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Tech team triple win for schools
McCOOK, Neb. — A tech team made up of high school students is helping out at the McCook School District.
The Bison Tech Team is kept busy during the day troubleshooting electronic and computer problems across the district, such as helping teachers find the right HDMI cable to plug in or figuring out why a printer isn’t working. With 1,700 laptops, 200 iPads, 300-400 desk tops and multiple Smart boards, printers and televisions, there is plenty to do in the district, said Technology Director, Tina Williams. “We could be here 24-7 and still not get to everything,” she said of the minor technical glitches that pop up during the day. With the student tech team onboard, that frees up the district’s IT staff to attend to more pressing problems.
It’s also a been great way to give kids another way to succeed in school, said Craig Dickes, McCook High School principal. Traditionally, it’s the teacher who is in charge of a classroom so “the confidence the student gets to be able to walk into a classroom and help someone they look up to is a really cool opportunity for them,” Dickes said. This builds relationships between students and teachers and also helps the school run more efficiently, as the IT staff doesn’t have to be in 10 places at one time, he said. “It’s a win-win-win situation all the way around, for the students, school and teachers,” Dickes said.
Williams started the Bison Tech Team in 2016 when she first joined the school district, as a way for kids to get hands-on, real-world experience in the technology field. Since then, it’s been catching on and now has 12-15 students who participate periodically, with a core group of four senior boys. There are even some junior high students interested in joining.
“We appreciate the extra set of hands,” Nate Priebe said, who works as Tech Coordinator for the district with Alex Hopkins, the help desk technician. In addition to equipment installation, Priebe also keeps track of the district’s security camera system, network connections, Internet security issues and the phone system, so if he gets notified of a minor tech problem, it’s great if a student can fix it. “If it plugs in, we’re there,” he said. And even if it doesn’t plug in: recently, the biology teacher requested a plastic kneecap to replace one missing from the plastic skeleton in the classroom and the team created one from a 3-D printer.
Students can be on the team either as a teacher’s assistant, with a teacher’s recommendation, or as an Independent Study class. As a class, students are graded on projects, such as making how-to videos on setting up certain equipment or creating a technology portfolio. Students 16 and older have also worked over the summer at the district as paid interns, setting up and installing televisions, computer software and projectors for upcoming school year. The team is now working on establishing a leadership team for social media, that will partner with students in journalism, web design and art classes.
Students join for different reasons. Trent Brooks, a senior, joined this year with no tech experience, but had a interest in learning as he’s an avid gamer. “I told them I was good at lifting things,” he joked. Others intend on taking what they’ve learned to the next level: Aiden Barger, who joined the group as a freshmen along with Dylan Rouse, said he plans to study cyber security in college and Rouse, computer engineering.
Williams said she’ll miss her four seniors and their skill sets, especially one quality they all seem to share. “Not being afraid of technology is a great trait to have,” she said.