Students attend Optimist summer computer camp
By From staff reports
Published in News on August 11, 2013 1:50 AM
This summer, 15 Wayne County students in grades 5-9 attended the first-ever "Optimist Computers4Kids Summer Camp," which was sponsored by the Optimist Club of Goldsboro.
Three sessions of the computer camp were held during the three weeks between July 9-25. Optimist Club members Charlie Wood and Dawn Clark led the event and were assisted by volunteers Jim Evernham and Needham Park.
Students who attended the first session were Terrence Nicholson, Devon Taylor, Raelynn Clark and Jeremiah Harris. Attending the second session were Brandon Elliott, Alexus Elliott, Tristan Keck, Landon Moore and Harrison Clark. Students at the third session were Carly Hooks, Mary Archibald, Christopher Stephens, Zachary Grim, William Protz and Joseph Scheiderman.
During two and one-half days of video and instructor-led training, and with some hands-on experience, these students learned about the major hardware components of a computer. Using a new computer case provided by the Optimist Club, each youth then built a computer from mostly used parts and installed the Linux Mint 15 operating system on it.
At the end of each session, the students used a software program called LibreOffice to create a presentation titled "Five Things I Learned About Computers" and presented their work to the group.
Each student was then presented with a certificate of participation and, with smiling faces, took home with them the computer they personally built.
The Optimist Computers4Kids Summer Camp was a "one of a kind" opportunity for the kids of Wayne County and was so successful that the Optimist Club of Goldsboro plans to sponsor it again next summer.