Students and staff at Oakwood Country School are excited about
their new computer lab, the school
’s third and largest, donated by IBM this year.
Students and staff at Oakwood Country School are excited about their new computer lab, the school’s third and largest, donated by IBM this year.
“It’s not very often that students have the chance to set up a new computer lab,” said Vicki Moody, who teaches a computer competence course. “In addition to learning a lot about the computers, it was just fun for them to open that many new boxes of nice computer equipment.”
The lab was created with $50,000 of computers donated by IBM. The company has a k-12 matching donor program, which allowed Oakwood parents and a friend of the school to turn $10,000 of IBM employee and retiree donations into $50,000 worth of computer equipment.
The lab is located in the science building.
“One of the great things about the new computers is the Windows XP Professional operating system which allows us to custom configure the computers for each of the classes and their individual needs,” says teacher Steve Sandis. “This allows each class to know the computers are all ready for them when they come and that they won’t do anything that will upset the settings for another class.”
The completion of the lab is one of the school’s major goals for this year.
The new computers and accompanying software will give the students more processing power and larger monitors.
The school’s Director of Technology Dave Reese, worked with Moody’s middle school students to set up the new IBM ThinkCentre A50Ps with 17-inch multi-media monitors. As students saw the boxes stacked to the ceiling in the room designated for the new lab, Moody said, they were amazed at the size of IBM’s donation.
Students in Moody’s class not only focus on learning basic computer functions and keyboarding skills, but will also develop software application skills using the newly purchased Microsoft Office 2003, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Another class will appreciate the opportunity to use the new lab: the increased processing power and larger monitors will assist students in Sandis’ digital design class. Sandis has configured the computers in the new lab for ease of use and maintenance.
The two computer classes are not alone in their appreciation of the new lab, school officials said. Students are using the lab for their writing projects and other projects.
Knowing that the computers are ready to go for each class can often make the difference for a teacher in deciding whether to use the lab or not, Sandis said.
Oakwood Country School, the former Morgan Hill Country School, was purchased by Ted and Michelle Helvey in spring of 2003. Located at 105 John Wilson Way, the school serves grades preschool through eight, with a focus on service to the community and a diversified curriculum including music and fine arts and languages.
There will be an Open House Saturday, May 15, 10 a.m. to noon, for interested parents and potential students. Details: 782-7177.
