Mary Alexander and Julie Brown, and Sydney Welberg at Lincoln High School will receive $2,150 for their proposal, “Hands-On Skills for Community Success.”

With the grant, they will purchase materials for a simulated store, including a conveyor belt, grocery bag rack, scanner, and check-out stand that will be used for job skills training. In the application, they wrote, “Some businesses now require potential employees to successfully complete assessments prior to interviewing for a job. These businesses are popular with teenagers. It gives them the chance to earn money, while being in a structured social setting. These assessments are challenging for individuals who learn differently or who have never had the experience of taking an online assessment. We would like to give our students real-life training to be marketable with competitive employment. A simulated store would allow us to work with students in groups of 2 to 3. This training would include scanning products, bagging groceries or other items, and stocking shelves. We are working to teach our students workplace skills and job specific skills, and this would bridge the current gap we see.”