Program Teaches Teens How to Build a Computer From Scratch ...

High school is the ideal time to think about career options.

This week, the Young Adult Department at the Peabody Institute Library will help teens get a jumpstart on one possible future career with some initial training.

The library will host a Computer Building class over the next three Tuesdays this month (March 13, 20 and 27) in the Young Adult Room from 7-8:30 p.m.

The class will be taught by Matthew Wilkins, a Peabody resident and information technology associate at GraVoc Associates, which is located on Main Street in Peabody, and young adult librarian Melissa Rauseo.

If this class series doesn?t turn into a career track for them, it could develop into a hobby.

Initially, Wilkins began his computer technology career as a hobby, but an ?addictive? pasttime for him, fixing computers and programming evolved into a living.

?I studied computer progamming in high school,? he said. ?I then studied computer science at Salem State. It all started when I built my own computer from scratch in 2001, paying $3,000 for the parts. Now, it would only cost $300. Building it only took an hour-and-a-half once the parts came in the mail.?

He will teach teens how to do just that ? take an old computer and refurbish it, bringing his specific computer to the library so that participants can take apart individual pieces. From there, they will learn how the interior parts work and hopefully have a functioning computer at the end of March.

?It?s really interesting how teens use computers all the time ? Facebook, Twitter and Google for school assignments. This class will be hands-on to see how parts of the computer work. I wish I knew the parts of the computer,? Rauseo said with a laugh.

The program, funded by a Rotary Club grant, is intended to introduce teens to technology now and in the future. It?s designed as a general introduction and a way of teaching workforce skills.

She said courses for video game design and digital storytelling are also part of the grant?s budget. Those classes will be held from April to May.

A co-worker in Wilkins? office will work with Library Director Martha Holden in the video game production course. He referred Wilkins to teach this class, which has been in the planning stages for months.

Rauseo added that teens who are already interested in computer technology are welcome, and Wilkins noted they can see a computer rebuilt from start to finish.

?I?m always looking up the newest technology,? Wilkins explained. ?I have to research different types of hard drives, but the general idea is the same. It started out as a hobby, and now it?s what I do, all day. I repair PC problems.?

For information, contact Rauseo at 978-531-0100 ext. 14, or via email at rauseo@noblenet.org.

Article source: http://peabody.patch.com/articles/teens-refurbish-computers-to-potentially-train-for-future-careers

Source: http://learncomputerprogramming.net/program-teaches-teens-how-to-build-a-computer-from-scratch/

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