In May at the Information Technology (IT) Academy of Spaulding High School/Barre Technical Center Campus in central Vermont, 25 first-year students became the experts as they coached and mentored 25 members of the community in the basics of using a computer.  It was a well-choreographed event:

7:30:  the IT Academy instructors and the school's Community Service Learning (CSL) staff arrived for work. 

8:15: the community members began to arrive.  They parked in specially-marked spaces and were escorted into the building by welcoming students.  They gathered in the CSL room where they checked in, met the CSL staff and IT Academy instructors, and had a breakfast of coffee and muffins. 

8:25: the IT Academy instructors left to go to their classrooms. 

8:30: the bell rang to indicate the start of another school day.  In the classrooms throughout the school, students and teachers performed the age-old rituals of attendance and announcements.

8:35: community members headed to their classes to become students again for a little while.

By 9:10 the Academy was humming.  It was half-way through Block 1.  Twenty-five student mentors were  paired with the 25 community members in three computer labs working together on computer skills.  In Room 126, Computing 101 covered the basics – turning on and off the machine, manipulating a mouse and using a word processor.  Those in Computing 102 down the hall, explored the internet - conducting searches, checking stocks, and learning basic internet safety.  In Computing 103, people set up free email accounts, and practiced sending and receiving email.    From our various vantage points, my three fellow IT Academy instructors, the Campus Community Service Learning staff, school administrators, and I, looked up and grinned.  It was working!

Goals of Community Day
Community Day at the IT Academy had several goals.  The first was to provide basic computer training to community members with limited or no prior computer experience.  Computer skills have become necessary to participate fully in our society.  For many organizations the standard mode of communication is email, and information is available most easily on most topics on the internet.  Television and radio news shows refer their audiences to the internet for more information.  Stores offer sales items through their online shops.  The examples are everywhere.  Computers, email and the internet are increasingly woven into the fabric of our daily lives.  So, for those without computer skills, social interaction, employment opportunities, and leisure activities can all be diminished.

For some, using a computer on Community Day at the IT Academy was a brand-new experience.  They learned to turn on the computer and shut it down safely.  They used a mouse for the first time, and did some word processing.  Their coaches encouraged them.   "Don't worry, you can't wreck it."  "You can do this."  For those with a bit more experience, we addressed basic communication tools – the internet and email.  Community members left with a sense of achievement.  They had used a computer, searched the web, and set up an email account.  They had handouts to help them remember the steps they'd followed and practiced.  They could practice again on their own.  They could begin to explore the digital world.

A second goal of Community Day was to put first-year IT Academy students in the role of teacher and mentor, and to have them realize the extent of their skill and knowledge.  A major component of the Academy's first year curriculum is core computing skills.  Students can earn their Internet and Core Computing Certification (IC3) by passing three rigorous online exams.  Students spend three weeks preparing for each exam.  The exams are difficult. Even with a great deal of time and effort spent, some students do not pass.  The day after testing is especially difficult for these students.  Our teaching challenge is getting them to recognize that despite their performance on the test, they have learned a lot, that they are making progress towards their IT career, and that they need to continue to work hard and not give up.  For all first-year Academy students, the journey toward an IT career can seem daunting at times.  There is so much to learn.

Community Day placed the first-year Academy students in a new role.  Instead of being the beginning students of the Academy, they were the experts.  In their new role they took on new responsibilities. They explained procedures that they can perform without thinking.  They were patient and encouraging.  Students left with a sense of achievement.  They do have a lot of skills.  They could explain what they knew, and watch the community member under their tutelage be successful.

A third goal of Community Day was to bring people together.  We knew that some of the community members were intimidated by computers and computer training.  Our approach was to pair each community member with a student mentor – their private guide and helper.  As we prepared our students for Community Day, many students expressed their reservations.  "I don't like old people, they scare me," one student explained bluntly.  As I looked around at the various styles of teenage dress and behavior of our students, I knew that while they wouldn't express it quite so freely, many of the community members would be thinking the same things about them!  In the classrooms, the pairings went quickly.  As a community member came in, he or she was matched with the next student.  "Mrs. Smith, you'll be working with Jason."  Initial looks of nervous apprehension soon gave way to dialog, conversation, smiles and laughter.  The greatest goal of all was achieved.

Planning for Community Day
As a teacher, I've struggled with how to move my students from the classroom to involvement with the community.  Who might need the skills our students have?  In an instructional block of 80 minutes, what can be reasonably accomplished?  Even if I could come up with a project, find someone for whom it would be helpful, and fit it into the available time, how could I find the time and resources to set it up and make it happen.

