UW undergraduates helping community meet computer needs
By Steve Hill
University Week
Talk about a computer upgrade.
Adam Chin gets the computers at the Garfield Community Center ready for an afternoon class. Lab manager, Angela Rye, who is also a UW student, looks on.
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When Jeremiah Jester came to the UW, he had never used an e-mail program. Now the senior political science major is an assistant network administrator in the Department of Medical Education. Roughly 100 computer users in the department depend on Jester for advice, support and to keep their systems running smoothly. He hopes to land a permanent full-time job in the high-tech industry after graduation.
“I’ve come a long way, that’s for sure,” he said.
And he’s not alone. Jester is one of many success stories that can be credited in large part to the UWired Community Technology Partnership. His job at Franklin High School was an important part of an undergraduate experience that will come to an end following winter quarter.
“Franklin helped me get where I am today,” he said. “Not to sound cliché, but it really was a stepping stone. I learned a lot.”
The Office of Educational Partnerships and Learning Technologies’ program places UW students - typically those in the liberal arts - in a variety of public outposts where they fill valuable holes in network administration and computer education. In addition, they learn important computer skills that increase their value on the job market.
Jester was among the first crop of students who went through an intensive weeklong training session at the UW before taking jobs at various schools in the Seattle district. Since that beginning in January 2000, Karalee Woody, the director of the Student Access & Computing Group, says the program has been mutually beneficial for UW students, who get an opportunity to hone their computer skills, and the communities they serve, which are always looking for affordable computer support.
“The two needs just come together very nicely,” Woody said.
It was during the summer of 1999 when the opportunity for the program first became evident. The UW, along with the Technology Alliance, had created and led the Smart Tools Academy, a program to help Washington state school leaders develop a vision for how technology can support and enrich student learning. Those who participated were invariably excited about the prospects of upgrading the technology in their classrooms. But they weren’t as excited about coming up with another $80,000-$100,000 per school to pay for a lead technologist.
That’s when the UW stepped in. Woody and four colleagues began interviewing, hiring and training UW undergraduates to provide support and education. Most of them, then, become employees of the Seattle Public School District. And they’re affordable employees too. The students work about 10 hours a week at just $13 per hour - decent money for an undergraduate and a bargain for the district.
“And the schools love them,” Woody said.
In fact, Fred Aasheim, an instructor at Garfield High School, credits Kevin Sonney with helping the school “find the way” through a technology-driven transformation. Kathy Bledsoe, principal at Catherine Blaine School, said Alex Tomita’s troubleshooting skills allowed instructors to focus on using the technology to teach rather than wasting valuable time trying to solve computer problems.
After a modest beginning in eight schools, the program grew to more than 20 in just a few months. By the start of school this fall Woody says the UW students will be employed in most Seattle schools.
But that’s not all. Because the program has been so successful in the schools, it was recently extended to Community Technology Centers throughout Seattle. With the help of the Office of Student Financial Aid, about 30 UW work study students will be working in these community centers - which offer free and low-cost computer services that help Seattle give computer access and training to any resident who wants it - come fall quarter.
For Adam Chin, a UW senior majoring in economics and psychology, the job has meant more than resume building. He’s enjoyed making a difference in the lives of his clients at the Garfield Community Center. After teaching one woman in her 30s how to use e-mail, for example, he’s seen her communicate frequently with her mom, a sailor in the U.S. Navy.
“I recently helped her download some photos that her mom sent,” Chin said. “She walked away happy, so that was really cool.”
When the time came for Jester to walk away from his job at Franklin High School, he too, was happy. He’s one of many who parlayed job experience in the public schools to a higher paying job. In fact, he said, Franklin provided him experience managing a network that served more than 1,000 people.
“I took on a lot of responsibility, so anytime you do that, there’s more pressure, of course,” Jester said. “But it wasn’t an uneasy pressure at all. I really enjoyed my work there and everybody I was working with.”
A healthy student interest saves the program from falling victim to the success of students like Jester. According to Damien Koemans, the manager for the partnership program, students usually spend about two years on the job. By then, the skills they’ve developed are worth more than the paychecks they can draw in the program.
“The job skills they learn are so marketable that after a couple of years they can go get something else,” he said. “We’re kind of the training facility for campus technology people.”
But because of that reputation, students continue to be drawn to the program. So much so that many applicants have to be turned away.
“We haven’t had much need to pay for advertising,” Woody said. “We’ve always had more applicants than we’ve been able to take.”
Woody and Koemans say students with desire and the ability to learn and communicate with others are always welcome to apply. In fact, they say they hire more for desire to learn than proven skills. More information about the UWired Community Technology Partnership is available on the Web at http://depts.washington.edu/sacg/outreach/.