The accomplishments at Blake are described by Alen Paravinja and Travis Fuller:

"I enjoyed working at Blake High School this Friday. I met briefly with the tech support rep and then was set loose with a folder of problems to fix around the school. Many were simple like stuck 3.5 floppys and jammed printers. I learned a few nice tricks involving permissions, account management, and IP printer set-up. Usually I'd go to a room for one request and end up fixing 5 other things at the request of the teacher. All in all it was a good experience."

"We had a lot of requests and managed to complete most of them. The tech support from the school district helped us a lot and showed us some cool stuff on how to manage PC's in network and access to them. Overall, it was one more productive day at Blake high school."

"One of the trouble calls involved setting up 8 old IBM laptops (running Win95) to browse the internet and network. We also salvaged 6 more computers from a tech lab and started restoring those to be used elsewhere in the school. Those old IBMs were a real challenge, we still cannot believe we got some of them to work."

The accomplishments at Carrollwood are described by Nick Geiger and Shawn Tejiram:

"I found the volunteer work to be great and charming - great people, relaxed atmosphere, and a great way to help out with skills that you may already have. It's a very rewarding experience as many of these schools are often understaffed and those that are on staff may not have the technical know how of a computer that people our age may possess."

"I was asked to go fix a computer in a classroom. That was fun because I haven't come across that problem before. The problem was that the computer was trying to boot from the network, but would not get passed that point. The teacher didn't know that she could hit escape and all would be well. But instead of just telling her that, I arranged the boot order so that the network boot would be the last option. I felt content."

"We got a lot done at Carrollwood today. We split up and worked on different tasks that we were given. Many of them were "get the computer to print" tasks. I'm so glad that I could be helpful for them. My volunteer work today ended with a great appreciation for this program that Professor Christensen has made possible."

The accomplishments at Citrus Park are described by Kyre Neverson and Leonard McCoy:

"Last week at Citrus Park went well. The day was a short day we did not have much to do. We just did a little of the things that we usually do (network problems, printer problems, computer problems) and then after completing our tasks we left. Every day that we volunteer here is very much an enjoyable learning experience."

"We are trouble-shooting computers throughout the school. We are helping some teachers with the use of some programs and we are also installing software on some computers. So far the opportunity to work with this school has been something fun and exciting everyday."

The accomplishments at STAGES are described by Saber Fatnassi:

"I met with the STAGES students and faculty last Monday. I am working with students with slight disabilities, helping them update their web pages, working with Access, and fixing their desktops as needed. It is a different experience from what I experienced in many jobs, and I am looking forward to enjoy it and give the best help I can provide. It is a rewarding experience."

The accomplishments at Tampa Bay Tech are described by Bukie Akinbo and David Montalvo:

"This week at TBT we responded to simple problems from the network being down to printer jam problems. I also learnt something new: a faulty mouse could bring down a computer. I never knew that. Likewise, I helped the students on their movie projects in the studio."

The accomplishments at Cahoon are described by Long Ngo and Jennifer Gatza:

"Jen and I have been assigned to Cahoon Elementary, a school that is trying to become a technology magnet. They recently hired a new principal and are in the process of switching to a more technology-oriented curriculum. Cahoon switched from a Mac platform to PCs about two years ago and already they are plagued by spyware, malware and the occasional virus. They welcomed us with open arms and began asking us to help them as soon as we identified ourselves as CSE volunteers from USF. Mike Studenberg, the regional technician, started by outlining a plan to help get the school into shape. Principally, we used PXE and Altiris to remotely manage each of the 80-or-so computers on campus. While doing so, we developed a long-term maintenance plan to be sure that computers are kept malware and virus free. This included automatically pushing software updates and antivirus signatures from the school's server, as well as installing spyware prevention and removal tools on each workstation. We built an image of a model workstation and are currently testing it on a few workstations before pushing it out to each workstation in the school. Overall this has been a great learning experience for Jen and I as we discover where educational knowledge meets real world experience. Perhaps most importantly, we have had the opportunity to work with all kinds of people with different skill levels, backgrounds, and personalities."

The accomplishments at Clark are described by David Kuczynski and Robert Ivey:

"When Robert and I both showed up to Clark, we were immediately put to work. Despite the fact that almost all of the computers at Clark are Macs, Robert and I quickly learned the ins-and-outs of these machines and were able to start working on a mountain of tech requests (the local tech simply didn't have enough time to do them herself). After the number of requests had subsided to a much lower level, we then started to work on the computer lab, re-imaging all of the machines (manually because we were working with Macs) and categorizing computers with problems. We also did some other various odd jobs such as installing network cards, diagnosing hardware problems (such as a heat sink floating around in the case) on certain computers, and figuring out how to get computers to display to televisions. Right now we have just completed a survey/fixing of the condition of Internet Explorer and First Class software on all of the computers in the school. In the future, along with the usual tech requests we might tune-up the Clark web homepage or enable more TVs to become computer displays."

