With there being over 3000 students and 300 faculty and staff within the school, technology has to constantly be upgrading and to date with the latest changes. Technology coordinator Tina Barber speaks about the recent technology enhancements at Cherokee Trail. Over the past year, Barber and other tech staff have worked tirelessly to bring better technology to the school through the funding it receives. “There are probably 3500 devices in this building. And when you have volume, then even if 98% of them are working all the time, there are still a large number that need repair or work or updates, or something’s just not working, be it the hardware, the software, or maybe something going on with the user,” said Barber.
Having variations in devices wasn’t easy for students to get help. Having different devices with different software calls for other actions and fixes to be made, which can be quite tiring to switch between for the technology coordinators who help provide support for broken or damaged computers. “The class of 2024 was the last group that graduated with Dells, that everybody knows as being the black computers. So now you have student devices that are universalized across all four grade levels. So, there are some perks to that. There are some people who love the Surface Pros. There are some people who don’t.” said Barber.
Considering there are only so many staff members who are qualified to assist with technology, they seek other hands eager to learn and help out within the technology center. “Some other things that we’ve put in place is we have a student internship program that’s become up to six student interns who are working to help troubleshoot devices, hardware, software, and then also the needs of our community members who come in and just need tech support,” said Barber.
From the rigorous funding, there have been multiple new expansions and additions that have been made to the building. One holds an exceptional amount of importance. “I think the biggest thing really came from the community when they were making decisions about how to use the bond money from the last election to make upgrades to a building that was over 20 years old. Adding the help desk in the back area of the library that’s right by where students walk by when they come into school. Just recognizing that we needed an active help desk that always has someone from the technology staff that’s there.” said Barber.
