Students Refurbish Donated Computers for Hilltop Too: Walt’s Place After School Program

Walts-Computer-DonationSchool of Business students at Ivy Tech Community College Northwest accepted a donation from Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore of eight computers to be refurbished for Hilltop Too: Walt’s Place, 554 South Locust Street, Valparaiso, a non-profit organization that supports an after school program for children from the community who come to participate in various projects and activities.

Richard Delgado coordinated the project with Dr. April Miller Cripliver, Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems/Technology/Security, and her Valparaiso campus class to evaluate and repair the computers. Richard is a Business Administration program graduate class of May 2013,Vice President of the school’s chapter of the National Honor Society, Kappa Beta Delta (KBD), and member of the Ivy Tech Computer Users’ Club.

Sue Clemons, Youth Development Director, said, “The donation will help out with the after school program where kids use computers for math and reading homework. Adding the new computers will bring our lab to a total of sixteen which will support our summer camp program where we will have about 20 kids participating daily.”

Gary Hewett, College Activity Board Public Relations and Student Government Representative, and Clubs member, is seeking an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Computer Information Technology. Through his course work at Ivy Tech, Gary is a CompTIA A+ certified computer technician, and assisted with the computer lab upgrade to install free software that the kids will be able to use for learning word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentation skills.

This type of project is a great way for our students to apply what they learn in the classroom to a real world situation and at the same time provide a service to the community,” said Gina Rue, School of Business Dean and KBD Advisor, Ivy Tech Northwest campuses in East Chicago, Gary, Valparaiso, and Michigan City.

To learn more about HillTop Too: Walt’s Place, visit:http://www.hilltophouse.org/hilltop-too-walts-place/