We love to see participants land the exact job they envisioned for themselves, so we couldn’t be happier to share that Taliyah has been hired to join the Dining Team at St. Ignatius Nursing Home, where she’ll get to continue the work she loves of helping take care of older adults. What makes Taliyah’s story particularly special is that she is a former intern at St. Ignatius who has now been hired by them as a result of the great job she did as an intern.

 “We are so excited for Taliyah because this is exactly what she wanted to do!” said Kelly C., CIS’ Director of Operations.

Taliyah’s journey to St. Ignatius began in 2018-2019, when she was an intern with Project SEARCH, a CIS-affiliated program providing job training and real-life work experience to youth with disabilities.  After interning for 10 weeks at the School District of Philadelphia, she was hired on at the District in an Office Assistant position.

A testament to her strong work ethic, Taliyah decided to take on an internship at St. Ignatius in addition to her job at the School District, going to St. Ignatius several days a week after getting out of work. That journey culminated in July when Taliyah walked through the familiar doors of St. Ignatius, but this time as a full-time employee.

“Taliyah is so great,” said Kori, Manager of Business Development at CIS. “We are hugely proud of her.”

Kori not only praised Taliyah for turning her internship at St. Ignatius into a full-time position, but also for her leadership, noting that Taliyah took on a mentorship role to other Project SEARCH interns: “When she finished a workday [at the School District],  she would come to the Project SEARCH room and help out with whatever the students were working on.” In the photograph accompanying this article, Taliyah can be seen mentoring another Project SEARCH participant back in 2019.

Join us in congratulating Taliyah on her new position, and for being a guiding light to other Project SEARCH participants thinking about their own employment goals.