EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Nearly four years ago, Cash Johnson was involved in what can be called every parent’s nightmare.
He was hit by a semitruck and suffered severe injuries.
Johnson, now age 20 and a 2023 graduate of Canutillo High School, basically had to relearn to walk, eat, basically how to live, his mother Ana said.
“It was like he had to be reborn,” Ana Johnson said.
But through a special needs program at Canutillo High School, Johnson is now on track for a full-time job and a rewarding future career as a pharmacy technician.
“It’s a beacon of hope,” Cash Johnson said, in his soft-spoken, understated way.
Dina Thompson, a biotechnical science teacher at Canutillo High School, taught Johnson before and after he was hurt.
“It is a beautiful story of resilience, of faith and hard work, ” she said.
During the past year, Johnson has returned to Canutillo High, which he can do as a special needs student, and has participated in the national and international job training program Project Search.
Johnson has become the first Project Search student in the nation to earn a training license to become a pharmacy technician, his teachers said.
He will take a state test in May to become certified as a pharmacy tech.
Project Search at Canutillo High is affiliated with The Hospitals of Providence Transmountain Campus and Johnson went through a year’s worth of training and education there.
After he passes his state certification test in May, he is hoping to go back to the hospital and work there full time.
Johnson said he likes dealing with numbers and organization, and those things make pharmacy work perfect for him.
Erin McNellis, the Project Search teacher at Canutillo High, said that Johnson has grown in amazing ways as a person over the past few years.
“He is responsible. He is much more mature,” McNellis said. “He is ready to go out and get things done and go out and conquer the world.”
The Project Search Program follows the same calendar as the school year, McNellis said.
During the program, students go through three 10-week sessions in different parts of the hospital.
For Johnson, his program was tailored to meet his interest in the pharmacy.
Johnson said he has been fascinated by pharmacies since he was a young boy and now his dream of working at one is within sight.
He also credits Dr. Roberto Guevara, pharmacy director at the hospital, calling him an amazing teacher and mentor.
Cash’s mother, Ana Johnson, said the Project Search program has been a godsend for her son and her family.
“Every single parent, we all worry when we have children,” Ana Johnson said. “We worry about their future. Just imagine having a kid with disabilities. Your worry is twice.”
She said that the Project Search team at Canutillo High has been there for her son, but also for her when she needed encouragement or a hug, too.
“I am so grateful for Canutillo Independent School District for its special needs program,” Ana Johnson said. “There will be more Cashes. More kids getting jobs through Project Search and why not, going to college too – going to college which is the plan for my son. Hopefully, he will do it.
“More than anything, it has been these beautiful ladies (here at Canutillo High),” Ana Johnson said. “They have been there from day one. If it wasn’t for them, he wouldn’t be here (having this success).”
Brenda Matamoros is the transition specialist at Canutillo ISD.
She said that Johnson was part of the inaugural Project Search class at Canutillo High and will serve as a “role model” for future students in the program.
“I believe he is a shining star for the rest of the students, for what Project Search is capable of, with hard work and determination,” Matamoros said.
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