The center currently has three students working part-time. Together, the students have repaired 700 devices in six weeks.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — CCISD recently unveiled their new Student Technology Service Center that will not only serve as the district’s repair shop to fix iPads and Chromebooks, but it also has student employees.
The center currently has three students working part-time. Together, the students have repaired 700 devices in six weeks.
The district hopes by providing hands-on experience, this will inspire more students to pursue a technological career with less concerns for what they may encounter later in their career.
Recent graduate of Collegiate High School, Alec Babcock, is one of the three students employed at the center. “I want to build my own repair shop in the future,” Babcock said. “I actually am really enjoying this job. I used to work at a McDonald’s. And then I saw this application from my teacher.”
Soon after applying, he got the job. After a month, he knew he was on the right path to jump-start his career goals.
“I get to learn how the parts work and how to not make a mistake,” he said. “Because when you’re trying to repair a Chromebook, you don’t want to like fry the screen or something like that. When replacing a screen or a battery.”
District Technology Standards Coordinator for CCISD, Baldemar Gonzales, said there’s a shortage of technicians in the technology industry across the region including Nueces County.
“We’re able to put the next generation into employable skills with knowledge and skill set in a high demand high field, high paying field,” Gonzales said. “We’re able to put a pipeline of employment together, therefore our district, but not only our district, creating an employee pipeline for our region as well as the nation if students want to travel out.”
Sophomore at Veterans Memorial High School, Shelby Guerrero, like Babcock, also heard about this opportunity from a teacher. “I get an early start instead of living inside my own little bubble,” Guerrero said. “And when I got the opportunity, I took it as soon as I could and now I’m here. It’s my first job.”
Guerrero is still figuring out what she wants to do as a career but one thing she’s confident in is that this job is her stress-reliever. “I guess it’s kind of comforting for me to get to learn new things and kind of test myself out,” she said.
These students are repairing the district’s technology so there is little to no interruption to classroom instruction.
Technology support administrator Christopher Gonzalez supports the three students currently employed at the service center. “I think it’s a good opportunity, it’s something that wasn’t available when I was in high school,” Gonzalez said. “The kids that we’ve gotten so far are kind of promising for the program.”
Applicants must be 16 years of age and enrolled in the career technical education class, also known as ‘CTE’. The pay is $13.50 an hour. To learn more, click here.
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