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The walk Franklin Barreno-Lucas and his fellow SWITCH Academy students take each morning from their school bus to the front doors of the BlueCross Chattanooga offices is thoughtful, quiet and purposeful.  

SWITCH Academy supports Franklin and other students with developmental and intellectual disabilities as they transition from high school to the workforce. Their morning walk, though short, helps them prepare for the day ahead when they’ll work alongside BlueCross employees. 

“All the time I’m here, I’m learning how to be professional and to have good skills to get a job,” Franklin says.  

Foundations to grow and soar 

In 2018, Project SEARCH launched in Hamilton County, part of a national transition-to-work internship program for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. BlueCross was the first company to offer Project SEARCH internships in Chattanooga.  

SWITCH Academy was started a few years later to support students who could benefit from independent living skills and workforce exposure  prior to a Project SEARCH internship. Franklin graduated from East Ridge High School in the spring of 2024 and started SWITCH Academy last fall. He’s in the academy’s Transition2Work classes. Last fall, the academy added a Switch2Adulting class based at BlueCross.  

In these classes, students learn foundational principles related to working, interacting with co-workers and what’s expected of them to hold a job. A recent lesson covered professional behavior and work ethics with a series of true/false questions that led to discussions among the students and their teacher.      

“Our goal is helping them develop social, communication and reasoning skills they’ll need in the workplace,” says SWITCH2Adulting Program Coordinator Rachel Bossong.  

In addition to the classroom experience, students work 5-15 hours a week in several areas at BlueCross. In his first semester, Franklin worked with the company’s custodial team.  

“Learning to follow a schedule on my own was hard at first,” Franklin says. “But now I can do that and be professional.”  

A significant new opportunity  

Since January, Franklin’s been working three hours each morning doing data entry for health assessment surveys completed by Medicare Advantage members. Senior Care Technical Team Expert Christian Gonzalez and Senior Business Analyst Chelsea Floyd trained Franklin on entering information from the surveys into a database and oversee his daily activity.  

“It’s serious work, and Franklin is serious about his work,” Chelsea says.  

The information from surveys is sent to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Senior Care teams can also use it to plan outreach to members and to gain insight that could benefit members.  

“In the first quarter, Franklin entered information for almost 2,000 surveys,” Christian says. “That pace after such a short time is similar to other data-entry positions.”   

Christian and Chelsea also look for opportunities for Franklin to assist others in the division, like document scanning. That’s helped Franklin learn additional skills and gives him more opportunities to ask questions.  

“They teach me all the steps, and I have to always remember to pay attention, so I do the work right,” Franklin says. 

Knowing that Franklin’s been learning workplace etiquette and people skills in the classroom led Christian to talk with him about practical ways to do that each day.   

“Franklin is a fairly quiet worker. But now, he often stops at my desk to say, ‘Good morning’ and to ask how I’m doing,” Christian says. “He takes time to learn something about us.” 

Excelling in his roles 

Christian and Chelsea say they both see the progress Franklin has made and enjoy helping him realize opportunities that he has in front of him.  

“I hope this helps him to grow and know that he can determine what he likes to do instead of thinking he can only do what someone tells him they think he’s capable of doing,” Chelsea says. 

As Franklin has learned and accomplished more, he’s become more sociable and is willing to try new tasks.  

“Those are the qualities of a great employee, if you ask me,” Christian says.  

After each morning of work with the Senior Care team, Franklin meets for lunch with other SWITCH Academy students and teachers in the office cafeteria. That provides another opportunity for the students to get even more out of the workplace experience.  

“We’re so thankful to partner with BlueCross,” Rachel adds.

“This partnership lets our students see a work environment that they couldn’t experience if they only took work-preparation classes at their high schools.” 

Graduation and opportunities on the horizon 

This month, Franklin will participate in a SWITCH Academy graduation ceremony at BlueCross. He applied for and was accepted into the Project SEARCH internship program this fall at Erlanger Baroness Hospital.  

He’s learned a lot in the last two semesters and is ready for this next step. And Rachel sees opportunities ahead of him to work alongside peers without disabilities, earn a competitive wage, and have the chance to grow and advance in his work endeavors.  

“Being in class here and going to work every day is fun,” Franklin says. “I like it a lot.  I think this will help me to get a job.”