Socorro ISD hosts Coffee Connection to connect Project Search students with employers

Socorro ISD hosted a Coffee Connection event that gave students in Project Search an opportunity to meet local employers and showcase the job skills they developed during year-long internships, organizers said.

Project Search supports students with disabilities during their final year of high school by providing workplace training and placement to help them transition into the workforce. The district framed the Coffee Connection as an annual networking initiative to link graduating students with community employers.

An employer and mentor at the event described the programas an initiative started with Borderlex to create local networking opportunities for students. "This is an annual event that we started with Borderlex," the employer said. The speaker said students had completed year-long internships "at the hospitals of Providence East" and that hires from Project Search "have transitioned into our workforce so easily." The employer added that participating helped the hotel diversify its hiring and that the hires had a positive, widespread impact across the property.

A student participant described the practical benefits of the event: "I love how I get to experience new things and it's given me like an opportunity to find jobs to work at," the student said, adding that meeting employees directly made it easier to learn about open positions and follow up with contacts.

Organizers and participants mentioned Empowering Hands and Project Search as partners that helped connect students and employers. No formal vote or policy decision was recorded; the session focused on showcasing student skills and facilitating employer contact.

The event highlighted local employer engagement in school-to-work transition programs; Socorro ISD did not announce next steps or follow-up commitments during the recorded segments.