Prairie with his job coach, Mr. Khan. He was working on planting and moving around the succulents in the greenhouse. Great job Adam!

Remember Kendall and her interview last week? Guess what? She got the job!! She started today! Congrats Kendall. Thank you Smooth Sips for giving her a chance! She won’t let you down. Now, go visit Kendall at Smooth Sips and go order yourself a smoothie or coffee!

Let’s wish this young woman good luck today on her interview! Her first interview for her first job! Good luck Kendall!

Meet Tanishq. Tanishq started working last week at Dunlap School District #323 in the district office. He wanted an office job and we made it happen. His job duties include shredding, copying, organizing, refilling paper in copier, filing, and light cleaning. Good job Tanishq!

This is Adam! Adam has been in the STEP program since March of 2021. He is the most improved STEP student this school year!! This school year he worked as an intern at Dunlap Community Fire Protection District with the great Shawna!! She has took Adam under her wing and has helped him with all different jobs around the firehouse including cleaning, washing the trucks, sorting supplies, etc. Today was Adam’s last day at work for the school year and they celebrated by being a fireman for a day! He had such a fun day at work! Thank you to Shawna, Chief Jim, and Brandon for opening up your firehouse to students like Adam!

This is Zachary. Zachary has been in the STEP program at Dunlap High School since the fall of 2020. Zachary has been part-time employed at Peoria Production Solutions since March of 2021. He is a great worker there and enjoys packaging parts. He especially loves the stretches there and when he “blasts off.” When you ask him if he likes his job at PPS, his response is, “I don’t like my job, I LOVE my job at PPS.” Thank you to everyone at PPS for loving Zachary for who he is and for giving him this opportunity!

Meet Robert. Robert has been in the STEP program for several years. He has had several different work experiences. This year he has had the pleasure in working with Mrs. Forsythe at Ridgeview Elementary School as a library assistant. He cleaned, organized, and shelved books. He also helped at the Dunlap Village Office garage. Starting in January he has worked at Dunlap Middle School helping the custodians, Mr. Bird and Mrs. Johnson, sweep up the lunchroom, clean the teacher’s lounge, wipe tables, and put tables away. He also helps Mrs. Frye and the kitchen staff date and put away her canned foods in the pantry. We thank all of these amazing individuals and schools for helping Robert learn so much this school year.

This is Nicholas. He started in the STEP program in March of 2021. His first job was working with Mr. Bob at Dunlap Motors. He worked there until May of 2021. Nicholas really wanted to work in the library the next school year so we got him a job working in the library at Hickory Grove Elementary School with Mrs. Dean. They were a great team and he loved it there. He did so well that we thought he could move on to a paid job. Nicholas started working at Peoria Production Solutions in April of 2022. He currently works fours days a week in the afternoons. His favorite job is packaging spark plugs. Thank you to Mr Bob and Mrs. Dean for providing him with vital job experiences so he could eventually get that paid job.

This is Kelly. She works at one of our training sites at Creative Soul-Create, Connect, Shop. She has been working there since January and will continue in the summer. Today, Kelly brainstormed with the owner, Ms Celeste, to create a sign message. This message was much more complex than her previous ones when she started helping with the sign boards last month. We want to thank Celeste for hosting Kelly and for teaching her valuable work skills.

Derek has been working at Louisville Slugger Peoria since September of 2021. He started working two days a week with the field crew and now is working a third day organizing and setting the Pro Shop. Derek loves working at Louisville Slugger and the STEP program thanks Slugger for their guidance and acceptance of Derek. He has learned a lot and will continue growing as an employee of Louisville Slugger. Louisville Slugger Sports Complex

Secondary Transitional Experience Program is a work experience program contracted through the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Division of Rehabilitation Services. The program helps students with disabilities prepare to transition to employment and community participation during and after high school. Students typically are employed at a job site in the community and are either paid employees or in an unpaid internship at a training site.

Dunlap High School STEP updated their business hours.