Freedom High School and Muller Elementary School (fall 2004)

The accomplishments at Freedom and Muller are described by Diana Arteaga and Nguyen Nguyen.

"We started out with BIOS password troubleshooting. Then we learned about the networks and programs that are used to manage the student accounts. From September 2nd to October 7th, we set up new computers, installed network printers, created images of the main computer to deploy to computers in three labs over the network using Altiris Server Management software. In addition, we installed software according to specific needs for a classroom's curriculum. Besides installing software, we also had issues with security and protection. For example, we disabled certain options in Internet Explorer from students, we updated virus protection, and managed every computer's Windows updates from the main server. Most of our work was troubleshooting and our main focus was on creating perfect images for easier management in the future. From October 14th to the present time, our main focus has been on installing Accelerated Reader and STAR Reading in each classroom. No services, such as those provided by Altiris are available. Therefore, we have worked on each computer, one by one. In addition, we have also removed adware on all of the computers which has been the #1 problem at this school."

Lewis Elementary School: (fall 2004)

The accomplishments at Clark are described by Kenneth Shelton, Camilo Brand, and Oscar Melendez.

"At Lewis Elementary we began by touching each machine in the school to ensure that the naming convention was correct and that each machine was pointed to the proper SUS and NAV server, as well as diagnose any hardware/software issues. Also we created 10 "presentation carts" which each contain a digital camera, a Ken-a-vision Video Flex (which can be used in conjunction with LCD to function as an overhead), an LCD projector, a DVD/VCR player, and a computer. These machines will be shared among the teachers and used to help facilitate material in the classrooms. Our plans for the future are to push out Norton Antivirus Corporate 9.0, update the Administration's e-mail software, and possibly update the school website."

Pizzo Elementary School (fall 2004)

The accomplishments at Pizzo are described by Priya Pupala, Naveen Jayachandran, and Saar Carmel.

"Here at Pizzo they can definitely do better with more PCs. Hence our aim right from the beginning was to increase the numbers as much as possible. Since we couldn't buy new computers we focused on revamping the old PCs donated to the school by USF and various other organizations. This seemingly simple task actually took the longest time! During the transition we had to put together the mouse, keyboard, CPU, monitor with all the required cords. This becomes tough especially when working with age old computers. The issues didn't stop there. Even after getting them together, we found that most systems came with Windows95 which had to be upgraded. Now, we didn't have any upgrades, however USF came to the rescue again and we were able to get a few Win98 licenses that they could spare. I am glad to report that we were able to provide Pizzo with seven fully functional computers. We also worked on connecting laptops to TVs and completed a pilot project. Due to its success, there is now a queue of requests from teachers for the technology to be deployed in their respective classes. We've installed printers on the network and installed updates and performed maintenance operations on close to 40 laptops and PCs. Finally we are also creating an interactive website for the school that would benefit the students as well as the rest. A lot of fresh ideas are pouring in and currently the Pizzo bull is getting a major 3D upgrade. On the personal front it was a refreshing experience. Volunteering at an elementary school, I came across so many teachers, posters and classroom quotes, all reminding you of the importance of character, honesty, kindness and so many other values that I was taught, years ago. It made me stop and analyze myself. It was an eye opener."

Shaw Elementary School (fall 2004)

The accomplishments at Shaw are described by Bradford Everett and Alex Pinzon.

"We were met by some immediate challenges at Shaw Elementary School. Vicki Angelou was the local computer technician at the school and Steve Martin is the area technician. They presented Alex and I with two main projects. The first problem was the restoration of about 30 Hewlett Packard laptops that had been just been fixed. They needed to be updated with security and educational program applications. The other project we needed to take care of was networking and restoring about 30 computers in the computer lab that had been donated by the Department of Transportation (DOT). First, Alex and I needed to install two educational programs on the laptops. The first program was AR which is a reading program used by the students. The second and more important program was STAR. This program is also a reading program but is used school wide for testing. We were able to install the program on a majority of the laptops when the Sasser worm. This was a major problem because it would disrupt the STAR testing by shutting down the computer when some students weren't done. We implemented a minor remedy for the problem by stopping the shutdown process. The problem was permanently resolved by reimaging all the laptops with an updated golden image that was pulled from a clean laptop. Another major accomplishment Alex and I took care of was the networking and restoration of about 30 computers in the computer lab. This included reformatting several computers because most of the computers were locked with confidential passwords. When reformatting, we had to work with the computer's BIOS and also did some DOS commanding. The actual networking basically included plugging in network cables from the computers to Ethernet sockets and making sure the cables were safely hidden to prevent any tripping hazard. Now Shaw Elementary has a computer lab. Alex and I have attained a lot of technical skills while troubleshooting problems, networking computers, and installing programs. Our future goals include data storage, security management and computer maintenance within the classrooms. We are eager to continue working with Vicki and Steve to help Shaw become technologically up to date and more importantly provide the students with necessary technical resources."

Last update on December 29, 2006