2020 can be called the year of technology.
2020 has been as unconventional as can be. Months on months of virtual education have been a huge learning curve for everyone, students and staff. Returning to brick and mortar learning in August was an exciting day for everyone. Things were running smoothly until students hit another speed bump when NCHS was abruptly shifted back to virtual learning in November. We would remain on virtual learning until late January. Even after returning to in-person learning, many students choose to remain virtual. For the first time ever, New Castle High School would have in-person students learning along with students present on a video call.
So how did we do it?
As unorthodox as the year has been, there have been many people working behind the scenes to help it run as smoothly as can be. Perhaps one of the biggest credits to how effortlessly the school year has been running is the NCHS technology department. The technology services have been working tirelessly the entire year, helping everything to be as good as possible for everyone in this unprecedented time. Without them, we would have no wifi, and no way to conduct school.
For in-building students and virtual learners, the NCHS technology department has been working at its peak to help every student have the best educational experience that they can. “You students are being prepared for jobs that may not exist yet. When I was in school the type of job I do was not a thing, no one I graduated high school with said anything about working in I.T,” says technology director Dustin Chew, “My favorite part of my job is working with my team to make sure that everything is working well for our students to be able to learn. Knowing that the type of work that I am doing is important in the fact that what I do benefits students and teachers.”
Our technology staff has so many tedious and time-consuming jobs to complete, that they often do not receive nearly enough credit for. They have to deal with high schoolers, after all. As technology secretary, Sonja Rupe says, “Stop defacing the Chromebook you are using! They are school property, not yours!”
Even though the technology department has so many strenuous tasks to complete to help keep the school running, but It is no secret that the technology department still loves what they do. The staff’s favorite thing about their job is “The people!”, as Director Dustin Chew says. “The staff is an awesome group of people who care about the students. Since we repair a lot of devices for the students or ensure that the network runs we get a lot of thank-yous. Those brighten my day.”
