WATSONVILLE — With music playing softly in the background, a group of students at New School Community Day School on Friday was focused on piles of damaged computers in front of them, each with a different electronic ailment.
Their task was to repair non-functioning Google Chromebooks used by Watsonville High School students.
Teacher Emily Halbig created the “Chrome Squad” last year when she worked at Pajaro Middle School.
Students receive credit for the elective class, for which they repair about 30 of the small computers every week. These come in with problems such as cracked screens, damaged motherboards and non-functioning screens.
“Sometimes the students just have to trouble-shoot,” Halbig said.
The ones that cannot be repaired are used for spare parts, she said.
David Madrigal, 17, said Halbig showed him the basics of repair when the class started five weeks ago. But he said he gleaned the lion’s share of his knowledge through trial and error.
“Mostly I just figured it out,” he said. “I love doing it. I’m spending time with my friends, but mostly because I learned a lot of new things.”
Juan Gutierrez, 16, said he came in with little knowledge of electronics, but that he took the class because he enjoys working with technology.
“That’s what I want to do when I grow up,” he said.
It’s unclear exactly how much the Chrome Squad saves the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Halbig said the repairs average $90 when the computers are sent away to an outside company. Even then, it takes weeks to get them back.
When Halbig taught at Pajaro Middle School, her Chrome Squad students repaired 116 Chromebooks. Halbig estimates that saved the district more than $10,000.
But the savings is the last thing on Halbig’s mind.
Her goal, she said, is to give the students hands-on experience with the devices that make up the backbone of their ever-evolving digital society.
“I want to give these guys a skill that they might use after they graduate,” she said.
Halbig said she recently tapped a local business that offers computer repairs, and said the owner has expressed interest in hiring her students.
Watsonville High School assistant principal Chrissy Maclean said repairing the computers shows students how the things they learn in the classroom can be applied in the “real world.”
“One of the best things about it is that it keeps the learning relevant,” she said. “This will in turn make them feel better about school in general, and maybe start to embrace all of their classes a little bit more.”
In addition, working on the Chrome Squad helps forge a connection between New School and Watsonville High School, Maclean said.
“This is Watsonville, and we need to be all doing this together,” she said.
