What do you do when you are a college student with almost the entire month of January off? Many no doubt head south for days at the beach, take a break from the books by hitting the slopes, or just indulge in power-napping. But for many college students it’s a chance to earn academic credit while sharpening their knowledge and skills and exploring a potential career opportunity.Burr and Burton graduate Jamie LaPointe is a freshman at Hartwick College in Onenta, New York, where every January students choose a month-long course from a wide variety of special opportunities, including internships. A computer science and physics major, LaPointe decided this would be a great opportunity to return to his alma mater and work with two of his mentors while gaining classroom experience.
Having taken a total of eight courses from Adam Provost while at Burr and Burton, Jamie knew working with him and network technician Rick Armitage was just what he wanted to do. In his application to Hartwick’s J-term internship coordinator he said he planned to work on some technology proposals underway at Burr and Burton and get a better understanding of what is required to be a high school teacher.
LaPointe is getting his teaching experience as an assistant in Provost’s Technology Research Lab, where students undertake advanced projects in a variety of digital applications. In the course of mentoring students in hardware and network infrastructure, he is learning a how to be an effective teacher. “It’s been a better experience than I even thought it would be,” he said. “Adam showed me the core structure of his philosophy on technology education and this has really helped me to see how technology can have many uses in a classroom. I feel I can really help other students now.”
One of the technology proposals he was anxious to learn more about involves Research Lab students teaming up with IT staff and Media Arts & Sciences Department faculty to help solve some of the technology issues that arise on campus. “We are working on a model similar to the Genius Bar at Apple corporate stores,” explained Provost. “Our goal is to create a service that can address individuals questions on technology and help the students build skills based on their own interests and aptitude.”
Working with Network Administrator Armitage, LaPointe hopes to gain a fuller understanding of how to manage Microsoft Active Directory, the server that houses all the school’s databases. He has also been learning advanced troubleshooting skills.
Having a college intern on campus to help out every day has been a worthwhile experience for everyone involved and the hope is that this will be the first of many more opportunities for collaboration.
