MCCTC students play key role in recovery

CANFIELD — By definition, learning curves don’t follow a straight path, especially if there is a variable that no one anticipated.

For five student employees in the Information Technology Academy and Tech Prep programs at Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, the unexpected variable was the May 4 fire that destroyed a significant portion of the building and obliterated all the computer and communications networks, including copiers, phone systems and network servers.

The students’ learning curve expanded dramatically as it accelerated because of a vital deadline: the reopening of MCCTC on Sept. 4, its scheduled first day of school.

The normal progression of IT students who are hired by the MCCTC Technology Department begins after their first semester of their junior year when they work after school as paid employees. Their employment continues during the day in the summer months when they work full time.

In their senior year, they attend technical and academic classes during the school hours and work for the Technology Department after school.

Because of the fire, the work for these five students this past summer was anything but normal, requiring extensive effort to get the computer and communications systems up and running in time for the first day of school.

The students who played a major roll in that technology recovery are Jeremy Brown of Austintown, Jeff Johnson and Robert McLain of Boardman and Patrick Moran and Jason Telford of Canfield. They worked under the direction and guidance of the MCCTC Technology Specialist, Jonathan Pera, of Canfield.

The fire destroyed the computer and communications systems that had been carefully planned and installed over the course of nearly 20 years were destroyed, and Technology Supervisor William Long of Niles had to start from scratch in replacing the schoolwide system.

Of the 600 computers in the school, less than 50 were suitable for keeping.

New equipment began arriving daily in late May and the old computers, covered with smoke and dirt, were removed. The new equipment was unloaded, unboxed, tested and configured. Cable management was a critical factor.

On-the-job experience while in high school has always been an available advantage for MCCTC students. The IT students hired by the Technology Department are sought by employers because they have extensive work experience before they graduate from high school and enter the workplace.