NASA News
National
Aeronautics and
Space
Administration
John F.
Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy
Space Center, Florida 32899
AC
321-867-2468
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
For Release:
Oct. 19, 2004
Amber
Marek
Kennedy Space
Center, Fla.
(Phone:
321/867-2468)
KSC RELEASE:
81-04
KSC EMPLOYEES MENTORING
LOCAL STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Kennedy
Space Center is joining the National Disability Mentoring Day observance on
Wednesday, Oct. 20, by providing local students with disabilities an opportunity
to spend a day
with the KSC/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Family. The event is in support of National
Disability Employment Awareness Month.
NASA civil
service and contractor employees are matched with students and take them to
their work sites, providing hands-on, enriching experience for the student.
Students learn first-hand about different types of careers, make the connection
between school and work, and target career paths.
Employees selected to mentor a student
attend a brief orientation presented by the local Disability Mentoring Day
coordinator and a member of the Disability Awareness Action Working Group
(DAAWG). Students and mentors will
meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday during a Kick-off Celebration at the Florida Space
Authority. The group will
participate in an Estes rocket launch.
Goals of the event include providing
internship and employment opportunities for people with disabilities; promoting
disability as a central component of diversity recruitment for a more inclusive
workforce; dispelling employers' concerns about hiring people with disabilities;
increasing confidence among students and job seekers with disabilities; and
launching a year-round effort to foster mentoring opportunities, according to
Cheryl Bartoszek, a local Disability Mentoring Day
coordinator.
Statewide, Disability Mentoring Day is
supported by a collaborative effort between The Able Trust and the Florida
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, along with a Florida State Planning
Committee.
National Disability Mentoring Day began
in 1999 as part of a White House effort to increase the profile of National
Disability Employment Awareness Month, celebrated every
October.
For information about KSC DAAWG, visit:
http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/nasa-only/groups/daawg/index.htm
To learn more about Florida Disability
Mentoring Day, visit the Able Trust Web site:
To learn more about National Disability
Mentoring Day, visit:
-end-
