Intern with Down syndrome is helping LendKey grow

Don’t be fooled by Nellie Frank’s sweet smile. The minute she swipes her company badge and walks through the door at LendKey in Blue Ash, the young intern is all business. She marches straight to her desk, takes off her coat, turns on her computer and then goes directly to her first task: restocking the company’s snack shelves. After replenishing the snacks, she goes back to her computer to carefully enter information from business cards into a spreadsheet that the company uses for recruiting. “She comes in and knows exactly what she needs to do,” said Kristy Pierce, LendKey’s senior accountant and Nellie’s supervisor. “It’s wonderful -- and a huge help.” It’s a huge help for Nellie, too. Nellie is a 20-year-old Sycamore High School graduate who has Down syndrome and takes part in the school district’s Transition Internship Program for young adults with disabilities. The job at LendKey is giving her work experience in an office environment, which is important as she strives to become independent, said Esther Adams, the transition coordinator at Sycamore Community Schools.