NEWS

PCs for UPIS

by Teresa Santos-Borja

Great news, everyone !

We were able to deliver 25 PCs from PeopleSupport to UPIS last Monday, December 5. The UPIS principal, Dr Lily Reyes (she was our Math teacher during our time) was very pleased cause that's 5 more units than the 20 earlier promised.

That same day, we were able successfully install 17 units at the HS PC Lab. It took us longer than expected because, not only do we have to carry those units all the way from the carpark to the 2nd floor of the New Building, we also had to do some major cleaning up of the computer
room.

When we pulled out all the non-working units out of the room, you can see all the dust and grime that had collected over some time. Di bale nang luma ang mga
mesa at ibang gamit, basta dapat malinis ang kapaligiran, di ba? So we wiped off the thick layers of dust off the tables before we assembled the new PCs. Also had to sweep off the litter underneath all the cables (there is no trash bin inside the room!). We also had to swap some computer tables around so we can have some uniformity and create a nicer "look", greater visual impact. We rearranged these units in such a way that all the old ones were on the window side of the room, and
the "new" ones were on the other side of the room, by the door. And for our final touch, we put a neon green sticker on each of our PC (monitor, CPU and keyboard) that says "Donated by PeopleSupport and UPIS Batch 82".

We got so busy and carried away that we forgot to take pictures (sorry) - would have been nice to show you how it looked before and after the cleanup. When Dr Reyes, together with other UPIS faculty and staff, checked the room later that day, they were very much impressed with how much we've accomplished. Dr Reyes was even amused when she saw our sticker. Really hope that the students appreciate how their computer room looks now, and that they strive to maintain cleanliness next time.

Currently, there are 17 working PCs (compatibles, with 15" AOC monitor with floppy drive only) in stand-alone mode in the HS PC Lab. For their computer classes, two (2) students had to share one PC. The additional 17 PCs we donated (HP Vectra Pentium III, 17" HP monitor with CD and floppy drives, 450 MHz, 128MB RAM, 20GB HD, LAN-ready) will now allow them to conduct their computer classes at a ratio of 1 PC : 1student. You can just imagine the tremendous benefit they will now enjoy being able to do their computer programming work on their own.

Of course, this undertaking would not have been successful without the help of our volunteers. I want to extend my sincere gratitude to the following people : Paggy, Mike G, Boss Ada (who gave me such a big scare when she got "electrocuted" - you're so bad, pero labs pa rin kita!), Anne J, Archie and Chagoo.

But the work isn't over yet, folks. The installation of 8 PCs for the Elem PC lab is scheduled on Tue Dec 13th 10:30am - 1:30pm. Hope you can join us then (maybe on your lunch hour?). I'll be checking out the site this Friday to see if there are other requirements prior to installation.