BEHIND THE SCREENS

Sandpoint High provides students with the opportunity to work as technology interns

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This past summer four students were paid as Technology Interns for the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

The students were seniors Reilly Wolf, Jacob Jackson, and 2016 high school graduates James Bradley and Mark Kennaly.

Each being A+ certified and having gone through Alex Gray’s classes, they aided in computer cleaning and configuration, Chromebook and iPad maintenance, networking, device recycling and more.

“They were enormously helpful and allowed us to get many more projects done over the summer. The program was a huge success and is something we will continue, hopefully with six interns next summer,” LPOSD Director of Technology Matt Brass said.

This program is continuous through the fall with the participating interns: seniors Zach Gillenwater, Jacob Jackson, Reilly Wolfe, Isabella Hauck and Daniel Johstoneaux. Students participating in the Technology Intern course during the school day will not be paid.

The team is in charge of maintaining Chromebooks in different parts of the district, including Sandpoint Middle School, Sandpoint High School, Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High School, and some elementary schools.

“This fall’s technology interns recently earned their certification to perform warranty work on the district’s newly adopted Dell Chromebooks. Machines needing warranty work can be repaired at Sandpoint High versus being sent off by UPS,” Gray said.

Not only has this program been a help to the tech department, but it has also aided interns in magnifying their knowledge of  information systems by performing tasks that are similar to those at large company positions.

“It is important that we participate in this program because it teaches us values such as professionalism and punctuality and is also a great thing to put on a resume. We meet third period every day and mainly work in the library on repairs,” Jackson said.