My idea for Community Day germinated during a faculty meeting when our Director of Community Service Learning, spoke to us about her role in setting up and facilitating CSL projects with teachers and their classes.  She offered community contacts and administrative support for interested teachers.  It happened that this particular faculty meeting occurred shortly after one of our IC3 testing days.  After the meeting, I approached her with the idea.  Could we provide basic computer training to the community? The IT Academy had the instructional resources – teachers, computers, student mentors.  The CSL program had community contacts, and the time and resources to handle the administrative details.  We agreed to give it a try.

Our original target audience was senior citizens in need of computer training.  Senior Day was scheduled in February.  The CSL staff and I emailed the local Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) coordinator, and I visited the local senior center one day  after school.  We created a general flyer offering computer training, with space for interested people to sign up, and posted it in both the RSVP office and the senior center.  Less than ½ dozen people signed up.  The day before Senior Day those who had signed up called and cancelled.  Senior Day was a non-event.

The support of the CSL staff helped me decide to try again.  Through their ties with the community, the CSL staff knew that computer training was indeed a community issue.  We expanded our audience from senior citizens to community members, and set up a meeting of several agencies working in Barre, including RSVP, Central Vermont Adult Basic Education, Central VT Council on Aging, and Project Independence.  The people from the agencies knew our target audience.  Based on their input, we narrowed our focus to the three courses in computer basics, internet and email and revised the flyer.  We agreed to develop handouts for the students to take with them, with plenty of room for their own notes.  We talked about the preparation the IT Academy students would need to ensure that the community members would have a positive experience.  We developed an evaluation form so we could gather input from the community members about the day.  Agency participants took on the task of signing up community members for the training.

The CSL staff took care of the administrative details.  They distributed the flyer and kept track of signups.  They arranged for the reserved parking spaces and ordered breakfast.  They found the students who guided community members as they arrived at school.  The agency representatives recruited students and signed them up.  Meanwhile, I worked with my IT Academy colleagues, setting up the course content, creating the handouts, and assigning students to the various topics.  A week before Community Day we had 25 people signed up, and had to close registration. 

The success of this project was due to this collaboration of the community agencies, the CSL program and the IT Academy.  On my own, I'd struggled for years with how to set up a community service project for my class.  I did not have the community contacts, nor the time to devote to the administrative details necessary for success.  Our first community day in February didn't happen.  Without the involvement of the community agencies, we were not able to reach those who needed the training we were offering.  I'm grateful that the CSL staff did not abandon the project after the first attempt, but rather sought out the additional players we needed to successfully relaunch Community Day in May. 

Outcomes
Community day was a success.  Every community member responded positively to our evaluation.  The most common suggestion was that we schedule a longer training session  – perhaps spanning two days.  Many members mentioned their tutors by name, praising their skill and patience.  In debriefing the students the next day, many expressed surprise to find out how much they knew, and they admitted that it was fun.  My colleagues and I were astounded at the community turn out and positive reaction.  It was one of our most successful projects and we'll continue and possibly expand it next year.

Community day was conducted at school for two basic logistical reasons.  First, we only see the students from 8:30 to 9:45 each day.  If we had to use part of that time transporting students to another location, the time left for training would be negligible.  Second, at the IT Academy we have the computer resources available to teach 25 students at one time.  The outcome of this choice of venue was that we brought 25 members of the central Vermont community into the school for a useful, enjoyable activity.  In fact, while they were there, many people took the opportunity to visit our Cosmetology program for hair cuts and pedicures, and then stayed on for lunch provided by our Culinary program. 

Our school needs to bring the community in and see what we do.  Ultimately it's the community's vote that determines our budget, and our ability to provide educational programs such as the IT Academy to our students.  We need our community support, and the more the community experiences what we do, the better off we are.  Community Day did this successfully.

Conclusion
In summary, Community Day was a collaboration of a Technical Center program, Community Service Learning program, and community agencies.  We brought together members of the community who need computer skills to participate fully in our society and students who need to understand the relevance of their studies and appreciate the skills they have to offer their community. In that coming together, we took two groups who sometimes view each other with the distrust of stereotypes, and showed them human faces and understanding.  As instructors we were able to collaborate on a successful student-community project that brought community visibility to our program and our school.  Community Day helped create a sense of the school being a community center as well as an educational institution.

 About the author:
Karen Baron has taught at the Information Technology Academy at Spaulding High School/Barre Technical Center Campus for seven years.  Her area of expertise is computer programming. kbarobvt@u61.net