Referred by her VRC, at the Harrisburg District OVR Office, Jessica Soyos came to The Sierra Group Academy looking to advance in the workplace. With a history of volunteer work and a trial job that she did after high school, Jessica sought out deeper job skills training to master both customer service/business communication skills, and the MS365 Office suite. As a young woman with lots of enthusiasm and limited work history, Jessica found her niche here in Sierra’s online virtual classroom!

As she mastered Microsoft Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel, she also increased her data entry speed and accuracy from 24 WPM to 40 WPM.

Jessica’s shy personality was replaced with self-confidence gained via daily classroom participation, skill acquisition, and her self-confidence was able to blossom as well. Learning problem resolution techniques during classroom practicum assignments while delving deeper into how to increase reading comprehension (follow directions, etc.), Jessica progressed through the program with an excellent attendance record! As Jessica became more confident interacting with people, she assisted other new students to begin their own journey – and when she was ready, she hit the job applications upon program training completion.

At the Academy, we keep the momentum and motivation going for our newly graduated job seekers via a privately funded peer-to-peer Transition to Career Group that augmented and complemented the work of her community-based Supported Employment Provider. As one of our peer group standouts, Jess proactively applied to jobs diligently and effectively, applying to no less than 15 jobs a week. Jessica had numerous interviews and gained the interest of several employers. She ultimately accepted a job at CVS, which she referred to as her “dream employer.” Jessica now guests lectures for the Sierra Group Academy and encourages others to do the same!