Reston’s Serco Honored for Work With SLHS Students

Reston’s Serco Incorporated is among three Northern Virginia businesses that have received recognition from Fairfax County Public Schools for giving back to the community.

Serco, along with Deloitte Consulting and OrthoVirginia, have been nominated to the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Business Honor Roll for their support of K-12 education. They were recognized by the school board at a June 30 meeting.

For seven years, Serco has partnered with Reston’s South Lakes High School to “provide community work experiences in real world settings for students with disabilities to prepare them for the demands of the workplace,” says FCPS.

At Serco, the students attain real-world skills in relation to their ability. Some students work independently in the mail room, scanning and logging packages, assisting with mass mailings, or delivering mail to employees. Others work with adults to restock supplies and clean the kitchen.

Jeff Leone, South Lakes’ career and transition teacher, praised Serco for being flexible and accommodating to the students and for dedicating approximately 500 hours of volunteer service to help the students. Leone said that Serco’s philosophy is, “Whatever works best for the students works for us.”

Deloitte is being honored for its Saxon Protégés, a mentoring program at Langley High School that supports students who could benefit from additional adult role models.

Says FCPS: “By targeting students in 11th grade, mentors hoped to motivate and support students as they head into the confusing, and sometimes daunting, college application process. Along with considerable individual time between mentor and mentee, the program includes a cohort model where group support is provided. ”

The Deloitte program, established at Langley in 2013, has since expanded to Oakton High School and is in negotiations to include Falls Church High School in the future.

OrthoVirginia (formerly Commonwealth Orthopedics), which has a large orthopedics practice in Reston, has volunteered time and expertise as team physicians at many FCPS high schools for the last 20 years.

OrthoVirginia physicians currently serve as team physicians for 13 FCPS high schools, supporting the day-to-day injury prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation activities of the school’s athletic trainers.