By students, for students, and of students.
Cheatham County Schools' Career and Technical Education/Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics Department launched its first student technology team during the spring 2024 school year. CCS Technology Director Chad Smith said the program will begin with a five-student team at Sycamore Middle School in Pleasant View and expand first to all of his CCS middle schools and then to all high schools.
“We train them at the middle school level, so they can take what they learn straight to high school. There is only one technical team at Sycamore Middle, and I didn't know about it, but we trained them at the state level. “That's pretty big because we're only one of five or six technical teams within the company. And they're all very eager to get started,” Smith said.
Team members are selected by teachers and taught basic troubleshooting, maintenance, and repair of computing devices. CCS CTE/STEAM Coordinator Chris Cooper purchased repair equipment for the program.
The driving force behind the creation of this program is to provide additional resources to keep school technology running well and to provide students with the prior experience and training necessary to pursue a career in information technology.
Smith will show students things like basic diagnosing common computer problems and performing routine maintenance such as system updates and simple repairs.
“The inspiration for this piece is to teach them the entry-level things they may come across as long as they step into the world of technology. The sky is the limit. There are a lot of great jobs out there, like writing code for websites, as well as jobs like that,” Smith said.
Eighth-grader Cortlin Johnson took coding classes before being selected for the student technology team. He is excited about the opportunities he will have as a team member and said he will work hard to remember everything he has learned.
“It will open doors for me in the future so I can have a good career later in life. Probably the most difficult thing is remembering where the parts go after you're done with the meter.” He said.
Eighth-grader Bailey Baggett said her favorite part was working on her laptop and learning how to diagnose problems.
Smith said her favorite part of the program is not only watching the students learn, but watching them develop a love for learning about information technology.
“Well, I think what I love most about doing this job is getting out here and meeting these guys and working with them and just observing them. They just absorb everything. They're doing a great, great job. It's the interaction for me. It really is. It's so much fun just watching them put it all together, so it's very nice.” he said.
