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Make It-Take It’s Mobile Technology Center has arrived. |
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The Make It-Take It (MITI) program is a very successful program run by Adult & Community Education. The original concept of the program was bought to Flagler County by then school board member Jim Guines. The program is aimed at bridging the digital divide, in other words, providing technology to those in our community who do not have access to technology in their homes. The MITI program collects computer donations from the community and the students who go through the program learn the basics of computers, depending on their skill level, for the first part of the course. For the second part of the course the students take the donated computers and completely break them down and are then taught to rebuild, upgrade and then install the operating system and programs. Mrs. Veronica Maggs of Adult Education has run this program from its conception in 2004. Since that time hundreds of students have graduated and everyone has received a computer. One of the problems Mrs. Maggs encountered was finding out that most of her students were disadvantaged in some way and found it difficult to attend the MITI classes as they had transportation problems. Mrs. Maggs solved this problem by obtaining her CDL (commercial driver’s license) and learning how to drive a school bus. This enabled her to pick up a bus, collect her students, take them to her classroom at Adult & Community Education’s offices in Flagler Technical Center, (formerly Corporate Plaza) Palm Coast, teach them and return them. |
The bus transportation process would result in taking 3-4 hours to teach a 2 hour class. Mrs. Maggs came up with the concept of a mobile computer classroom and approached Bright house Networks to see if they would sponsor such a project, and they agreed. ICI Homes also contributed towards the cost of the bus and the interior was designed, at no charge to the school district, by the architects Paul Stresing Associates Inc. Contrax furnishings donated the inside furniture. The bus will also serve outreach areas of our community enabling students to take General Education Diploma (GED) and Adult High School (AHS) classes. Another potential use of the bus is as an emergency operations center in the event of a natural disaster such as a hurricane. The bus is totally self-sufficient with its own generators. In the event of such an emergency, the bus could be a command post for the Flagler County School Board and as a service to the public by allowing them to use the computers to communicate with their families by email, letting them know they are safe. Upon graduation the students are presented with their rebuilt computers to take home to keep. The program is supported by donations of both money and materials from many in the community. For further information, or to donate your old computer, please contact: Veronica Maggs, Program Manager |
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