Friends and family gathered at Community Connections at Pinckney Friday morning to celebrate graduating students of the C-Tran and Project SEARCH programs.
Graduating students will soon enter the workforce after learning job skills and rotating between work sites at the University of Kansas and Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Graduates of the C-Tran, or Community Transitions, Class of 2026 include Hudson Boyd, Chris Grant, Becca Jackson, Finn Lechtenberg, Ford Lechtenberg, Rachel Miller and Ashley Willow.
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Jenna Viscomi, administrator at Community Connections at Pinckney, recognized the graduates’ hard work from the year and their emotions of moving on from the program.
“School has provided routines, supports, familiar people and structure. Leaving that behind can feel really big,” Viscomi said. “Your value does not come from fitting into someone else’s timeline or expectations. Your value comes from who you are.”
Project SEARCH students worked rotations at LMH in facilities, materials management, the cafeteria and more. Job rotations at KU included the KU Bookstore, Ambler Student Recreation Center, Natural History Museum and dining halls.
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Project SEARCH’s Class of 2026 includes Tavaris Davie, Jacob Daugherty, Jacob Gale, Leo Nathan, Cameron Jackson, Charlotte Baldwin-Faling, Isaiah Sellars, Steven LaMarche, Gabriel Gibson and Sam Spaeth.
Viscomi commended the graduates for their determination in learning job and independence skills. She noted that she had known some of the students since they were as young as 3 years old.
“You do not need to hide who you are to deserve belonging and respect,” Viscomi said. “Your effort mattered. You mattered. And long after today that will still be true.”
LMH Health facilities management and the skilled nursing floor received awards for work site and work site mentors of the year. Graduate Jacob Daugherty, who worked rotations at LMH, said the floor is full of “happy people.”
The KU Bookstore and rec were recognized for the same awards, with Jake Viscomi and Josh Simms being recognized as KU work site mentors of the year.
Photo slideshows played at the ceremony show it wasn’t all about work, with trips to Sylas and Maddy’s, KU campus and group dance parties.
The current Project SEARCH class passed nametags along to the incoming class as part of a yearly tradition. Incoming interns will begin work in the fall.
Attendees celebrated with cake and a dance to the “Cha Cha Slide.”
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Maya Smith (she/her), reporting intern, has worked with The Lawrence Times since February 2026. She was born and raised in Lawrence and is a journalism student at the University of Kansas. She works at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications as a communications assistant and has been a freelance reporter for the Kansas Reflector since 2024. Read her work for the Times at this link.
More: 2026 Graduations
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