Noah started off his senior year with an internship at Meals on Wheels where he excelled in his tasks due to his focus and dedication to his work. As a second internship, he asked to work at a school so he could have more interactions with children. In March, he began as a kitchen assistant with Miss Kelly at All Saints Catholic Academy. They proved to be a great team. As a focused worker, he assisted by packaging up the meals for the kids so that lunch was ready in time. He learned how to tray up foods and then serve them up in individual serving sizes. Miss Kelly taught him as much as he wanted to learn about meal prep, proper food storage and temperature, use of digital cash register, as well as how to coax the kids to make healthy choices.

In May, Noah graduated from the College Experience at The College of Saint Rose in May 2024. He was so proud!

At the end of All Saints’ school year, Noah was offered a job in the kitchen for the following school year. He was excited to accept the position. This school year, Noah and Miss Kelly got right back into the swing of things, working together at the start of the school year to prepare and serve nutritious lunches to the students. This year, Noah has started to work more with preparing the food items to be put in and removed from the oven, making sure items are cooked for the needed time. He has become more independent at cleaning up the kitchen at the end of the shift in alignment with standard food safety protocols and continues to enjoy using the cash register to punch in student IDs. He is always looking to learn more tasks and build upon his skillset.

His job coach, Aidan, describes Noah as a “motivated, hardworking, and constantly growing young man. Noah takes his employment very seriously and has become independent and self-sufficient employee. It has been especially rewarding to watch Miss Kelly and him develop a professional relationship marked with compassion, understanding and teamwork. Noah knows what he needs to do when he gets to work, and gets it done with a smile on his face. He loves to interact with the children, and it has been great to see the students start to know him on a first name basis and wait for him to serve them their lunches for the day. I am so proud of how far Noah has come and continue to look forward to working with him. I know he will continue to progress and grow in the years to come!”

The College Experience is a 2-year campus-based residential program (with an optional third year) that, in partnership with Russell Sage College and Living Resources, provides young adults with disabilities the support, skills, confidence, internships and work experiences they need to gain independence. To learn more, click here.