The latest issue of the nation’s leading publication for IT leaders and educators, EdTech, features the Bethlehem Central School District’s Student Help Desk, an innovative student intern program run by the district’s Technology Department that trains students to assist staff and other students with technology issues of all sorts. The student interns staff the Student Help Desk, located in the high school Library Media Center, Monday through Friday throughout the school year. Up to 20 students each year contribute anywhere from two to 12 hours a week where they use their know-how to tackle Wi-Fi and login issues, repair devices and act as the first line of support for students and staff at the 1,600-student school.
Read the Fall 2017 EdTech feature story,
The program — which first was conceived when the district was facing staffing and budget cuts six years ago — is the brainchild of Justin Brown and Navaar Johnson, who work as senior network and systems engineers for the district. Realizing there were untapped resources in a tech-savvy student population, the two saw opportunities to bring efficiency to their department and help students gain valuable work and life skills.
Both Brown and Johnson are featured in the article, along with BC and Help Desk alum Hayden Macmillan, who has returned to work with the Technology Department to help run the busy troubleshooting unit.
Learn more about the Student Help Desk.