Pre-Employment Transition Services: One Student’s Journey and Experience
Pre-Employment Transition Services, or Pre-ETS, is for "students with disabilities who are eligible or potentially eligible for VR services”.* In Indiana, students between the ages of 14-22 can participate in Pre-ETS to learn valuable pre-employment skills and prepare for the transition out of high school and into adulthood and the workforce. Steven Miller is a student who has participated in Pre-ETS in Bloomington, Indiana since early 2021. In this interview, Steven elaborates on some of his experiences in Pre-ETS with Alicia Wray, Pre-ETS Coordinator at Stone Belt Arc, Inc.
Alicia Wray: Tell me about yourself.
Steven Miller: Hi. My name is Steven Miller. I graduated from Bloomington High School South in May of 2023. I like collecting CDs and I love doing word searches. I like parades.
AW: What kind of word searches do you like to do? SM: I like to do word search books.
AW: What do you like about parades?
SM: I like the vehicles and how they pull them, like how they drive and pull the trailer. Ever since I’ve watched parades on YouTube or in-person, I’ve liked watching them. I think parades are fun and cool.
AW: You mentioned you graduated from high school this year. What are you doing next school year?
SM: Going to CT, Community Transitions. I get to do a ton of things, like go to the library, the YMCA, and learn how to use the bus system, Bloomington Transit. I think I’m going to love CT. I know some other students that are in CT.
AW: What is your dream job? SM: Bus driver.
AW: What are some things you’ve done in Pre-ETS that have helped you get closer to getting your dream job?
SM: Pre-ETS has helped me a lot. When you were my instructor, we answered some questions. For example, we went to the fire station and we toured it.
AW: Are you referring to the informational interview we did?
SM: Yes.
AW: Who did you interview? SM: The firefighters.
AW: What kinds of questions did you get to ask them?
SM: I asked how many fire trucks there were, and how many runs they went on. There were fire trucks and large vehicles, like an ambulance and some Ford
F-350s, but I can’t remember what those were called.
AW: Me neither. They did have a full garage, though! Tell me about some other activities you’ve done in
Pre-ETS.
SM: We went to the library a couple of times. AW: What did you do at the library?
SM: We worked on resumes. I checked out CDs. AW: What kind of music do you like to listen to?
SM: Some country, some pop rock. Have you ever been to Terre Haute?
AW: I have been a few times.
SM: They have this store called Fye. It’s a music variety store. They have Books-A-Million, too. They sell puzzles, word searches, books, and CDs.
AW: What are some other Pre-ETS activities you’ve been a part of?
SM: I have a favorite instructor. And there was one day we were in the conference room downstairs. We went to Kroger. It was for the Senior Celebration.
AW: Was that to get ready for this year’s Pre-ETS Senior Celebration?
SM: Yeah.
AW: What did you do at Kroger?
SM: We bought cookies, chips, and drinks.
AW: Here at Stone Belt in Bloomington, we have group classes that any Pre-ETS students can attend. Tell me about the group classes you’ve attended.
SM: Self-Advocates and Dig In, mostly.
AW: Tell me more about the Student Self-Advocates group class. What do you do there?
SM: We learn about self-advocacy. Part of self-advocacy is standing up for yourself. For example, if someone is being mean or bugging you, you can say, “leave me alone”.
AW: Do you feel like you have gotten better at standing up for yourself since being in that class?
SM: Yes. For example, if someone bothers me, I can say, “please leave me alone”.
AW: Tell me more about Dig In. What kind of class is that?
SM: It’s to learn how to cook stuff, like on the stove or in the oven or a Dutch oven. I can name the things we’ve made so far. We’ve made macaroni and cheese, I think brownies, white chicken chili…
AW: White chicken chili? That sounds good!
SM: Yeah. We also made my favorite kind of salad, potato salad. And macaroni salad.
AW: What are some other skills you have learned or improved upon since you’ve been in Pre-ETS?
SM: I’ve learned in Dig In, how to have knife skills. If you have a knife and you aren’t careful, you can really hurt yourself. You can cut yourself or slice your thumb. I actually learned that from one of the instructors. He was showing me how to do it.
AW: You’re still going to participate in Pre-ETS for a few more years. What are some things you look forward to doing during that time?
SM: I look forward to hanging out with the staff and the students in Pre-ETS. I want to go to the library, and I want to go to the new branch. I’ve never been there before. I heard they have a teaching kitchen. So if you want to cook something, they have all the supplies.
AW: We should check that out sometime soon! Do you think Pre-ETS is important?
SM: Yes, I think it’s important because you learn different things. You get to learn about different activities and engage with everybody that’s in Pre-ETS.
AW: If you could change something about the activities you’ve done in Pre-ETS, what would you change?
SM: I’m not sure. I wish we could do more word searches.
AW: What is something you would never change about Pre-ETS?
SM: I would never change the students who come to Pre-ETS.
AW: What do you like about seeing the other Pre-ETS students?
SM: I like seeing how we interact with the Pre-ETS Instructors. For example, if someone has a question, an instructor can help them with their questions.
AW: If you could give advice to someone your age who is considering participating in Pre-ETS, what advice would you give them?
SM: They should know how Pre-ETS works, like someone should show them the ropes.
AW: Would you ever want to be that person who shows a new student the ropes?
SM: Yes.
AW: What is the first thing you would show them or tell them about Pre-ETS?
SM: I would introduce them to the instructors that are currently in Pre-ETS. I would also say, “My name is Steven. I have been in Pre-ETS for two and a half years.”
AW: If you could give advice to someone who works in Pre-ETS, like a Pre-ETS Instructor, what advice would you give them?
SM: I would like to show them activities that we do in Pre-ETS, like the activity we did with the independent living questions.
AW: Is that the activity where you pretended you were 28 years old and thought about your future as an adult?
SM: Yeah. We answered questions, like “do you live with family or by yourself”. I think new instructors should know about that activity so we can think about what we want to do when we’re adults.
AW: Thank you for your time, Steven.
SM: Thank you for letting me do this interview with you.
By Alicia Wray | Monday, June 12, 2023
* “Pre-Employment Transition Services - in.Gov.” FSSA: DDRS: Pre-Employment Transition Services forms, June 2, 2023. https://www.in.gov/fssa/ddrs/files/Pre-ETS-Basics.pdf.