At the CompTIA Academy Educator & Learning Partner Conference, Tony Pecucci, director, student and community outreach, and a technology teacher at Leyden High Schools District 212, presented “Changing the Life Path: How Leyden Uses CompTIA Certifications To Create Career Paths For Its Students” – a discussion that expanded on the Technical Support Internship (TSI) program created at Leyden.
TSI is a student run tech support class where students support the 1:1 initiative in the district, meaning all students have a laptop as one of their key learning tools. In turn, the TSI students support all 3,600 Chromebooks that are within the two schools.
Pecucci first addressed three main objectives of the program, the primary being to support the students’ Chromebooks.
“TSI is a regular class in our schedule,” Pecucci said. “So you might take English, math, go to lunch, then come to TSI class. If it’s your period to work and a Chromebook comes in that’s not working, it becomes priority number one.”
Pecucci further described how students support the technology needs of teachers and staff by noting that it is common to see students up on ladders to fix projectors or messing around with audio cables. He jokingly added, “If the teachers have a TSI student in class, they point them out and say ‘I need your help!’”
Pecucci addressed the exploration of technology through independent learning pathways. These pathways come into play when students are not supporting faculty or other students’ technology needs. This allows the students to explore and develop skills in computer programming, networking, mobile app development and beyond. TSI also allows students to pursue various certifications, including CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+. One of the many goals of the program is to provide an opportunity for every student to have a career path upon graduation.
In TSI, the students are the initial point of contact on every technical issue. Students work with other students, faculty and staff to determine what an issue is and lay out a plan of how to fix it. The requests come through the popular ticketing system Spiceworks and are handled by TSI students on a rotating basis.
Overall, TSI students at Leyden are getting the real world experience they need to succeed post high school, as proven by its 23,000-plus fulfilled tickets in the last three years. The program is providing substantial benefits to students and gives them the advantage they need to start their careers in IT.
“This is what’s best for the kids,” Pecucci said. “It’s a win-win for the school district to not have to hire additional staff as tech support. Plus, it’s a great opportunity for students to get real world experience in a real world help desk environment.”
For a copy of Tony Pecucci’s presentation, you can connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.
Tom Liszka is manager, social and digital media, at the Creating IT Futures Foundation.
