Elizabeth Forward’s Michael Huber recognized for dedication to his students

By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
As two of his Elizabeth Forward “success stories” smiled from the audience, Transitional Coordinator Michael Huber accepted an honor from the school board and administration Wednesday night for his work with special needs students and Project SEARCH.
“Mr. Huber does an incredible job,” Keruskin said. “We are leaders in special education in our school and our district.
“There are so many people who reach out to him everyday, every week, to ask what Elizabeth Forward is doing here and what we are doing with transition and I am really proud of him and the work he has done with our students.”
Project SEARCH was developed in 1996 at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to secure competitive employment for people with disabilities and has since expanded to 47 states and nine countries.
The program was implemented at UPMC 10 years ago and Elizabeth Forward was one of the first school districts involved. UPMC Project SEARCH is a high school transition program for students with disabilities that combines education and experience to prepare special needs students in 12th grade who have completed their high school academic requirements but have deferred taking their diploma.
Through a collaboration with UPMC, Goodwill, area school districts, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Allegheny Department of Human Services and the Office of MR/DD, up to 12 students each year are able to enroll in the program.
In the last decade, Eliizabeth Forward has had 12 students in Project SEARCH, with at least 50% of those students still employed including EF alumni Natalie Dagger, 30, and Samantha Algeri, 27, who have each been working thanks to the program for the last several years.
Dagger and Algeri both completed the program through Elizabeth Forward and are two of Huber’s biggest success stories.
Dagger has worked for UPMC Mercy for the last nine years as an anesthesiologist assistant three days each week and Algeri, who previously worked in dietary at UPMC, now works five days a week during the academic year for Pennsylvania Coach Lines.
For Huber, it is about seeing his students succeed and find their way after high school.
“I love this program and the opportunities it gives to our students,” he said. “It is really incredible what they are accomplishing.”
Sharon Dagger said she is thankful for the program and EF staff who have opened the door for Natalie to explore her options and become successful.
Since completing the program and the start of her career at UPMC Mercy, Sharon Dagger said her daughter has become more mature.
“She is not only more responsible and also accountable while at work, but also helpful at home,” she said. “This has given her a future.”
Dagger lives with her mother Sharon and father Steven in Elizabeth.
Jan Algeri also said her employment through Project SEARCH has helped her daughter become an independent and successful young woman.
“It’s hard enough having a child graduate because you are left thinking, ‘Now what?’ but then this man (Huber) calls you into his office and gives you hope,” she said. “There are not words to express how thankful we are for that and to have had the chance to explore so many options we would have never known were otherwise available for her.”
Her daughter, she said, is responsible at home and manages her own checking and credit card accounts.
“She is even reminding me to pay bills sometimes,” Jan Algeri laughed. “She is turning into an incredible young woman.”
Samantha lives in Elizabeth with her mother Jan, father, Donald and has two siblings, Richard and Donna.
Next year, so far one student is lined up to enroll in Project SEARCH at Elizabeth Forward and Huber is excited for another success story.
“I just can’t wait to have more kids involved and see where this program is able to take them,” Huber said. “I love it.”