Summer Work Experience participants have enjoyed a summer full of molten silver, eclectic books, and yerba mate, as well as many other exciting and diverse work experiences.Common Ground Café, Broken Spoke Cafe, Zocalo Café, Simply Timeless, Chatter’s Salon, ABC Books, Seeco Automotive, Island Technologies, Habitat for Humanity, and Petland teamed up with Vancouver Island Community Connections to provide work experiences in a variety of career industries. One participant has a keen interest in jewelry making. This summer, he was thrilled to learn from expert sculptor and goldsmith Tim Haley at Simply Timeless on Fourth Street in Courtenay, learning everything from simple ring sizing, to hand crafting and casting his own silver ring."Haley has truly been supportive and enthusiastic about this program, and he is an amazingly talented artist and teacher," says job coach Nathan Hoffart.The Summer Work Experience program, a Ministry of Children and Family Development initiative, provides opportunity for youth with developmental disabilities to ‘test out’ a career area of interest and gain essential employment skills.Businesses benefit from the extra help during the summer, as well as contribute to promoting a diverse workforce.— Summer Work Experience