DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. — Part of the back-to-school preparation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University includes some special hiring.


What You Need To Know

  • Embry-Riddle’s food servicer, Sodexo, gets full-time work to those with special needs

  • The Community-Based Instruction Program hires high schoolers part time, and they can later transition to full-time careers after graduation
  • They’re in search of about 100 or more people to fill openings for the upcoming semester

A Community-Based Instruction Program on campus, through food service provider Sodexo, gets special needs students in high school part-time jobs that later transition to full-time jobs there. 

There are a lot of moving parts to stocking a college cafeteria’s grab-n-go canteen. Christopher Schoals, 31, knows this well, as he’s been working here for some eight years. It’s an active job that keeps him busy, and he appreciates that.

“I usually fill these napkins up when I first get here,” Schoals explains as he busily sets the counter with supplies for the college students he expects for the lunch crowd.

He’s grateful for the full-time he’s had through the Community-Based Instruction Program with Sodexo; for him, it started as a part-time role when he attended high school in Volusia County.

That’s the program’s goal, to help students with special needs like Chris to get jobs and keep them, turning them into careers.

“It’s actually a pretty good program,” Chris attests. “The people seem nice and seem respectful.”

While he laughs and jokes about some perks he enjoys, like the “free food,” he also says it’s more about making his own way in hopes of soon achieving independence by renting his own apartment.

“People need to be thankful for their jobs, and all that,” adds Chris.

“I find that people do not give people the chance that they need, and we embrace them. We embrace them here. We believe in their abilities to do a good job, and that makes us different,'“ Sodexo’s Candice Kingery said.

It encouraged anyone who wishes to work on campus or join the program to send a text message with the word ‘work’ to the number ‘82257.’ Jobs range from entry level to more experienced in food industry.