The computer maintenance class is currently working on a project to build their own computers. With the help of the Career and Technology Department (CTE) and the district technology team, students will pick out parts, pay for them, and turn them into working computers. 

“I think it’s an excellent opportunity,” computer maintenance teacher Amy Thompson said.  “Students are actually getting their hands in and building something.  It’s not just your ordinary textbook. They get to have these components in their hands with real tools and hook them into the computer and understand the connections.  They get to learn what it’s like to build a working computer.”

The need of workers in the technology field in the community and the drive for more career and technology classes in the state motivated  CTE education director Brent Berryman to create a new class within the CTE program.

“We started [the computer maintenance] class because of the demand in the workforce for computer maintenance and repair,” Berryman said. 

Funding for the computers was provided by the CTE department who receives special funding for technology-related courses.  Members of the district technology department/team came over to assist the students in purchasing parts that would be compatible and to answer questions related to the process. 

“We set the budget to be $1000 and we have 2 groups per class and that ranges from 4 to 5 in each group,” Thompson said. “We set a cap to try to get them for 800 dollars each, and if we have a problem we have some wiggle room.”

Once the computers are built, they will be evaluated for effectiveness.  Ultimately, they will be used in the classroom alongside the other computers already there.

“The parts came in [on Tuesday], ” junior Ferris Turney said. “I’m really excited to put all the information that I’ve learned this year into action.”