Program has teens build own computers

Thirteen-year-old Margaret Wiwuga had never seen the inside of a computer until she started putting one together Tuesday.

She'll finish assembling it in a day or two, then use it daily in the TechBridge Academy, a summer technology and academic program sponsored by South Carolina State University.

If she shows up for every day of the five-week program, Monday through Thursday for seven hours each day, and completes it successfully, she will be able to take the computer home with her for free.

Margaret stared at the shell and pieces of her computer spread out on a desk in front of her. "It looks really advanced," she said of the machine.

She's one of 12 rising seventh- and eighth-graders enrolled at the program at Burke High School this summer. S.C. State also is offering the program at sites in Anderson, Dillon, Jasper, Orangeburg and Sumter counties.

Elizabeth Mosely, communications coordinator for the university's research and extension programs, said the program's goal is to "improve academic performance through technology." Organizers also hope it will help bridge the digital divide.

To be accepted in the program, she said, students must have the basic skills to do the work, which includes: improving reading and math skills; learning about future careers; and participating in a character education program that teaches them to be respectful and responsible. But motivated students who have some academic challenges also can enroll, Mosely said.

Students in the Burke program recognized that a free computer is a good deal.

Henry Edwards, a rising eighth-grader from James Island Middle School, said "we could really use this computer." Henry said he's always been interested in putting things together. So the program appealed to him right away. By the end of the summer, he hopes to understand how computers work. That's knowledge he will use for the rest of his life, he said.

And working on his academic skills over the summer will be good for him, he said. Usually over the summer, "it kind of leaves you," he said.

Demier Richardson, the university's senior extension director, said students feel very proud when they tell others they are building their own computers.

The program has been running at different sites throughout the state for the past four years, she said. The university purchases the computers at a reduced cost from the Pennsylvania-based construction and engineering firm Henkels & McCoy. The program is paid with for with federal and state money.

Richardson said that when students take the computers home, they often teach younger siblings to use them. And they sometimes make the machines available to neighbors who need to use the Internet, she said. She estimates that at least three other people will benefit from each student in the program who leaves with a computer.

Margaret said she's going to save all of the computer assembly instructions and show them to her dad. He loves to take things apart and put them back together, she said. "He's going to ask me how I did it," she said.

Richardson said students get deeply engaged in the program, and in technology in general, by building their own computers.

"The greatest joy is when they hit that power button" and begin using the machine they assembled, she said. "They say to themselves, 'This is something I did on my own, now the sky is the limit.' "

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.