How to help special-needs kids adjust to the real world, once they transition out of high school, has always been challenging.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has a program which places those students into jobs, including various positions at Zoo Miami.
On Tuesday, we saw Adrian preparing food for the animals, Faith helping visitors feed the lorikeets, and Danny working in the gift store.
“I wanted to work at the zoo because I love animals, you know?” said Danny Rojas, as he showed us what he does at the store.
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They’re all working at Zoo Miami as part of a school district program called Project Victory.
“So they end up becoming part of the staff, so they get that sense of being a staff member working with others,” said Angie Torres, the assistant superintendent for exceptional education. “Programs like this give our students that confidence to be able to do it while they’re here at the site under the under the care of us and then they’re able to apply those skills once they transition out of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.”
Faith Palmeiro was eager to show us what she does in the lorikeet exhibit.
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"No touching or petting them because they will bite but the same thing goes for the giraffes,” she explained, drawing a connection between vastly different animals.
The on-the-job experience is already evident.
“You know there’s some things you can learn in a classroom, there’s other things you learn by interning, by being part of real life, and that’s what the zoo does, we have so many different venues within the zoo, horticulture, botany, sales, animal science, nutrition, all these things make the zoo what it is and they get to work in all of those different departments,” said Ron Magill of Zoo Miami.
Project Victory has more than 300 students placed in jobs right now all over the county, but the kids who work at the zoo get the added bonus of wildlife inspiration.
“They certainly get inspired by being in a different environment, when they see these animals, and they think they’re doing something to contribute to the well-being of these animals, and they are!” said Magill.
He pointed out that the Project Victory employees bring pride and enthusiasm with them every day.
“It’s just an amazing thing we do here at the zoo, we get to work with all these animals and see how they eat, what they need to get fed, and it’s just so incredible how you see it,” said Adrian Mojica. “It makes me happy like every day, lets’ get to it.”
The Project Victory students give back as much as get from their zoo experience.
