By Sarah Yung, EqOpTech Intern
As the sun set last Friday, most high school students were relaxing at home after a long week. At Castro Elementary School, a group of students was preparing for a laptop deployment - hauling out boxes of refurbished Chromebooks, preparing paperwork, reviewing what to tell the recipient families. After assembling for a quick debrief and pizza dinner, the EqOpTech laptop deployment was up and running.
Castro students access personalized digital module through their Clever accounts using refurbished Chromebooks from EqOpTech
The Largest EqOpTech Laptop Deployment
Laptop Deployment Event - the growing line at 6:30 pm, November 22, 2019 outside the Multi-Purpose Room, Castro School
At 300 expected laptops, the Castro deployment was the biggest deployment EqOpTech had ever run. Our growing volunteer base and the generous donations from donors who made the deployment possible. The quickly-growing line at 5:30 outside the Multi-Purpose Room showed that the larger deployment was well-received. Just an hour later, a line of families stretched from the Multi-Purpose Room out to the parking lot.
After checking in and filling out some basic paperwork, students received a Chromebook and were then directed to a volunteer station, where they would be guided through the process of setting up their Clever account. Through their Clever account, students can access a variety of educational tools, including Lexia Core 5 Reading, Khan Academy and STMath.
I met Angie, a first grader at Castro, while waiting for a volunteer to help her set up her Clever account. She hugged her computer and smiled shyly for the camera - the first photo of the evening. Soon after, she was directed to a station in the wings of the stage, where she got her computer up and running.
Personalized Digital Learning Tech Access for Enriched Education
Later in the evening, I met the lively third grader Milagros. She would, of course, use the computer for “doing homework.” She eagerly tapped away on the laptop while her parents asked the volunteer a few more questions. She showed me the website STMath, which they used in school. “Do you like math class?” I asked. She nodded faintly, already absorbed in a multiplication game.
All the kids were delighted to receive their Chromebooks. At one station, a student carefully wrote down his login information while his parents took a picture, just in case. Across the room, another student carefully perused all the profile pictures before he finally settled on a cute cat profile picture. At the station I was hovering around, one girl showed her friend how to set the background on Chrome to a picture of a galaxy.
Students weren’t the only ones excited about the laptops. “Do we get to keep these?” one parent asked. “Yes, you do get to keep these,” a volunteer patiently explained, “I can show you how to set up your own account on the computer.” Both turned back to the computer and got back to work.
Castro families bring refurbished Chromebooks home to do homework
As a line of families built up, snaking around the edges of the Multi Purpose Room, volunteers took on more and more responsibility. At full swing, each volunteer was working with 2 to 3 families at once. Volunteers quickly passed sheets with log-in information between stations and stretched the power cords as far as they could go. Despite the limited manpower and resources, the volunteers helped every family, ultimately sending home 220 laptops.
Meaningful Work Experience = Technical Skills + Problem Solving
At the end of the evening, the student volunteers took a quick team photo on the stage. Afterwards, the group of exhausted teens cleaned up. Daniel Lim, the student president, rounded up the team for a quick debriefing. “There was a lot of people,” one student chimed in. Others around the circle echoed the sentiment, nodding in agreement. In the spirit of continuous improvement, the team considered what went well and where there was room for improvement, such as implementing more quality control checks and setting up the Clever accounts ahead of time to accelerate the deployment process.
Castro Laptop Deployment Volunteer Team, photo credit - Joshua Kung
For most of the volunteer interns, this was their first deployment and first year learning how to restore laptops to its full functionality, gaining not only valuable technical skills but also analytical skills to problem-solve many unexpected challenges. Through the deployment, interns like Maya, a rising freshman at LAHS, saw their hard work in refurbishing computers pay off. “Going to the deployment allowed me to see that my actions were helping others,” Maya told us. “It was especially wonderful to see the smiles on the kids' faces [...] and realizing that these computers would have a significant impact on their lives.” With EqOpTech, student volunteers learn valuable industry skills while giving back to the community. If you have a keen interest in technology, we invite you to come join us (apply here) and together we can make technology a resource for all.
About EqOpTech: EqOpTech provides easy access to computer hardware, software, and mentor support in STEM education. For more information, visit www.EqOpTech.org. Visit here for the Castro Laptop Deployment Press Release. Our Equal Opportunity Technology program is made possible thanks to Los Altos Community Foundation community grant award. Visit here for more information.