May 8, 2025
By JAMES EVANS
Rutherford County Schools
Stewarts Creek High School classmates cheered on three students today for their acceptance into the Project Search and Transition Academy programs.
The school held a signing ceremony for the three special education students. Stewarts Creek is the first Rutherford County high school to hold this type of ceremony for special education students headed to these programs.
Brad Turner, the Tennessee Commissioner for the Department of Disability and Aging, spoke at the ceremony. Turner’s daughter is a student at Stewarts Creek High School in the structured setting class.
“This should not be the exception for how we honor our students with disabilities,” Turner said. “This should be the norm.”
Project Search is an internship program offered by Rutherford County Schools as a partnership with Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro. Recently graduated students with disabilities work as interns in one of three departments at the hotel, thereby learning job skills. The program has been a tremendous success and has led to most students in the program receiving full-time job offers with businesses in Rutherford County.
The Transition Academy is another program offered by RCS to provide hands-on life, job, and integration skills for intellectually disabled students who have recently graduated high school.
Student William Cameron Ward signed his acceptance into Project Search. Students Joe Helton and Trenton Harris both signed with the Transition Academy.
Stewarts Creek High Assistant Principal Casey Lawrence worked with other administrators to organize the signing ceremony. Part of Lawrence’s duties are overseeing the special education department at the school, and he never wants to lose that role, he said.
“The administration is so proud of their achievements,” Lawrence said.