SALEM, VA – “I am Luke Fisher. I worked at AEP. I like my job. I like Tre. I liked the boat ride and the tour of the dam. I like the people. Thank you for letting me work at AEP with you,” Salem Senior Luke Fisher said.
Fisher’s heartfelt thank you drew cheers Friday as Salem City Schools celebrated another successful year of its Forge the Future Inclusion Camp.
For most students, a summer internship is something they can add to a résumé.
For these students, it was something many people with special needs never get — a chance.
“This is my first time actually getting work experience,” junior Daylen Parker said.
That opportunity came through Salem City Schools’ Forge the Future Inclusion Camp, a program made possible through a $25,000 grant from SparkForce, the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association Foundation.
The grant helps connect students with special needs to real-world manufacturing experiences through classroom instruction and paid internships.
For Parker, that journey started in the classroom before moving onto the manufacturing floor at Alro Steel.
“We learned about all of the stuff we need to do for internships and how to conduct ourselves,” Parker said.
But when it was time to take those lessons into the workplace, Paker says there were still some nerves.
“When I first got there, I was a little nervous. Actually, not even a little - I was a lot of nervous,” he said.
Parker was one of eight students who spent the summer gaining hands-on experience at local companies across the region. This year’s industry partners included Wabtec, Appalachian Power, Integer, Alro Steel and Mersen USA.
For Trey McCoy, that meant spending time at Appalachian Power, where he worked alongside Eli Meador.
“Doing mailers for AEP, shredding papers. Going to visit the plant and seeing how we make electricity,” McCoy and Meador explained.
Meador says having the opportunity to work alongside McCoy and Fisher changed the way he viewed workplace inclusion.
“We wanna show them what they can do instead of what they can’t do for sure. It’s really important to us,” Meador said.
For Cindy Day, Senior Manager of SparkForce, that’s the true measure of success — not just the skills students gained, but the opportunities that opened because someone gave them a chance.
“Engage those employers that are willing to perhaps look at their hiring practices a little bit differently and understand that this population are not only capable of doing manufacturing jobs - but they are willing, they are committed.”
The month-long camp is the first manufacturing inclusion program of its kind in Virginia. Students between the ages of 16 and 30 spend the first part of the program learning workplace safety, professionalism and job readiness before completing hands-on internships with local manufacturers.
The program wrapped up Friday with a celebration recognizing each student’s accomplishments.
During the event, Salem City Schools also received the Virginia School Boards Association’s 2026 Excellence in Workforce Readiness Award, recognizing Forge the Future’s innovative approach to preparing students for careers while creating a more inclusive workforce.