DOD program will fund jobs at Edwards for students with disabilities Published Oct. 19, 2011 By Diane Betzler 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Base organizations looking to hire people next summer and local college students with disabilities looking for work can both benefit from a Department of Defense program that will fund positions at Edwards filled by students with disabilities. The Workforce Recruitment Program for college students with disabilities provides funding for students with disabilities with public, private and government employers to fill temporary summer jobs and also permanent positions. Brenda Watts, Edwards Affirmative Employment Program manager, said that each year DOD provides funding to fill approximately 350 WRP summer positions worldwide. To be eligible to participate in the program an applicant must have a disability, be a U.S. citizen and be enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited college or have graduated from a college or university within the past year. Laweeda Ward, an Air Quality program manager with Environmental Management, was the first at Edwards to hire a student from the program. She highly recommends other organizations take advantage of the opportunity. "It's the best of both worlds. It gives the student invaluable experience and offers the organization free labor," Ward said. Ward said her student was a graduate of California State University Northridge, with a bachelor's degree in chemistry. "So I was able to put her on more technical assignments," Ward said. She first assigned her student summer-hire, Lana Altepeter, to help develop and implement a user-level Air Program Information Management System that was designed to provide electronic recordkeeping capabilities to help the base comply with regulatory requirements. "She worked with a team of professionals, did a lot of coordinating and cleaned up the system. It was a huge effort," Ward said. Altepeter also did several assessments on chemical hazards during the four months she worked for the department. "She did a great job and was offered a full-time position here, but she opted to go back to school and work on a graduate degree," Ward said. During the past few months Dr. Louis Lucero, Director of the Office for Students with Disabilities at Antelope Valley College, coordinated with the Office of Disability Employment Policy in Washington, D.C., to provide local college students with disabilities an opportunity to be included in the 2011 interview cycle. Lucero said this is AVC's first involvement with the program. He has sent notices about the program to students and said he has received about 25 responses. "Five students have gone online and registered so far, and I'm very happy about that," Lucero said. He said students interested in being considered for a WRP position next summer must register online at www.wrp.gov. Those interested need to do this quickly, Lucero said, because to enter the program students need to successfully complete an interview. Those interviews are being conducted Nov. 2. After that date, students will have to wait another year. After registering online, applicants should contact Lucero via email at llucero@avc.edu to request an interview. "I'm looking forward to having disabled folks be put on a federal hiring list," Lucero said.