American Association of People with Disabilities

Workplace mentors share with students

Princeton, WV - Career opportunities and technological assistance for people with disabilities will be highlighted at upcoming Disability Mentor Day activities at Mercer Elementary School.

Events have been scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 18, at the Mary Alice Kaufman Student Life Center. The center is located behind Mercer Elementary.

The day will begin with inspirational messages from gues speaker Deborah Pittman, a Bluefield State College computer science professor and the West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services' 2004 Rehabilitant of the Year, and Verionica Brooks, a licensed occupational therapist with Princeton Community Hospital, state officials said.

Benefits planning, a wrk incentive program, and technological assistance will be discussed by Renee Reedy of the Center of Excellence in Disabilities at West Virginia University.

A job fair will follow to give students an opportunity to ask employers questions about their companies and discuss possible job-mentoring assignments. There also will be various displays of modern technological aids available to help people with disabilties work and live independently.

Co-sponsors of local activities are the USDA Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Princeton and the West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services.

Employers planning to participate include the WV Division of Rehabilitation Services; USDA Forest Services-Princeton Forestry Science Lab: Wal-Mart Supercenter in Princeton; Coldwell Banker American Real Estate; Princeton Health and Fitness Center; City of Bluefield WV Police Department; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Other Participants include USDA Rural Develpment; WV Department of Transporation-Division of Highways; Concord University Office of Disability Services; Bluefield State College Educational Opportunity Center; Mercer County Opportunity Industries; Mercer County Technical Education Center; Princeton Community Hospital; Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry Wood Education and Resource Center; Planet Xtreme Teen Center; West Virginia State Parks; Picture This Photography; Echo Star Satellite, LLC: Region 1 Workforce West Virginia; WV Department of Environmental Protection; and BB&T Bank of Princeton.

For more information, contact Melody Akers at the USDA Forest Service, 431-2706 or Jeanette Ratcliffe, branch manager, Division of Rehabilitaton Services' Princeton office, 425-4256.