From: Patti Abraham
[mailto:Patti.Abraham@rcu.msstate.edu] Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007
10:30 AM To: rgc4@ra.msstate.edu;
rab3@ra.msstate.edu; Rodney Beasley Cc: Dwight Hare Subject: FW: Warren County Vo-Tech students in demand
Please read below. Pass along on computer
listservs. Thanks D.
Patti
-----Original Message-----
From: Dwight Hare [mailto:rdh1@ra.msstate.edu]
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 5:40 PM
To: Patti Abraham
Subject: Warren
County Vo-Tech students in demand
Sophomores do free computer work for other county
schools, get real-life work experience.
Sunday, March 18,
2007
By SARA K. SATULLO
The Express-Times
LOPATCONG TWP. | Warren County schools don't need Best
Buy -- they've got their own "geek squad."
Sophomore students at the Warren County
Vocational-Technical School have been organized into a
computer-fixing army by their instructor John Metroke. Each
week the students supply other county schools with free tech
work while bolstering their skills.
"I thought it was a great way to utilize their talents
and give the opportunity for the tech students to
practice," said Michael Rossi Jr., the superintendent
of the Lopatcong Township School District. "This is now
their lab."
On Wednesday, students were given layouts of the elementary
schools and assigned to load new math software onto specific
computers.
Computer programs are a major part of education today and
tech support can be costly, Rossi said. Information
technology services go from $75 up to $400 an hour per
person, he said.
"This is more than free," Rossi said.
"I've already scheduled them for next
Wednesday."
Metroke decides when students have reached the necessary
skill level and starts bringing them into the schools
usually after winter break, he said. Most of last
year's students were seniors. This year the students
were mature and caught on fast, he said.
"They love it. They keep asking when we are going
back," Metroke said. "They get to practice out of
the classroom what they have learned. For some of them it
has helped them make career choices and formulate their own
career paths."
Heading into the schools also teaches students something
they can't learn in the classroom -- interpersonal
skills working on a normal job site, he said.
"It is pretty much as real world as it gets,"
said student Christian English, 16, of White Township.
Fellow student Richard Hawkins likes working with computers
because he is a logical thinker, he said.
"Everything does what it's supposed to, and if
it's wrong, I can always figure out what it is,"
said Hawkins, 16, of Vienna. "This is more of a
real-world experience. In general, computers don't do
exactly what they are supposed to do. Here we get to tackle
those roadblocks."
Reporter Sara K. Satullo can be reached at 908-475-2174 or
by e-mail at ssatullo@express-times.com.
