GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) -- An initiative called Project Search is helping students with disabilities transition better into the real world, and it’s changing lives in our community. For one group of students, their future got even brighter on Friday through this project. A group of fiv e students from western Guilford County schools was surprised with their acceptance to Project Search. The students have intellectual and developmental disabilities and have accomplished things they never imagined would be possible before participating in the program. That is why a smile did not leave Julius Davis Jr.’s face as he signed his name on the acceptance letter for Project Search. “It feels really great,” Davis said. Tears filled up his parents’ eyes from joy. “We are very proud of him,” said Teresa Soto, Davis’s mom. Davis was diagnosed with high-functioning autism when he was 3 and a half years old. His parents look back at how much he has grown through Project Search this past year. “Project Search helped ... him understand that they can work with his speech impediment in their work environment in ways that he can feel comfortable and not feel like they’re going to fire me sooner or later because I can’t communicate like a normal person,” Soto said. Along with Davis, four other students with intellectual or developmental disabilities were provided the opportunity to work at the Cone Health Moses Cone Hospital through an internship. There, they will perform their roles such as folding the scrubs, prepping food and cleaning the hospital. Although the internship is at the hospital, Jennifer Gustin, the project search instructor at CHMCH, says the program also provides opportunities at other places of employment. “Our goal isn’t to get everyone employed at the hospital ... It’s to learn those skills so they can transfer them at another job site,” Gustin said. Project Search is geared towards workforces and career development models that can benefit young adults with disabilities in the workplace and the community. To Molly Matich, who has taught Davis over the years, it is a bittersweet moment to watch him leave her classroom, but she is excited to see him successfully transition into the real world. “It’s a huge opportunity for them because it is more mainstream focused on what their abilities are at the job sites,” Matich said. Like Matich, his parents are grateful for the doors the program opened for him. “This project helps people see what’s by heart and not by eyes because that’s what matters more,” Soto said. According to Gustin, there were 22 students accepted in the program this year in Guilford County, which was the biggest number of students since Project Search started. The students will be trained and begin work in different locations throughout the county after their high school graduation. ...read more read less