The Center for Student Success-Disability Services will host 50 local high school students who will be grouped with various faculty and staff members from multiple departments as part of a Disability Mentor Day on Wednesday, Oct. 19.

The main goal of the event is to give students with disabilities a chance to see what it is like in the workforce. Faculty mentors will take the students and show them what an average day is like for them, giving them a taste of what their life is like.

“It is high school kids with disabilities and it’s giving them the opportunity to shadow in a professional setting,” said event coordinator Matt Berwick from the Center for Student Success.

The event will take place in the Lawrence Hall Ballroom from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with Dan McCoy, a Paralympic gold medalist in sledge hockey, as the keynote speaker.

From there, the students will go off with their mentors to shadow their jobs. Each mentor will have about three students with them for the job shadow portion of the event, giving the students a very personal look into the lives of the mentors and their daily routines in the workplace.

After about an hour with the mentors, everyone will come back for a social activity to end the day.

This event is taking place in honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which was declared as a nation observance by U.S. congress in 1988. Many events like this one are taking place around the country and with many businesses around the city of Pittsburgh during the entirety of October. PNC, Highmark and the Bayer Corporation have all hosted events like this in the past to great success.

The Center for Student Success is partnering with the Allegheny County office of Vocational Rehabilitation – marking the first time Point Park has hosted this event.

Erin Heintzinger is a dance costumer for the Conservatory of the Performing Arts at Point Park and is participating as a mentor. Heintzinger has plans of showing her mentees around the costume shop, show them the process of building a show and a peek into her storage room.

“I had a traumatic wrist injury in 2002, that nearly lost my complete use of my left hand. I have learned to make accommodations for myself that allow me to continue in this field,” Heintzinger said when asked if she had any personal experiences with those who are disabled.

Disability Mentor Day is a cross-disability event, where students’ disabilities will vary from mobility impairments to cognitive disabilities.

“Mr. Berwick, with the leadership of Ms. Molly McClelland, has developed a wonderful program for high school students,” said Dr. James H. Thomas, an Assistant Provost at Point Park also taking up a roll as a mentor.