| Children today
need skills that will prepare them for the ever-changing landscape of
the 21st Century job market – and that means access to computers, according
to a local early childhood educator.
To address this need, the Berlin-Kensington YMCA has hooked up with Nerds
To Go, a computer technology service that makes house calls. According
to childcare services Director Ken Anthony, who has been overseeing the
project, computers have been added to the classrooms of school age sites
over the past two months, “Berlin-Kensington YMCA Child Care has gone
high tech,” he said.
As part of a new YMCA after school program curriculum at Willard, Hubbard,
and Griswold elementary schools computers were added recently as part
of daily programming.
But six more computers – preferably laptops – are still needed for use
by teachers at the Y’s various sites.
Nerds To Go will pick up any donated computer and refurbish it for the
Y free of charge. Donors can call Nerds To Go at 1-800-390-NERD (6373)
to schedule a pick up time and evening and weekend pickups are available.
“It is important that computers being donated meet at least certain basic
requirements in order to be usable,” said Skip Peters, of Nerds To Go.
To assure the privacy of the donors and to control the software children
will use, Nerds To Go will professionally reformat the hard drives to
remove all traces of the previous owners’ data and programs, and reinstall
an appropriate operating system.
As an added thank you to donors, anyone requesting a Nerds To GO pickup
will get a free basic diagnosis and tune-up, worth $99, on one computer
at the donor’s location. Service e must be done at the same time as pickup.
“Whether or not there is anything wrong with their newer computer, it
will most likely be running better when we leave,” said Peters.
The Y’s after school program is being reconfigured to align with the Berlin
schools’.
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