IN THE HEART OF THE ARIZONA DESERT sits an information technology company that boasts a portfolio of clients any Fortune 500 company would envy—the National Guard, national and international clients, and prominent community organizations. All of this plus a word-of-mouth marketing strategy that brings in more business than any big budget advertising campaign.
Who runs this small business enterprise? Meet 17-year-old Dana Jansen, high school senior and CEO of the JagWire Project. And where exactly is the headquarters of this entrepreneurial success story, where Jansen confers daily with her student board that includes a Chief Financial Officer and Chief Personnel Officer? It is in the Desert View High School classroom of Pam Hopkins, the brains behind the project offered by Sunnyside Unified School District's School-to-Work Program in Tucson.
Named after the school mascot—a jaguar—the JagWire Project began three years ago as an extension of Hopkins' technology class. A Carl Perkins Vocational Education grant was used to purchase computers and fund start-up costs while also putting an end to students vying for time on the only computer available for student use, located in Hopkins' English class.
"I told students if they bring in projects from other teachers, they could have one hour of dedicated time on the computer," Hopkins says. "Kids started lobbying teachers for jobs just to get time on the computer!"
"Who Here is a 'TechCat?'"
To maintain control of the growing demand for precious computer time, Hopkins received support in the form of grants and donations from computer giants such as Microsoft, and transformed her classroom into a student-managed, student-operated technology center run by "TechCats." This year, 34 TechCats provide IT support to teachers, principals, and other school personnel in the form of cabling, wiring, networking, computer repair, and troubleshooting. Indeed it is not uncommon for a teacher to stand in front of a disabled computer and ask, "Is there a TechCat in the room?" Nor is it uncommon for a TechCat to raise his or her hand with pride.
"Teachers just love us," says TechCat Carrie Kaiser, a senior at Desert View. "They automatically want to know which students are TechCats. It's cool to be looked up to."
Hopkins admits that TechCats sometimes have a higher standard to live up to, but that's because they are recognized as experts and resources.
"Teachers come to us for help and expect a lot from TechCats," says CEO Jansen, who, following in the footsteps of her brothers, has been a TechCat for three years. "Students look at us differently at first, like we're geeks or nerds, but then they see what we do and see that it takes a lot of skills. I feel proud about being a TechCat."
Bringing the Work to the Palm of Your Hand
When IT support wasn't enough for students, Hopkins took things up a notch and permitted students to sell the skills they were mastering in her classroom. This allowed students to add desktop publishing, web-page design, and multimedia presentations to their already impressive list of services, except this time they were making a profit. And last year, their job descriptions changed even further with the addition of handheld computers from a Palm Education Pioneer (PEP) program grant.
"The PEP grant was an accident," explains Hopkins, who found out about the program while perusing a teacher's association magazine. "Students thought it was a cool idea so we came up with ways to incorporate handhelds into our work." TechCats began using the technology in every facet of business management, from writing and beaming notes to one another to tracking inventory and work orders. They even created a database that documents all of their requests for troubleshooting.
Each TechCat was given a handheld for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "My classroom is entirely student directed," says Hopkins. "Tasks are hands on, challenging, and have a meaningful application of skills. Students are really empowered to accept and reject jobs, to design and create products, and to select a project team and make decisions that impact the group."
Beyond IT Support
For Michael Gomez, another Desert View High School senior, the experience of working with this technology as a TechCat and student has prepared him for the future.
"I learned a lot about documentation, which I wasn't very good at," he explains. "I'm a lot more organized in all of my classes." And, the future University of Arizona student adds, "While a lot of other classes are sitting down and listening to a teacher, this is hands-on experience. The best thing is I get to interact with people."
Other uses for the handhelds at Desert View include the Sustained Silent Reading Program. During this time, Hopkins and her TechCats read books and articles using their handhelds. Different applications have bookmark and annotation features and students are also able to share their notes by beaming them to a fellow student's handheld.
"The best English class I ever taught was where I downloaded the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey onto my students' handhelds," Hopkins says. "We formed a reading group and students began talking about the book and analyzing it. It was different for them because the information came from a different place."
Switching back to her technology hat, she adds, the best thing about the JagWire Project is "we look like we're focused on the technology, but we're not. Content must be more important than the technology. The work is always product and people focused."
Indeed, these students are becoming proficient at more than technology.
"I am learning leadership skills, how to deal with different attitudes, money management, and how to prioritize," says Jansen. "In other classes, teachers tell us what to do. Here, we know what to do. My favorite thing is all the freedom. We can do whatever we want as long as we're doing our job."
Kaiser agrees. "It's a really open environment, not a typical classroom setting. We have the freedom to do a lot of different things. We work as a team and also have a lot of independence."
The JagWire Project's impact on student achievement is seen on a student-to-student basis. Student attitudes and their school involvement have changed significantly. Students who once had attendance problems are now recipients of attendance awards. Discipline problems have decreased for many of the students, and not just in Hopkins classrooms, but in other classes as well.
"I became what teachers dream of becoming—a coach, a facilitator," Hopkins explains. "You can tell the students who are TechCats. They look adults in the eyes, they know how to talk to teachers, they tend to be more assertive and accept more responsibility. And they're held to a higher standard. When they come here, they're at work. You never hear a TechCat say, 'I just spent an hour playing around on the computer.'"
Most of all, Hopkins says, "I feel good about the future. These students won't sit back and wait for someone to give them a job. They'll go in and get what they want."
For more information about the JagWire Project, contact Hopkins at 520.545.5100.
