The Choice Group

Chantile has been working at Elite Laundry since December 2016.  Before coming to Elite Laundry, she was a student in the Career Development Program at Norview High School.  After high school, Chantile participated as an intern in the Project SEARCH program, a national program that helps young adults with disabilities transition from school to work.  The program is a collaboration between Norfolk Public Schools, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, The Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services and The Choice Group, an employment service organization. Chantile comes in every Tuesday morning and goes through the hangers that have been returned by our customers. Each week there are hundreds of hangers that are sent out with tablecloths.  Many of our customers return these hangers to be reused.  This helps provide a job for Chantile and also keeps them out of the landfill.  These hangers need all of their tags removed as well as the tubes that are dirt...

Isaiah Williams was hired right out of his internship at Project SEARCH.  When first working as a Cafe Porter in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, he learned many essential job skills like interacting with coworkers and customers and following step by step directions, which really helped him in getting comfortable in his work environment and excel at his position! After Isaiah was hired, he was asked to assist other Project SEARCH participants as a mentor.  He was the perfect candidate because he is very skilled and intuitive about what newer interns need work on and where they are succeeding.  His consistency and dependability make him an excellent natural support, teaching the valuable skills that are necessary to be a good employee.  Often times simple things like knowing when to take breaks, or not taking food from the cafeteria are skills not yet learned by young adults transitioning from high school into the workforce. Isaiah loves his job and in his sp...

Jasmine is just like any fun-loving young woman.  She loves shopping, sports (basketball in particular), watching movies and listening to music. When it came to real world job experience, Jasmine expected a lot from herself— she wanted to work.  When Rachel McGregor of The Choice Group started working with her, she applied for a Project SEARCH internship at Sentara General Hospital and got a position in the dish room of their cafeteria.  She loved it! She found that at work there was always a task to be done in the dish room at Sentara and it often became fast paced!  Jasmine has a bright personality, loves to tell jokes and goof off, which didn’t always go over well in the classroom, but her energy translated into an enthusiastic work ethic during her Project SEARCH internship. During her internship, she learned patience.  Being a hard worker she learned to complete tasks in their proper steps as well as patience when working with others.  She also...

Sade Elliot is a hard worker, but very shy.  She began working with The Choice Group’s Rachel McGregor in September of 2014 when she began her Project SEARCH internship at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.  She began working in the Endoscopy Department as an Anesthesia Attendant, which requires a lot of skill! Sade has always been a determined individual.  During a typical work day, she has a wide range of duties to perform.  Her tasks include anything from flipping beds and cleaning monitors to preparing the recovery area, entering patient data and assisting with paperwork.  Her managers quickly took notice of skills during her internship.  They saw that once she starts a task, she will get the job done. When her internship ended, her managers saw how valuable she was to the department and created a position just for her! In addition, she has been asked to be a mentor for other Project SEARCH interns and new employees.  When asked about h...

One of our counselors caught this beautiful sunrise at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital on the way to begin Job Site Training with a client. Our ‪Vocational Counselors‬ interact with a variety of people, places, environments, job sites...you name it! It's one of the reasons this job is so rewarding. It's nice when they get to take a moment and enjoy a view like this!

Many of The Choice Group’s clientele are young adults that are transitioning from high school into employment.  One of the great programs we work with is Project SEARCH.  It’s an internship program where recently graduated students and young adults gain real world job experience, where they might not have had any before.  Participants must apply and interview for the internship positions much like any other job or internship.  It helps them build resumes for future positions as well!  While it’s not guaranteed that each participant will receive a job where they interned, if a student displays a great aptitude for the job, a great work ethic or attitude, often times they will be hired after the internship period is over. That was the case for George!  When George Sanders came to the Project SEARCH program, he already had experience in the stock room, so after applying for an internship at Sentara Heart Hospital, they put him to work managing the 3 diff...

Our very own Ericka Neville from The Choice Group- Hampton Roads is giving the commencement for the most recent graduates from the Project SEARCH internship program at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Project SEARCH is a nation-wide program that enables Career Development post-grads to intern in various work environments. Locally it is operated as a joint effort between the Norfolk Public Schools’ Department of Learning Support and Special Education Services and Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. The ultimate goal is to help those student find future employment opportunities.